This research initiative, led by Nadje Al-Ali, Nancy Duke Lewis Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies, is based on the recognition that a gendered intersectional lens is central to a deeper analysis and understanding of political mobilizations, economic developments, social inequalities and cultural expressions in the Middle East and amongst diasporas of the region.

New Directions in Palestinian Studies aims to shape scholarly works in this field through an annual workshop, an endowed post-doctoral fellowship, and a book series with the University of California Press.

This initiative, led by Frank Faverzani, positions the Middle East and North Africa as a vital laboratory for food studies and globally-relevant theory. Drawing on perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, A Seat at the Table links the intimate experience of food and drink to their broader function in processes ranging from war, governance and commerce to popular memory and resistance.

Vision 20XX is a series of conversations exploring various nation-building projects that have emerged in the Middle East and North Africa over the past decade. Articulated in the form of ambitious “vision” documents, these national agendas reflect a diverse set of aspirations for social, economic and political change, often shaped by input from private consultancies, global NGOs and government authorities.

The Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) at Brown University promotes research, teaching and public engagement about the Middle East in a historically and culturally grounded manner. Its coverage is temporally and geographically expansive, extending from antiquity to the present, and it approaches the Middle East as a region with shifting boundaries as well as a conceptual entity within global discourses.