MESA 2023 Pre-registration Deadline is September 29!
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a non-profit association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom in accordance with its status as a 501(c)(3) scientific, educational, literary, and charitable organization.
The Middle East Studies Association’s 57th annual meeting will be held in Montréal, Québec, Canada from November 2-5, 2023 at the Palais des congrès.
MESA holds the largest gathering of Middle East studies scholars, and MESA 2023 includes a robust program of over 350 sessions, nearly 50 exhibitors, and a virtual film festival.
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) advocates on behalf of its members on issues that are central to its mission.
This includes statements and letters from MESA's Board of Directors, MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom, the Task Force on Civil and Human Rights, and the MESA Global Academy.
Be a part of a community of scholars who are passionate about the pursuit of academic knowledge on the MENA region. Help MESA defend academic freedoms. Share your research at the annual meeting. Access the best, cutting-edge scholarship in person at the conference or online in our journals.
Join or renew today!
Please see the searchable program for a full listing of over 370 sessions. MESA is also looking for volunteer chairs of put-together panels. The preliminary program (pdf) shows the program as of September 1.
The MESA Board of Directors invites applications and nominations for the next editor of the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES) for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2024. Application review will begin August 1, 2023, and continue until a new editor is identified. For more information, go here.
We are closely and sorrowfully following the situation in Sudan as two warlords have besieged Sudan’s capitol, Khartoum, with their violent competition to seize power, and without any consideration of the country’s civilians over whom they seek to rule. The humanitarian catastrophe for Khartoum’s citizens goes well beyond issues of academic freedom. We express our heartfelt sympathy for all Sudanese people caught in the crossfire.
As information comes in, we will post sites where our members can donate to help alleviate the suffering of our friends and family in Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan. Let us remember that these are communities who rose up in peaceful protest in 2019 to call for a civilian-led democracy, only to have their hopes – and now their homes – violently repressed.
MESA has adopted a strategic plan for 2021-2025. To view the plan or for more information, please see here.
To access, select the Publications tab in your myMESA account then click the publication image. 
There are two active security alerts issued by MESA’s Board of Directors for those embarking on research in Egypt and UAE.
The MESA Board of Directors invites applications and nominations for the next editor of the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES) for a five-year term beginning July 1, 2024. Application review will begin August 1, 2023, and continue until a new editor is identified.
An FAQ with answers to some frequently asked questions about the format of MESA's future annual meetings.
An FAQ with answers to some frequently asked questions about the BDS resolution.
We are delighted to announce our symposium “Printing Religion in South Asia” that will take place on October 18, 2023, at the 51st Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Sacred Cultures in Politics, a collection of scholarly articles, seeks to reveal sacred and/or religious rhetoric serving as persuasive tools in the vast arena of political activism.
The Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore is calling for proposals for papers for a new Insights Series dedicated to the latest developments in Middle East Space Programmes, which will be published in 2024.
The Historical Studies Program and Middle Eastern Studies Program at Bard College invite applications for a full-time, tenure-track position at the rank of assistant professor in the history of the Middle East and North Africa since 1800. The position begins in fall 2024.
Bard College invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position in the area of Islamic Studies, to begin September 2024.
The Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC) at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington invites applications for an Assistant Teaching Professor to a 3-year, non-tenure track appointment in Persian language and culture to begin in September 2024.
The Classics Program at the University of California, Davis invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position, beginning July 1, 2024, at the rank of Assistant Professor. Applicants’ research interests should focus on Ancient Mediterranean culture(s) outside of Europe (e.g., Ancient Egypt, North Africa, the Levant).
The Africana Studies interdisciplinary program at the University of Richmond invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor or tenured associate or full professor in the field of Black Diasporas, open to all areas of specialization.
The University of California at Berkeley seeks applications for a full-time tenure-track faculty appointment at the level of assistant professor in the Department of History. The position is defined as Environmental History, including histories of how people have interacted with, represented, thought about, and changed and/or been changed by the biophysical places, biomes, and/or earth systems of which they have been a part. Applications due November 1st.
The conference seeks to repose today the question of criticism in the Arab world. Critique is either too late or too soon for its context, arriving at the scene only after the deal is done, or forewarning an imminent disaster. How to rethink the function of critique and criticism in our contemporary moment? More crucially, what is singular about re-posing this question from the context of Beirut, Lebanon today? We invite scholars, artists, researchers and students working in the humanities and social sciences to submit a 300-word abstract and bio by the extended deadline of Nov 15th, 2023.
The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is seeking outstanding post-doctoral scholars for appointments at the rank of Research Fellow for the Hoover History Lab. The term of the appointment is one year from September 2023, through August 2024, and may be renewed.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences of the University of Toronto invites applications for a full-time tenure stream position in Jewish Studies. The appointment will be at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor, with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2024.
The Committee on Academic Freedom received a response to our 31 July letter to Biden administration officials expressing concern regarding the Memorandum of Understanding recently concluded between the United States and Israel concerning Israel’s admission to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.
Arab Center Washington DC is dedicating its eighth annual conference to exploring the current crisis facing democratization and the implementation of reforms across the Middle East and North Africa. This one-day conference explores the current state of democracy and democratic regression in the MENA region and focuses on the evolution of US policy toward the region and the status of human rights there.
The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of the Humanities Division at the University of Chicago seeks to add to the University’s existing program in Northwest Semitics. We invite applications for appointment as Instructional Professor (open rank) in Northwest Semitics, particularly Aramaic, Biblical Hebrew, Syriac, and related dialects/languages. The start date of the appointment will be September 1, 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.
Applications are being sought for a full-time tenure track position at Simon Fraser University at the rank of Assistant Professor with expertise in Asian Refugee Literatures and Cultures, to be housed in the Department of World Languages and Literatures with 50% dedicated workload in the Global Asia Program starting July 15, 2024.
The Department of History and the Environmental Studies Program at Lehigh University invite applications for a tenure-track faculty position as Assistant Professor of History with a specialization in Environmental History, effective 15 August 2024.
The Department of History and the Health, Medicine and Society Program at Lehigh University invite applications for a tenure-track faculty position as Assistant Professor of History with a specialization in the History of Public Health and Medicine, effective 15 August 2024.
The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago invites applications for a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in Classical Arabic Literature with an expected start date of July 1, 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.
For its second world congress to be held in Kuwait from 16 to 19 January 2025, the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies is pleased to invite proposals on the theme of “Translation, Transposition, and Travel in the Global Nineteenth Century.” We welcome proposals for papers and panels that explore transits between places, languages, cultures, and ideas.
The initiative, developed jointly by the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University and the Middle East Studies Institute at Columbia University, focuses on gender and body politics in relation to Iran. We are inviting applications from an artist to spend one entire academic year residing one semester at each institution starting January 2024 to December 2024. This fellowship is generously supported by the Persian Heritage Foundation.
The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in Persian Literature and Culture with an expected start date of July 1, 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter.