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2018 Culture
Still Matters: Notes from the Field. Leiden: Brill.
[Critical assessment of the approach to culture as a text
and focus on the importance of ethnographic fieldwork as the core of cultural
anthropology.] https://brill.com/abstract/title/38796.
[Reviewed by Herbert S. Lewis in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
26(2020):469-470.]
2017/2007 Reading Orientalism: Said and the Unsaid. Seattle: University of Washington Press. New Edition released in 2017. [In-depth critical analysis of Said's text, examining his rhetoric of persuasion as well as the credibility and accuracy of historical claims he makes in representing Orientalism as a Western discourse. Survey of the debate over Said's thesis in anthropology, history, literary and post-colonial studies. The first review is by Robert Irwin in the TLS (May 7, 2008) .Also reviewed in: American Literary History, 21(3):633-646, 2009; History and Theory 47(1):148, 2008; Merkur (Deutsches Zeitschrift f. europäisches Denken), 717:151-164, 2009; The Review of Politics, 71(1):146-149, 2009; Journal of Islamic Studies 20(2):304-306, 2009; Common Knowledge 15(3):510, 2009; Al-Jazeera (aljazeera.net) 4/12/2008; IJMES 44(4):822-824, 2012 with my response at http://tabsir.net/?p=1958]; and, Logos, 8(2), 2009.]
2005 Islam Obscured: The Rhetoric of Anthropological Representation. Society for the Anthropology of Religion Series. New York: Palgrave.[Critical study of the academic rhetoric used in representing Islam in the seminal anthropological texts of Geertz, Gellner, Mernissi, and Ahmed. The epilogue builds on what anthropologists have learned by observing Muslims; this is offered as a prolegomenon to future anthropological study within Islamic contexts and more effective sharing of ethnographic analysis with scholars outside the discipline. Reviewed in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 25(2):123-125,2008; Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 58(2):133-154, 2006; The Journal of North African Studies 14(2):309-316, 2009; and the Journal of Islamic Studies, 18(2):254-257, 2007. Excerpts reprinted in Jens Kreinath, editor, The Anthropology of Islam Reader (New York: Routledge, 2012), 322-343.]
1997 Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen. Variorum Collected Studies. Hampshire, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited. [Collection of one original and 15 previously published articles. These describe my research on traditional Yemeni agriculture, seasonal almanac lore, medieval Yemeni agricultural, and astronomical texts. Reviews in Bulletin of the Middle East Studies Association 33:206-207, 1999; and al-’Usur al-Wusta.]
1994 Medieval Agriculture and Islamic Science. The Almanac of a Yemeni Sultan (Arabic edition, English translation, commentary]. Seattle: University of Washington Press. xv, 349 pp. [Arabic edition, English translation, commentary. First major study of the almanac tradition in Yemen. The methodology for the book combines ethnographic study of traditional Yemeni agriculture and dialect with a historical study of a 13th century Yemeni almanac. One of the published reviewers of the manuscript, A. I. Sabra (Harvard), said “"No library concerned with the history of science, economic and agricultural history, medieval technology, and anthropology can afford not to obtain a copy of this book."” Reviews have appeared in Annals of the Association of American Geographers 87(1):186-187, 1997; Asian Folklore Studies 55(1):190, 1996; British Journal of Middle East Studies 22(1-2):202-203, 1995; Bulletin of the Middle East Studies Association, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 59(1):148-150, 1996; Der Islam 74:374-378, 1997; Historische Zeitschrift 262:576-577, 1996; Isis 86(3):476-477, 1995; Journal of the American Oriental Society 116(1):151-152, 1996; Journal for the Economic and Social History of the Orient 41(1):121-123, 1998; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 5(3)415-417, 1995; Journal of Semitic Studies 41(1)178-179, 1996; al-Ma'thûrât al-Sha'biyya 38:19-23, 123-125, 1995; Tarih Incelemeleri Dergisi 20(1):167-169, 2005; Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 10:348-351, 1995/96.]
In Preparation
Sultans with Green Thumbs: A History of Agriculture in Rasulid Yemen (13th-15th centuries)
[Note: Several of the articles here are available on my academia.edu site.]
2025 Forward. In Muhammad ‘Abd al-Rahim Jazim, “Kitab al-Safar: A Book on the Management of Travel by a Yemeni Rasulid Sultan,” al-‘Usuur al-Wusta 33: 447-481.
Qabîla, Jirbah and Tanmiyah: Tribes and Agriculture in the Northern Highlands of Yemen. In Marieke Brandt, editor, Tribes in Modern Yemen: An Anthology, 79-93. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Science. Sammlung Eduard Glaser #XVIII. Open Access at https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at/tribes-modern-yemen-an-anthology. [Study of the role of Yemeni tribalism in agriculture and agricultural development.]
A Late Yemeni Copy of Rasulid Almanac Lore. Arabia Felix Center for Studies, September. Online at https://arabiafelixstudies.com/en/?s=Variscohttps://arabiafelixstudies.com/en/?s=Varisco (Edition and annotated translation of a post-Rasulid Yemeni almanac.]
Ta'rîkh azmat al-miyâh fî al-Yaman. Arabia Felix Center for Studies, April.
https://arabiafelixstudies.com/?????-????-??????-??-?????/
[Arabic tanslation of 2019 Pumping Yemen Dry: A History of Yemen's Water Crisis.]
Clonal Diversity, Cultivar Traits, Geographic Dispersal, and the Ethnotaxonomy of Cultivated Qat (Catha edulis, Celastracaea). [co-authored with Luke R. Tembrock, Mark P. Simmons, Christopher M. Richards, Patrick A. Reeves, Ann Reilley, Manuel A. Curto, Harald Meimberg, Grace Ngugi, Sebsebe Demissew, Abdul Wali Al Khulaidi, Mansoor Al-Thobhani, Sheron Simpson] Economic Botany 74(3)273-291.
The State of Agriculture in the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, 1918-1962: A Documentary Overview. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften / Austrian Academy of Sciences, AAS WORKING PAPERS IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Volume 32. Available online at http://epub.oeaw.ac.at/wpsa32. [Translation of several major sources into English.]
Darwin and Dunya: Muslim Responses to Darwinian Evolution. Journal of International and Global Studies. 9(2):14-39. Available online at https://www.lindenwood.edu/academics/beyond-the-classroom/publications/journal-of-international-global-studies/all-issues/volume-9-number-2/ [Discussion of Muslim responses to Darwin and biological evolution.]
Phylogeography of the Wild and Cultivated Stimulant Plant Qat (Catha edulis, Celastraceae) in Areas of Historical Cultivation. [co-authored with Luke R. Tembrock, Mark P. Simmons, Christopher M. Richards, Patrick A. Reeves, Ann Reilley, Manuel A. Curto, Harald Meimberg, Grace Ngugi, Sebsebe Demissew, Abdul Wali Al Khulaidi, Mansoor Al-Thobhani, Sheron Simpson] American Journal of Botany 104(4):538-549.
Preface. In Bryan S. Turner and Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, eds. The Sociology of Islam: Collected Essays of Bryan S. Turner, ix-xii. Farnham: Ashgate.
East vs. West, Orient vs. Occident: The Binary that Haunts Orientalism
and the Clash of Civilizations. In Seyed Javad Miri, ed. Orientalism,
A Eurocentric Version of the ‘Other, 79-104. London: International
Peace Studies Centre Press. [Discussion of Said's Orientalism thesis
and Huntington's “Clash of Civilizations" thesis.]
Lebenselixier oder Teufelszeug? Die Debatte über gesellschaftlichen
Nutzen und Schaden der “Volksdroge” Khat im Jemen.
In Die Araber im 21. Jahrhundert: Politik, Gesellschaft, Kulture,
Thorsten Gerald Schneiders, ed. 181-209. Wiesbaden: Springer. [Translation
of Varisco (2004).]
2010
Muslims and the Media in the Blogosphere. Contemporary
Islam 4(1):157-177. [Study of the use of websites and blogs by
Muslims, including dating sites.]
The Milh al-Malâha of al-Malik al-Ashraf ‘'Umar
(d. 696/1296): Situating the Ur-Text of the Rasulid Agricultural Corpus.
Chroníques du Manuscrit au Yémen.#9. Online at https://journals.openedition.org/cmy/1892?lang=en.
[Analysis of the earliest Yemeni agricultural treatise.]
Grease-Monkeys and Bedouin Girls: The Rhetorical Fate of Arabs and Muslims in Nadine Gordimer's The Pickup. Tingis Redux, December. Online at: http://www.tingisredux.com/article/greasemonkeys_and_bedouin_girls.html[Critique of the prejudicial elements in Nadine Gordimer's novel about an unnamed Arab and Muslim country.]
2009
Inventing Islamism:: The Violence of Rhetoric. In Richard Martin
and Abbas Barzegar, eds. Islamism: Contested Perspectives on Political
Islam, 33-47, 125-132. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[I provide an essay criticizing use of the term 'Islamism"
and Don Emmerson writes in defense of the term, with responses from a range
of scholars and our final comments on these responses.]
Orientalism's Wake: The Ongoing Politics
of a Polemic. Viewpoints, 12, The Middle East Institute.
Electronic document. Pdf available at http://mei.edu/Portals/0/Publications/Orientalism.pdf
[My essay is alongside several others, including scholars who reviewed
the original Orientalism by Said.]
Agriculture in al-Hamdânî’s Yemen: A Survey from Early Islamic Geographical Texts. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 52(3):382-412. [Detailed study of what we know about Yemeni agriculture through texts until the 11th century CE.]
2007
The Tragedy of a Comic: Fundamentalists Crusading against Fundamentalists.
Contemporary Islam 1(3):207-230. [Study of the Islamophobic
rhetoric of Jack Chick and his comic book entitled 'The Prophet'.]
Turning Over a New Leaf: The Impact of Qât (Catha edulis) in Yemeni Horticulture. In Michel Conan and W. John Kress, eds. Botanical Progress, Horticultural Innovations and Cultural Changes, 239-256. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. [Survey of the history of the qât plant in Yemen with a focus on its origins, botanical aspects and economic impact.]
Virtual Dasein: Ethnography in Cyberspace.
CyberOrient
Vol.
2, #1 [In this essay I argue that one way of approaching the ethnography
of cyberspace is to treat it as virtual Dasein, in which the issue becomes
being there in something-like-a-world yet still being in the world. Ethnographers
now need to consider the impact of the Internet on the people they study,
even in the remotest villages. Our involvement with the Internet demands
a reflexivity that goes beyond musing over the mutant prospect of becoming
cyborgs to assessing a new combination of humans, technology and information.]
Making "Medieval" Islam Meaningful. Medieval
Encounters 13(3):385-412. [Critique of the use of “medieval”
as a period marker in the history of Islam, with an emphasis on Yemen.]
All that Clash Talk: Doing Cultural Anthropology in the Contemporary
Middle East. Teaching Anthropology: SACC Notes 13(2):14-19.
[Reflective essay on the role of the Middle East anthropologist as activist.]
2006
Reflections on Fieldwork in Yemen: The Genealogy of a Diary in Response
to Rabinow's Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco. Anthropology
of the Middle East 1(2):35-62) [In preparation for writing an ethnographic
monograph on fieldwork in Yemen, I compare and contrast my field diary,
written in 1978-79, with Paul Rabinow's Reflections on Fieldwork
in Morocco (1977). The underlying question is what post-fieldwork reflections
reflect meaningfully about the immediacy of ethnographic fieldwork. Point
by point, I examine the implications of graduate training in anthropology,
culture shock, health problems, language skills and the rhetoric of narrative
writing.]
The State of Agriculture in Late 13th Century Rasulid Yemen. Convegno Storia e Cultura dello Yemen in Età Islamica, con Particolare Riferimento al Periodo Rasûlide, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Fondazione Leone Caetani, Rome, 30-31 October, 2003, 161-174. Rome. [Discussion of the important Rasulid agricultural treatise of al-Malik al-Ashraf.]
2004
Reading Against Culture in Edward Said's Culture and Imperialism.
Culture, Theory and Critique 45(2):93-112. [Critical analysis
of Said's borrowing of the culture concept from Matthew Arnold and his
lack of engagement with the variety of culture concepts current in anthropology
since Tylor.]
The Elixer of Life or the Devil's Cud: The Debate over Qat (Catha edulis) in Yemeni Culture. In Ross Coomber and Nigel South, eds. Drug Use and Cultural Context: Tradition, Change and Intoxicants beyond 'The West', 101-118. London: Free Association Books. [Analysis of the role of qât as a stimulant in Yemeni society.]
1996
Water Sources and Traditional Irrigation in Yemen,
New Arabian Studies 3:238-257. [Revision of a chapter from my dissertation
on the range of water sources and types of irrigation in Yemen; covers seasonal
floods, wells, springs and cisterns, qanats and surface runoff. Reprinted in
Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
1995
The Tribal Paradigm and the Genealogy of Muhammad.
Anthropological Quarterly 68(3):139- 156. Reprinted in: Mona Siddiqui,
editor, Islam, Vol. 1 (Sage, 2011) [Examines the Arabic texts on
the genealogy of Muhammad in light of anthropological studies of kinship (especially
the segmentary lineage concept) in the Middle East. The paper concludes that
the formal genealogy is not credible as recorded but rather a form of textual
legitimization of Muhammad as a prophet. This article appears in a special issue
called "Anthropological Analysis and Islamic Texts," for which I was
guest editor.]
Indigenous Plant Protection Methods in Yemen. GeoJournal 37(1):27-38. [Describes indigenous methods of plant protection among Yemeni farmers based on field research conducted for Yemen's Ministry of Agriculture in 1992. In addition to the documentation, the article discusses recommendations for integrated pest management in Yemen. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
The Astrological Significance of the Lunar Stations
in the 13th Century Rasulid Text of al-Malik al-Ashraf, Quaderni
di Studi Arabi 13:19-40. [Analysis of a prognosticative excerpt on the
lunar stations from a late 13th century Yemeni manuscript by al-Malik al-Ashraf;
includes an annotated translation of the excerpt. This article was solicited
by Dr. Anne Regourd (Paris) for a special issue on divination and magic in Yemen.]
1994-5
The Prophet's Medicine: Part 1.The World & I, 9(12):262-271,
December. Part 2 published in 10/1:263-271, January. [This
is a general article on the history of the scientific genre known as the "Prophet's
Medicine" in Islamic tradition. I describe the kind of medical advice in
the texts with several translated examples. It is one of the few accounts in
English of this important genre of Arab science. The article was reprinted in
The Yemen Times in 1995.]
1993
The Agricultural Marker Stars in Yemeni Folklore. Asian Folklore
Studies 52:119-142. [First study in English of a Yemeni star calendar
based on the conjunction of the moon and the Pleiades. It includes original
research on Yemeni manuscripts, as well as the results of ethnographic study
among Yemeni farmers. Solicited in 1991 by Dr. Saad A. Sowayan for a special
issue on Arabian folklore. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy
and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
Texts and Pretexts: The Unity of the Rasulid
State in the Reign of al-Malik al-Muzaffar. Revue du Monde Musulman
et de la Méditerranée 67(1):13-21.[Historical survey of
the Yemeni Rasulid sultan al-Malik al-Muzaffar. Solicited by Dr. Michel Tuchscherer
(Aix-en-Provence) for a special issue on Yemeni unity.]
A Rasulid Agricultural Almanac for A.H. 808/A.D. 1405-6. New
Arabian Studies 1:108-123. [English translation of the Yemeni almanac
I edited in Dirâsât Yamaniyya (20:192-222). The manuscript is from
the Egyptian National Library. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy
and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
1992
Al-Hisab al-zirâ'î fî urjûzat Hasan al-‘'Affârî.
al-Iklîl 13(22):83-99. [Discussion and edition of a Yemeni agricultural
poem on the seasons.]
1991
The Future of Terrace Farming in North Yemen:
A Development Dilemma. Agriculture and Human Values (Gainesville,
FL) 8(1&2):166-172. [Development potential of traditional Yemeni terrace
agriculture. Solicited by Dr. Dennis Warren (Iowa State University) for a special
issue highlighting indigenous agricultural knowledge.]
A Royal Crop Register from Rasulid Yemen. Journal of the
Economic and Social History of the Orient (Leiden) 34:1-22. [Translation
of a Rasulid crop and tax register from the 14th century with extensive annotation
of the terms. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture
in Arabia and the Yemen.]
The Origin of the Anwâ' in Arab Tradition.
Studia Islamica (Leiden) 74:5-28. [Presentation of theory on the origin
of the lunar station concept in Arab tradition as a mixing of the zodiacal grid
from India with indigenous pre-Islamic Arab folk calendars. Reprinted in Varisco
(1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
Medieval Agricultural Texts from Rasulid Yemen. Manuscripts of the Middle East (Leiden) 4:150-154. [First published bibliography of Yemeni agricultural manuscripts. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
Rasulid Agriculture and the Almanac Tradition and Medicine and the Herbal in Medieval Yemen. in Yemen. 3000 Years of Art and Civilisation in Arabia Felix, W. Daum, ed., 309-321. Innsbruck: Pinguin. [This volume accompanied an exhibition on Yemen in the Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Munich in 1987. The papers were written in English and translated into German and Arabic for a separate edition.]
From Rhino Horns to Dagger Handles. Animal Kingdom (NY), May/June 92(3):44-49. [Article describing research conducted in Yemen and Kenya for the World Wildlife Fund on rhino conservation . The article looks at the marketing and use of rhino horn for making daggers in Yemen and suggests recommendations for curbing the trade.]
Al-Hisâb al-zirâ'î fî
urjuzat Hasan al-'Affârî. Dirâsat fî al-taqwîm
al-zirâ'î al-Yamanî. al- Ma'thûrât
al-Sha'biyya 16:7-29. [Annotated Arabic edition and commentary on an
18th century Yemeni poem on the seasons and folk astronomy. It includes eight
of my photographs. Reprinted in al-Iklil (Sanaa) 22/1 (1993):83-99 and Varisco
(1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
Beyond Rhino Horn -- Wildlife Conservation for North Yemen. Oryx
23(4):215-219. [Describes my wildlife conservation project on rhino
conservation for World Wildlife Fund in 1987. This is the journal of the Fauna
and Flora Preservation Society in England.]
The Anwâ' Stars According to Abû Ishâq al-Zajjâj.
Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften
5:145-166. [Annotated translation of one of
the earliest Arabic texts describing an important pre-Islamic star calendar
known as the anwâ'. This is the first translation into English of the
genre. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture
in Arabia and the Yemen.]
The Arab Gulf States Folklore Centre: A Resource
for the Study of Folklore and Traditional Culture. Bulletin of the
Middle East Studies Association 23:2:157-167. [Informational article
on the Arab Gulf States Folklore Centre for members of MESA. It also includes
an index of the center's journal, Ma'thûrât al-Sha'biyya.]
1988
Green Arabia. Continuity and Change in North Yemen. The World &I
3(5):514-523, May. [Article about Yemeni culture in North Yemen, where I
did my ethnographic fieldwork. I discuss the traditional social structure and
recent socioeconomic changes.]
Folk Tales from South Arabia. The World & I 3(7):503-509, July. [Translation and commentary of three traditional folk tales from South Arabia. One is on a religious theme and two deal with tribal and family honor.]
1987
The Rain Periods in Pre-Islamic Arabia. Arabica 34:251-266. [Study of the lunar station concept in Arab tradition, based on research conducted in Cairo in 1983. The focus of the study is on the rain periods indicated in poetry and early prose for pre-Islamic Arabia as compared to recent folklore from the region. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
1985
The Production of Sorghum (Dhurah) in Highland
Yemen. Arabian Studies (Cambridge) 7:53-88. [Survey of the
cultivation and use of sorghum in Yemen, based both on my ethnographic research
and medieval Yemeni manuscripts. It includes a glossary of variety names and
Arabic terminology. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk Astronomy and
Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
Al-Tawqî'ât fî taqwîm al-zirâ'a
al-majhûl min 'asr mulûk Banî Rasûl. Dirâsât
Yamaniyya (Sanaa, YAR) 20:192-222. [Critical
edition of an early 15th century Rasulid almanac with introductory commentary.
The article was written in order to share the results of my research on Yemeni
agriculture with a Yemeni audience. Reprinted in Varisco (1997), Medieval Folk
Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
1984
Affluence and the Concept of the Tribe in the Central Highlands of the
Yemen Arab Republic. In Affluence and Cultural Survival, R.
Salisbury and E. Tooker, eds., 134-149. Washington, DC: American Ethnological
Society. [This is a joint paper, co-authored with Najwa Adra, and presented
at the American Ethnological Society in 1981. Discusses the impact of relative
affluence from remittance wealth on a rural agricultural valley in highland
Yemen. Concludes that a hierarchical folk model of social structure does not
necessarily imply a stratified society and examines the underlying system of
signification in the tribal concept.]
1983
Sayl and Ghayl: The Ecology of Water Allocation
in Yemen. Human Ecology (NY) 11:365-383. [Summary of the
main thesis of my Ph.D. study on the ecology of irrigation in Yemen. The article
compares highland spring irrigation with information on coastal flood systems.
I argue that tribal political organization is an adaptive response to highland
spring flow allocation but undergoes stress in coastal flood systems with the
potential for major upstream-downstream conflict. Reprinted in Varisco (1997),
Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.]
Irrigation in an Arabian Valley: A System of Highland Terraces in the Yemen Arab Republic. Expedition (Philadelphia) 25(2)26-34. [Description of my ethnographic research on irrigation in Yemen with 12 photographs. Expedition is the quarterly publication of the University Museum of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.]
1982
The Ard in Highland Yemeni Agriculture. Tools
and Tillage (Copenhagen) 4(3):158-172. [Survey of plough cultivation
in the Yemeni highlands. The article contains 14 of my photographs. Tools and
Tillage is the journal of the International Secretariat for Research on the
History of Agricultural Implements, based in Denmark. Reprinted in Varisco (1997),
Medieval Folk Astronomy and Agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen.
The Recent Evolution of "Scientific Creationism." In Confronting the Creationists, S. Pastner and W. Haviland, eds., 12-26. Northeastern Anthropological Association Occasional Proceedings, 1. [I examine the fundamentalist rhetoric of Henry Morris and show how "scientific creationism" is not "scientific." Suggestions are given for dealing with creationist students in the classroom. This article was presented at the Northeastern Anthropological Association annual meeting in 1982 as part of a panel on creationism and evolutionary anthropology.]
1976
The Fundamentalist Challenge to Science Education: A Critique. Journal of the Society for Educational Reconstruction, Cutting Edge 7(4):8-14. [This is my first professional article based on research conducted for my M.A. thesis. It looks at creationist rhetoric, including so-called "scientific creationism" and how educators can best deal with such rhetoric.]
2016
Agriculture and Irrigation. In Richard Martin, editor, Encyclopedia
of Islam and the Muslim World, Second Edition, 1:21-24. Farmington Hills,
MI: Gale, Cengage Learning.
Rasulids. In Richard Martin, editor, Encyclopedia of Islam
and the Muslim World, Second Edition, 2:952. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale,
Cengage Learning.
Travel and Travelers. In Richard Martin, editor, Encyclopedia
of Islam and the Muslim World, Second Edition, 2:1183-1185. Farmington
Hills, MI: Gale, Cengage Learning.
2015
Folk Astronomy and Calendars in Yemen. In Clive Ruggles, ed. Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, 1935-1940. Dordrecht: Springer.
Orientalism.
In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, James D. Wright, editor-in-chief, 17:423-427. Oxford: Elsevier.
2011
al-Malik al-Afdal. Published online at http://www.filaha.org/authors_works.html. [Biography of this 14th century Yemeni sultan and author.]
2010
Sociology and Anthropology. Oxford Bibliographies Online (http:// oxfordbibliographiesonline.com).
Orientalism and Islam. Oxford Bibliographies Online (http://oxfordbibliographiesonline.com).
Islam in Yemen. Oxford Bibliographies Online (http://oxfordbibliographiesonline.com).
2004
Moon, Numbers. Encyclopaedia of the Quran, 3:414-15, 554-555. Leiden: Brill.
2002
ZAYTÛN. The Encyclopaedia of Islam (second edition), 10:486-487. [Historical survey of the cultivation and use of the olive in the Islamic world.]
1998
TAKWÎM. 2. Agricultural Almanacs. The Encyclopaedia of Islam (second edition), 9:146-148. [Survey of the history of the almanac as a literary and scientific genre in Arabic.]
2023
Understanding Islam. Positions of Knowledge, Turner, 2023. Bibliotheca Orientalis 80/3-4:201-205.
Practicing Community in Urban and Rural Asia (1000-1600), Kümmeler, Majorossy, Hovden, 2021. Bibliotheca Orientalis 80/3-4:396-400.
A Handbook of Modern Arabic Historical Scholarship on the Ancient and Medieval Periods, Baadj, 2021. Journal of the American Oriental Society 143(2):468-469.
Ibn al-Mujawir, Sifat bilad al-Yaman wa-Makka wa-ba'd al-Hijaz al-musammat Tarikh al-mustabsir. Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Jazim, editor, 2022. Al-'Usur al-Wusta 31 (2023): 228-231. Online at https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/alusur/index
2022
The Religion and Rituals of the Nomads of Pre-Islamic Arabia, al-Jallad, 2022. Bibliotheca Orientalis 79(5-6):641-643.
Reopening Muslim Minds: A Return to Reason, Freedom and Tolerance, Akyol, 2021. Bibliotheca Orientalis 79(3-4):403-405.
The Villages of the Fayyum: A Thirteenth-Century Register of Rural, Islamic Egypt, Rapoport and Shahar, and Rural Economy and Tribal Society in Islamic Egypt: A Study of Nâbulsî's Villages of the Fayyum, Rapoport, Joural of the American Oriental Society 142(1):193-194.
What is Religious Authority? Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia, Alatas, 2021. Bibliotheca Orientalis 79(3-4):405-408.
2021
A Culture of Ambiguity, An Alternative History of Islam. Bauer, 2021 Bibliotheca Orientalis 77(5-6):786-789.
Knowledge, Authority and Change in Islamic Societies. Studies in Honor of Dale F. Eickelman, Fromherz and Samin, eds., 2021. Bibliotheca Orientalis 77(5-6):783-785.
Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies: Studies on Diplomacy and Diplomatics. Edited by Frédéric Bauden and Malika Dekkiche, 2019. Journal of the American Oriental Society 141:1:220-222.
Islamic Law of the Sea: Freedom of Navigation and Passage Rights in Islamic Thought, Khalilieh, 2020. Bibliotheca Orientalis 78(1-2):245-248.
A Maritime Lexicon: Arabic Nautical Terminology in the Indian Ocean, al-Salimi and Staples, 2019. Journal of the American Oriental Society 141(4):959-961.
The Persistence of Orientalism: Anglo-American Historians and Modern Egypt, Gran, 2020. Middle East Journal 75(2):328.
Islamic Charities and Islamic Humanism in Troubled Times, Benthall, 2016. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 27:171-172.
Changing Qatar: Culture, Citizenship, and Rapid Modernization, Harkness, 2020. Social Forces 99(4):e11.
2020
Bughyat al-fallâhîn fî al-ashjar al-muthmira wa-al-rayâhîn, al-Malik al-Afdal al-‘Abbâs b. ‘Alî b. Dâwûd al-Rasûlî. Edited by Khâlid Khalfân b. Nâsir al-Wahîbî (2016). al-Usur al-Wusta. Vol. 28:443-447. Online at https://www.middleeastmedievalists.com/al-usur-al-wßusta
Lost Maps of the Caliphs: Drawing the World in Eleventh-Century Cairo, Yossef Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith, 2018. Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture. Online at https://digital.kenyon.edu/peregrinations/vol7/iss2/6
Shipped but not Sold: Material Culture and the Social Protocols of Trade during Yemen's Age of Coffee, Um, 2017. Journal of the American Oriental Society 140(2):508-509.
Traditional Yemeni Scholarship amidst Political Turmoil and War: Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Ismâ‘il b. al-Mutahhar al-Mansûr (1915-2016) and His Personal Library, Schmidtke, 2018. Journal of the American Oriental Society 140(2):511-513.
The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: A Global History, Beaujard, 2019. Bibliotheca Orientalis 77(1-2):181-182.
2018
Tribes and Politics in Yemen: A History of the Houthi Conflict, Brandt, 2017, Review of Middle East Studies 52(2):392-394.
Shari'a Scripts, Messick, 2018. The British-Yemeni Society Journal 26:57-59.
The Iranian Metaphysicals: Explorations in Science, Islam, and the Uncanny, Doostdar, 2018. Reading Religion, May 23. Available online at http://readingreligion.org/books/iranian-metaphysicals
2017
Water Histories and Spatial Archaeology: Ancient Yemen and the American West, Harrower, 2016, Review of Middle East Studies 51(1):101-103.
2016
The Arab of the Desert: A Glimpse into Bedawin Life in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Dickson, 2015, The Journal of International Studies 7(2):89-90.
Muhammad in the Digital Age, Khan, 2015, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 85(3):864-866.
Why Yemen Matters: A Society in Transition, Helen Lackner (ed.), 2014, BSOAS 77(3):596-597.
2013
L'Arabie marchande: état et commerce sous les sultans rasûlides du Yémen (626-858/1229-145), Vallet, 2010, Journal of the American Oriental Society 133(1):187-189.
Yemen Divided: The Story of a Failed State in South Arabia, Brehony, 2013. Times Literary Supplement, August.
Muslim Worldviews and Everyday Lives, El-Aswad, 2012. Anthropos 108:632-633.
Life among the Anthros and Other Essays, Geertz, 2012. Contemporary Islam 7(2): 249-250.
Wathâ'iq Madînat al-Qasr bi-al-Wâhât al-Dakhla: Masdarân li-Ta'rîkh Misr fî al- ‘Asr al- ‘Uthmânî, Peters, 2011, Journal of the American Oriental Society 133(2):408-409.
Debating Orientalism, Elmarsafy, Bernard, Attwell, 2013, Review of Middle East Studies 47(2):243-244.
2012
Contesting Realities: The Public Sphere and Morality in Southern Yemen, Dahlgren, 2010, Islamic Law and Society 19:320-323.
Islamic Medical and Scientific Tradition, Pormann, 2011, Journal of the American Oriental Society 132(2):333-334.
Questioning the Veil, Lazreg. Contemporary Islam 6(2):215-218.
iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam, Bunt, 2009, Contemporary Islam 6(1):99-102.
Consumption, Trade and Innovation: Exploring the Botanical Remains from the Roman and Islamic Ports at Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt, van der Veen, 2011, Journal of Semitic Studies 57(2):439-440.
2011
Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul: The Pertinence of Islamic Cosmology in the Modern World, Chittick, 2007, Contemporary Islam 5(1):81-84.
Volkstümliche Astronomie im islamischen Mittelalter, Schmidl, Bibliotheca Orientalis 68:626-627.
The Ocher Land: Images of Yemen 1985-1990, Dufour, Review of Middle East Studies 45(1):99-100.
Scientific Expeditions to the Arab World (1761-1881), Klaver, 2009, Review of Middle East Studies 45(2):256-258.
Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of
Islam, Donner, 2010. Journal of the American Oriental Society
129(3):461-463.
The Enlightenment Qur'an: The Politics of Translation and the Construction
of Islam, Elmarsafy, 2009. Journal
of the American Oriental Society 129(3):464-465.
The World of Murtada al-Zabîdî (1732-1791): Life, Networks
and Writings, Reichmuth. 2009. Journal of the American Oriental
Society 129(4):709-710.
A Call for Heresy: Why Dissent is Vital to Islam and America, Majid,
2007. Contemporary Islam 4(2):251-253.
Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature, Cook, 2005. Contemporary
Islam 4(3):353.
2007
Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden, Lawrence, 2005, Contemporary Islam 1(1):105-06. http://www.springerlink.com/content/1872-0226
Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence, Ali, 2006, Contemporary Islam 1(1):107-908. http://www.springerlink.com/content/1872-0226
Powers of the Secular Modern: Talal Asad and His Interlocutors, Scott and Hirschkind, 2006, Contemporary Islam 1(2):203-205.
Oil and Water. Two Faiths: One God, Hussain, 2006, Contemporary Islam 1(3):323-325.
A Modern Pilgrim in Mecca and a Siege in Sanaa, Wavell, 2005[1912], American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 24(4):113-115.
2006
A Medieval Administrative and Fiscal Treatise from the Yemen: The Rasulid Mulakhkhas al-Fitan of al-Hasan B. ‘Ali al-Husayni, Smith, 2006, Al-‘Usur al-Wusta 18(2):38.
Tolerance and Coercion in Islam: Interfaith Relations in the Muslim Tradition, Friedman, 2003, Islamic Law and Society 13(2):285-287.
Islam, Memory, and Morality in Yemen: Ruling Families in Transition, vom Bruck, 2005, American Journal of Islamic Social Science 23(4):117-120.
Folklore and Folklife in the United Arab Emirates, Sayyid Hamid Hurreiz, 2002, Asian Folklore Studies LXV(2):362-364.
2005
Measures and Weights in the Islamic World: An English Translation of Walther Hinz’s Handbook Islamische Masse und Gewichte, translated by M.I. Marcinkowski, 2003. Journal of the American Oriental Society 125(2):333-335.
2000
The ‘'Amiriya in Rada': The History and Restoration of a Sixteenth-Century
Madrasa in the Yemen, Al-Radi, 1997, Bulletin of the Middle East
Studies Association 34(1):98-9
Medicine of the Prophet, Johnstone, 1998, Bulletin of the Middle East Studies Association 34:210-211.
Dutch-Yemeni Encounters: Activities of the United East India Company (VOC) in South Arabian Waters since 1614, Brouwer, 1998, Yemen Update 42:58-62.
Jemen: Von Weihrauch zum Erdöl, Brunner, 1999. Yemen Update 42:68-69.
Tha'labî Storia di Bilqîs regina di Saba, Canova, 2000. Yemen Update 42:69-70. (http://www.aiys.org/webdate/canov.html)
Zâhira al-Qât fî al-Yaman, Muharram, 2000, Yemen Update 42:57.
New Arabian Studies, Volume 5, 2000, Yemen Update 42:55-56.
1999
Studies in the Medieval History of the Yemen and South Arabia, Smith, 1998, Journal of Semitic Studies 44(2):343-345.
Indigo in the Arab World, Balfour-Paul, 1997, Journal of Semitic Studies 44(1):161-162.
The Nile, Sharing a Scarce Resource, Howell and Allen, 1994, Islamic Law and Society 6:288-291.
The Jews of Yemen, Tobi, 1999, Yemen Update 41:53-55.
1998
Society and Trade in South Arabia, Serjeant, 1996, Journal of Semitic Studies 43(2):398-399.
AL-MUKHA. Profile of a Yemeni Seaport..., Brouwer, 1997, Yemen Update 40:48-51.
Hadhrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s-1960s, Freitag and Clarence-Smith, 1997, Yemen Update 40:59-62.
The Islamic Middle East: An Historical Anthropology, Lindholm, 1996, Bulletin of the Middle East Studies Association 32:58-59.
New Arabian Studies, 4, 1997, Yemen Update 40:65-67.
Sbahtu! a Course in San‘'ânî Arabic, Watson, 1996, Yemen Update 40:63-64.
Tournaments of Value: Sociability and Hierarchy in a Yemeni Town, Meneley, 1996, Yemen Update 40:55-57.
Yemen, Aucherlonie, 1998, Yemen Update 40:45-47.
Yemen: Travels in Dictionary Land, Mackintosh-Smith, 1997, Bulletin of the Middle East Studies Association 32:76-77.
1997
Water in the Middle East, Allan and Mallat,
1995, Islamic Law and Society 4(1):247-250.
L'Agriculture Nabatéene, Fahd, 1993-95, Journal
of the American Oriental Society 117(2):389-390.
Studies in Arabian Architecture, Costa, 1994, Yemen Update
40:36.
Portraits of Yemen, Crociani, 1996) Yemen Update 40:38-39.
The Jews of Yemen, Nini, 1991, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 55:202-203.
Natâ'ig al-fikar des Sa'bân ibn Salîm al-San'ânî. Eine jemenitische Gesundheitsfibel aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert. Text, Übersetzung und Kommentar, Schopen and Kahl, 1993, Journal of the American Oriental Society116(1):177.
Kitâb al-Anwâ' wa al-azmina, Ibn 'Asim, Nogués, 1993, Journal of the American Oriental Society 116(2):324-325.
Farmers and Fishermen in Arabia: Studies in Customary Law and Practice, Serjeant, 1995, Journal of Semitic Studies 97:377-378.
The Legacy of Muslim Spain, Jayyusi, 1994, Yemen Update 38:29-30
Herb Drugs and Herbalists in Syria and North Yemen, Honda et al. 1990, Journal of the American Oriental Society 112(1):167-168.
1990
CyberOrient (Editor-in-Chief, 2006-2023) http:www.cyberorient.net
Contemporary Islam, Editor (2006-2016)
Yemen Update (1991-2001). [My articles in Yemen Update are listed here.]
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World, Second Edition, Associate Editor (2013-2016)
Journal of Arabian Studies, Editorial Board (2018-present)
1975
Archaeology as Apologetic: Towards an Understanding of the Fundamentalist
Paradigm. M.A. thesis, Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.[In
this thesis I examine the rhetoric of Christian fundamentalists who argue that
archaeology proves biblical historicity and compare this to creationist rhetoric
and the so-called “lunatic fringe” in archaeology.]
EXPERIENCE:
ASSIGNMENTS:
2009-2012
The World Bank (Washington, DC)
Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance concept (http://go.worldbank.org/MXWJ6T5RS0). Panel of Experts. Analysis of ESA.
2005
The World Bank (Washington, DC)
Sustainable Livelihoods Analysis (PRA field research in Yemeni villages) and preparation of Yemen Country Social Analysis.
2004
The World Bank (Washington, DC)
Scoping mission for preparation of Yemen Country Social Analysis.
1997
The World Bank (Washington, DC)
Preparation of resettlement plan for the Aden Free Trade Zone in Yemen. Evaluation mission.
Golder Associates (Gainesville, Florida)
Analysis of resettlement issue for Environmental Impact Assessment of proposed YemenInvest Free Trade Zone in Aden, Yemen.
1992
The World Bank (Washington, DC)
Pre-appraisal mission for resource management project in Western Egypt. Focus on community participation and women in development. Preparation of Environmental Mitigation Plan.
GTZ (Germany)
Integrated Pest Management project. Collection and documentation of indigenous farmer knowledge on plant protection in Yemen. Team Leader.
WASH Project (Arlington, VA)
(1) Development of guidelines for effective wastewater and solid waste management in WASH and AID projects. Anthropologist on five-person team. (2) Development of guidelines for community participation on projects in water and sanitation.
1991
Tams Consultants (NY)
(1) Socioenvironmental analysis for IDB- sponsored hydroelectric project in Rio Chixoy, Guatemala. (2) Preparation of proposal for environmental impact analysis of hydroelectric project in Chile.
The World Bank (Washington, DC)
(1) Supervision mission of four IDA-funded agricultural projects in Republic of Yemen; visits to Aden and the Hadramawt. (2) Preparation of issues paper on conservation and agriculture for Yemen Agricultural Sector Study.
1990
Tams Consultants (NY)
(1) Socioenvironmental analysis for IDB- sponsored hydroelectric project in Rio Chixoy, Guatemala. Responsible for cultural resources, species and habitat conservation and resettlement issues. (2) Environmental impact analysis for the US Navy's proposed base closings in Philadelphia, South Weymouth, and Detroit. Responsible for four chapters and sections on community impact.
The World Bank (Washington, DC)
Preparation of environmental issues brief on the Yemen Arab Republic. Analysis of environmental issues with Yemeni officials.
1989
International Council for Bird Preservation (Cambridge)
Team leader for USAID Biological Diversity Assessment of the Yemen Arab Republic. Coordinated international team of scientists and consultants. Analysis of biodiversity issues with Yemeni officials. Field study in remnant tropical forest.
1988
Development Associates (Arlington, VA)
(1) Preparation of USAID project paper for participant training of Dominican students in the USA. Interviews with government officials in the Dominican Republic.(2) Evaluation of USAID participant training program in the Yemen Arab Republic. Interviews with returned participants and government officials.
1987
World Wildlife Fund (Washington, DC)
USAID- sponsored project on rhinoceros conservation. Study of rhino horn use in North Yemen and local wildlife conservation issues. Developed strategy for initiating wildlife conservation program in Yemen. Interviews with government officials in Yemen and Kenya, Yemeni craftsmen and consumers.
WASH (Arlington, VA)
USAID- sponsored study of handpump feasibility and potential for local manufacture in the Yemen Arab Republic. Interviews with government officials, Yemeni businessmen, and villagers. Design of handpump project.
1985
USAID (Sanaa mission, Yemen Arab Republic)
(1) Preparation of draft for country background section in CDSS; (2) Study of private sector initiatives for USAID mission. Review of proposals and interviews with local businessmen.
Consortium for International Development (Corvallis)
(1) Social soundness analysis for USAID irrigation project paper. (2) Preparation of report on water rights and land tenure issues in the Yemen Arab Republic. Field study and interviews with local officials.
1984
Consortium for International Development (Corvallis)
Study of beneficiary issues for USAID irrigation project in the Yemen Arab Republic. Interviews with farmers and government officials.
1983
Consortium for International Development (Corvallis)
Social analysis for USAID project identification document for irrigation in the Yemen Arab Republic.
American Institute for Yemeni Studies (Sanaa, YAR)
Principal author of Social and Institutional Profile of Yemen Arab Republic for USAID.
1982
Pragma Corporation (Falls Church, VA)
Social scientist on Agricultural Sector Assessment of the Yemen Arab Republic for USAID. Assisted team leader on final report preparation in Washington.
2012
The Humanitarian Implications of Yemen's water crisis. NOREF
Briefing Note.
2005
Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Yemen. [Report prepared
for the World Bank.]
2004
Key Sociocultural Issues for the Yemen Country Social Analysis. [Report
prepared for the World Bank.]
1997
Field Report: Resettlement Issue. Prepared
for Golder Associates (Gainesville, FL) for Environmental Assessment for Aden
Free Zone Development Projects. [Field report of Environmental Impact Assessment
on resettlement issue with sections for main environmental assessment for the
World Bank and annexes of documentation and photographs.]
1992
Popular Participation for the Matrouh Natural Resource Management Project. [Report
submitted to the World Bank].
Indigenous Plant Protection in Yemen. [Report prepared for GTZ, Yemen German Plant Protection Project, Sanaa].
1991
Review of Socioenvironmental Issues for Serchil
Range of Options. N.Y.: TAMS Consultants.
Strategy for Integrating Environmental Conservation in Agricultural
Projects in the Republic of Yemen. [Report prepared for The World
Bank].
Review of Actions for Resource Conservation in IDA-Assisted Agricultural
Projects of the Republic of Yemen. [Report prepared for The World
Bank].
2026
Mamluk Egyptian Agriculture in Yemeni Rasulid Sources. Twelfth
Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
PA, July.
Fada'il Ahl al-Yaman: Framing the Sacred Virtues of Yemen. Yemen: History,
Religion, Culture, and Conflicts Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
April.
2025
A Unique Zodiacal Almanac from Rasulid Yemen. Middle East Studies Association,
Washington, D.C., November.
2024
Beyond
the Monsoon Horizon: Variability in Sailing in the Red Sea/Indian Ocean Network.
Lisbon
Rutter Project, Navigating the Transcultural Indian Ocean: Texts and Practices
in Contact, 4-5 June. Zoom Talk.
2023
The Microeconomics of Highland Yemeni Agriculture in the Late 13th Century.
Middle East Studies Association, Montreal, November.
Not Your Average Ratl: Weights and Measures in Rasulid Yemen. Ninth Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies, Brown University, Providence, June.
2022
The Late 12th Century CE Almanac Poem of Nashwân b. Sa'îd
al-Himyarî. Middle East Studies Association, Denver, December.
Agricultural Change in South Arabia/Yemen in the First Millennium CE: Insights from Archaeology, Arabic Sources and Ethnography, First Millennium CE Crop Diffusion in the Middle East and Mediterranean Workshop, Cambridge University. May.
Ahkam al-qaba'il vs. Taghut. The Premodern Context of Tribal Customary Law in Yemen, Workshop on Tribal and Customary Laws in the Pre-modern Middle East, Lausanne, March
2021
Ahkâm al-man': A Tribal Customary Law Text from 14th century Rasulid
Yemen, Middle East Studies Association, San Antonio, November.
Zoom Talk.
Weighing the Baghdadi Ratl: A Metrological Muddle, Ulrich Haarmann Memorial Lectures Online, Bonn, July, Zoom Talk.
2020
Mamluk Egyptian Agriculture in Yemeni Rasulid Sources, EGLandscape Project, June, Zoom Talk.
2019
The Kidnapping of a 14th Century Rasulid Sultan: The Case of al-Malik al-Mujâhid ‘'Alî, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, Princeton, December
From al-Hâdî ilâ al-Haqq to Husayn al-Hûthî: The Zaydi Phenomenon in Yemen, Middle East Studies Association, New Orleans, November
When the Water Runs Out: The Environmental Challenge to the Future of Yemeni Society, American Anthropological Association, November (Read by Andre Gingrich of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Mapping Rasulid Yemen: An Early 14th Century Yemeni Map of the Realm, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, Princeton, October
The Mamluk Kidnapping of the Rasulid Sultan al-Malik al-Mujâhid in Mecca in 751/1351: Comparing the Sources. Bonn-Waseda-Day: Workshop on “Text-Context- Problematic.” Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, Bonn, May.
The Rasulid Dynasty in Yemen. University of Bergen, May.
The Lunar Zodiac in Arab Tradition: When Folk Astronomy crosses Paths with Formal Islamic Astronomy. Frei Universität, Berlin, May.
Trade to and from the Yemeni Port of Aden during the early Rasulid era (late 13th to early 14th centuries). Universität Hamburg, Asien-Afrika-lnstitut, Abt. Vorderer Orient, April.
Sheba's Handiwork: Introducing Yemen's Cultural Heritage. “Culture at Risk: Yemen's Heritage under Threat,” Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C., February.
Transcultural Interaction between Mamluk Egypt and Rasulid Yemen 626/1229 - 858/1454. Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, January.
2018
Sailing with and against the Winds: Navigation in the Red Sea Indian Ocean Network in the Ayyubid, Rasulid and Mamluk Eras. Middle East Studies Association, San Antonio, November.
Reading Rasulid Maps: An Early 14th Century Geographical Resource. World Council of Middle East Studies, Sevilla, Spain, July.
Surfing the Digital Apocalypse for the Muslim Antichrist. Contemporary Media Practices and Religious Encounters. Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, May.
Qabîla and Jirba: The Role of Agriculture in the Northern Highlands of Yemen. Yemen's Living Heritage: Tribes and Tribalism into the 21st Century, Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, February.
Ethnicity and Religion: an Anthropological View from South Arabia. Ethnicity & Religion International Conference, Austrian Academy of Sciences,Vienna, January.
An Anthropologist Responds to Edward Said's View of Culture. Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, January.
2017
Drying Sheba's Tears. AIYS Roundtable. Middle East Studies Association, Washington, D.C., November.
Intangible Heritage of Seasonal Knowledge in the Arab Gulf. Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, November.
Sailing to and from the Yemeni Port of Aden in the Rasulid Era (13th-15th Centuries, C.E.). The Indian Ocean International Symposium, Georgetown University Qatar, April.
Sailing to and from the Yemeni Port of Aden in the Rasulid Era (13th-15th Centuries, C.E.). Mamluk Studies Seminar, Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, Bonn, Germany, April.
The Water Crisis in Yemen. Iranian-Saudi Perspectives on Environmental Challenges, CARPO and East-West Institute, Bonn, Germany, April.
2016
Being in the “There”which is the Arabian Gulf.
International Ethics Summit, Texas A&M, Doha, December.
Qatar University: How much Gas is in the Academic Tank? Middle East Studies Association, Boston, November.
Islamophobia in Cyberspace: Approaching Anti-Social Media in the Digital Age. Social Media and Social Change Regional Symposium, Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University, Doha, October.
Developing Yemen's Futures: Can Arabia ever be Felix Again? Gulf Research Meeting, Cambridge, UK, August.
Date Palm Production in Rasulid Yemen. Ulrich Haarmann Memorial Lecture, Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, Universität Bonn, March. [Invited speaker].
The Social Relevance of Sustainability: The Future of Post-Traditional Culture in the Gulf. Liberal Arts International Conference: Crossing Disciplines, Crossing Borders, Texas A&M, Doha, February (Keynote Address).
Between Folklore and Sociology: What Role Can Anthropology Play in the Gulf? The Role of Anthropology Research in the Arabian Gulf Workshop, Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Qatar University, January.
2015
ISIS, the Antichrist and Dajjal: The Framing of Muslims in Digital Apocalypse. American Anthropological Association, Denver, November.
The Houthis and Ali Abdullah Salih: What Defines a Non-State Actor? “Violent Non State Actors in the Middle East”, Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University, October.
Yemen's Heritage: Setting the Context. UNESCO Expert Meeting on the Safeguarding of Yemen's Cultural Heritage, Paris, July. [Invited speaker].
The Crisis in Yemen: How Decisive is Decisive Storm. The Repercussions of the GCC led Decisive Storm in Yemen, Gulf Studies Center, CAS, Qatar University, June 11, 2015.
The Crisis in Yemen: Future Impacts on Security. IEEJ invited lecture, Tokyo, Japan, June. [Invited speaker].)
The Current Conflict in Yemen. Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, Tokyo University, Japan, June. [Invited speaker].
Socio-Cultural Background of Current Conflicts in Yemen. IDE-JETRO invited lecture, Tokyo, Japan, June.[Invited speaker].
Tracing Yemen’s Agricultural History: From Text to Context, Leiden Center for the Study of Ancient Arabia, Leiden University, March. [Invited speaker].
Armageddon in Social Media: The Christian Right on Islamic Radicalism. The Fifth International Social Sciences Conference: Understanding the Rise of Global Radicalism, Qatar University, March.
2014
Coffee and Qât in Yemen: The Historical and Literary Evidence for their Introduction. Middle East Studies Association, Washington DC, November.
The History of Date Palms in Yemen: An Ethnohistorical Study. Sociology Department, United Arab Emirates University, May.
Rebuilding Yemen after the Arab Spring: A Cultural Anatomy of a Crisis. Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, April. [Invited speaker].
In the Wake of Orientalism: Reflections on Edward Said's Text. Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, April. [Invited speaker].
When "Being There" is Here: An Anthropologist at Large in the Digital Humanities. CUNY Graduate Center, Committee for the Study of Religion, March. [Invited speaker].
Khutba vs. Khutzpah: Islamophobia on the Internet. Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, February. [Invited speaker].
2013
Culture Still Matters: Notes from the Field. Culture, Power, Boundaries Seminar, Columbia University, December.
Islamic Futures through an Anthropological Lens: Capitalizing on ‘Abd Al-Hamid El Zein's Concept of 'islams' in Cyberspace. American Anthropological Association, Chicago, November.
Heirs of the Ayyubids: The Formation of the Rasulid State in Yemen, Middle East Studies Association, New Orleans, October.
Drone Strikes in the War on Terror: The Case of Post-Arab-Spring Yemen, Columbia University Seminar on Knowledge, Technology and Social Systems, May.
Why the Sultan is Rich: A Case Study of Bureaucracy in Rasulid Yemen (13th-14th centuries), 3rd International Conference of the Research Network Imperium & Officium, "Land and Power in the Ancient and Post-Ancient World," University of Vienna, February.
2012
Armageddon Bound: Online Christian and Muslim Apocalyptic Scenarios, Middle East Studies Association, Denver, November.
Anthropology, anthroplogies; Islam, islams: Fields in Flux, CUNY (Committee for the Study of Religion, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center and the Ph.D. Program in Anthropology), New York, March [Invited speaker].
Pars Pro Toto Observation: Historical Anthropology in the Textual Field of Rasulid Yemen, Visions of Community Conference, Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, January [Invited speaker].
2011
The Anthropologist as Historian: Reconstructing a 13th Century Yemeni Agricultural Text, Qatar University, December [in Arabic; Invited speaker].
Sailing around the Arabian Peninsula: Where Folklore meets History, Qatar University, December [Invited speaker].
The Net Worth of Orientalism: Can Discourse be Hegemonic in Cyberspace? Middle East Studies Association, Washington D. C., December.
Current Events Session: The Fall of the Dictators, 2011, Middle East Studies Association, Washington D. C., December [Invited speaker].
Teaching the Anthropology of Religion, AAA Annual Meeting workshop, Montreal, November [Invited speaker].
Anthropology, anthropologies; Islam, islams: Fields in Flux, The Department of Archeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, The University of Bergen, Norway, November [Invited speaker].
What is Happening in Yemen? University of New England, October [Invited speaker].
Rasulid Coinage in the Daftar of al-Malik al-Muzaffar: A Preliminary Textual Study, Third MECA Seminar on Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics, Hofstra University, April.
Rasulid Agriculture in the Ta‘izz Region, Workshop on "Ta‘izz and its Land in Islamic Times", CNRS, Paris, March [Invited speaker].
On Reading Orientalism, Leiden University, February [Invited speaker].
Political Developments in Yemen (with Dr. Najwa Adra), Leiden Universitair Centrum voor de studie van Islam en Samenleving, Leiden University, February.
2010
Plowing through Dangling Diacriticals: The Reconstruction of al-Malik al-Ashraf's 13th Century Agricultural Treatise Milh al-malâha, Middle East Studies Association, San Diego, November.
What Camels Eat: A Study in Arabic Ethnobotany, “Camels in Asia and North Africa” Workshop, University of Vienna, October [Invited speaker].
The End of Life, the Ends of Life: An Anthropological View, Islamic Medical Association of North America, Ethics Symposium on End-of-Life Issues, Hofstra University, September, 2010 [also served as co-director of symposium].
Yemen and the Horn of African in History, Islam in the Horn: An Introduction, Aden, Islamism, Yemen and the Horn Today. The Horn of Africa Course, Rift Valley Instititue, Lamu Kenya, June.
Reading Beyond Orientalism: Why Polemics Never Really Die, Middlebury College, Middlebury College, Rohatyn Center for International Affairs and the Middle East Studies Program, January [Invited speaker].
The Culture Concept without a Textual Attitude: Reading against Orientalism and between the lines of Culture and Imperialism, University of Toronto, Department of Anthropology, January [Invited speaker].
Star Gazing through Religious Phrasing: The Origins of a Lunar Zodiac in Early Islamic Astronomy. Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, January [Invited speaker].
2009
Framing the Holy Land as an Art: Illustrations of Arabs in 19th Century Bible Custom Accounts. Middle East Studies Association, Boston, DC, November.
Reading Orientalism: Said and the Unsaid. Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, October [Invited speaker].
Qât, Sex and Traditional Healing, "The Use of Herbs in Yemeni Healing Practices: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on Traditional Knowledge and Cultural Concepts in Scientific Perspective." Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, September [Invited speaker].
Orientalism's Wake: The Ongoing Politics of a Polemic, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, June [Invited speaker].
American Muslims and Islamophobia. John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio, March [Invited speaker].
Darwin and Dunya: Muslim Responses to Darwinian Evolution, Darwin's Reach Conference, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, March.
2008
The 14th Century Almanac Poem of ‘Abd Allâh ibn As‘ad al-Yâfi‘î. Middle East Studies Association, Washington, DC, November.
Speaking Truth beyond the Tower: Academics of Islam Engaging in the Public Sphere. American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Chicago, November and MESA, Washington, D.C. November [Forum participant].
Enough Said? Moving Beyond the Binary that Haunts Orientalism and the Clash of Civilizations. The Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, Princeton University, September [Invited speaker].
Water Resource Development in Yemen: History and Prospects. Yemen Development Seminar: Challenges and Opportunities, USAID, Washington, D.C., August [Invited speaker].
Muslims and the Media in the Blogosphere, Muslims and the Media Workshop. Princeton University, May [Invited speaker].
Spinning the Ummah: How the News is Reported in Muslim Cyberspace. Re/Covering Islam Conference, USC Annenberg, Los Angeles, April [Invited speaker].
Reading Orientalism: Said and the Unsaid, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Emory University, Atlanta, March [Invited speaker].
2007
Online Fatwas: Muslim Identity in Cyberspace. American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC, November.
Turning Ploughshares into Words: Dialectical Diversity in Yemeni Arabic. Middle East Studies Association, Montreal, November.
Inventing Islamism: The Rhetoric of Representing Violence in Islam. Contemporary Islam Symposium "Beyond the Stereotypes: Dynamics of Muslim Life in the Globalized World, Amsterdam, October [Invited speaker].
Reading Orientalism: Said and the Unsaid. Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago, April [Invited speaker].
The Milh al-Malâha of al-Malik
al-Ashraf ‘Umar (d. 696/1296): Situating the Ur- Text of the Rasulid Agricultural
Corpus. Middle East Studies Association, Boston, November.
In the Wake of the Rasulids: The 18th Century Almanac of Yûsuf
al-Mahallî in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana Collection. Medieval
Institute, University of Notre Dame, November. Invited speaker.
When Did the Holy Land Stop Being Holy?: Surveying the Middle East as
Sacred Geography. What Is the Middle East? Conference, Council for
Middle East Studies, Yale University, April.
2004
Islamism as an Ism: The Rhetoric of Representing Violence in Islam. Middle East Studies Association, San Francisco, November.
Turning Over a New Leaf: The Impact of Qât in Yemeni Horticulture. 2004 Dumbarton Oaks Studies in Landscape Architecture Symposium, "Horticultural and Cultural Changes," Washington, DC, May [Invited speaker].
2003
The State of Agriculture in Late 13th Century Rasulid Yemen. Convegno Storia e Cultura dello Yemen in Età Islamica, con Particolare Riferimento al Periodo Rasulide, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Fondazione Leone Caetani, Rome, 30-31 October [Invited speaker].
Studying the Middle East: A Rountable Discussion between Anthropologists and Historians. American Anthropological Association, Chicago, November. Organizer and panelist.
Akbar Ahmed: Discovering Islam Inside Out. Society for the Anthropology of Religion Annual Meeting, Providence, April.
Orientalism Re[tro]visited after 25 Years: Enough Said? New York University Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, April [Invited speaker].
2002
Commodities and Uncommon Oddities: The Circulation of Trade Goods through the Port of Aden in the 13th Century. Middle East Studies Association, Washington, November.
Orientalism Re[tro]visited: Enough Said? Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania, October [Invited speaker].
Sailing Seasons in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean: The View from Rasulid Yemen. Red Sea Trade and Travel Study Day, The British Museum, October [Invited speaker].
Anthropology and the Cultural Studies Wars: Matthew Arnold via Edward Said vs Edward Tylor via Bronislow Malinowski. Seminar Series, SOAS Dept. of Anthropology and Sociology, London University, October [Invited speaker].
Islam Obscured in Islam Observed: Where did all the Ethnography Go? Society for the Anthropology of Religion Annual Meeting, Cleveland, April.
How Anthropologists Read Edward Said. Anthropology Graduate Seminar, Harvard University, March [Invited speaker].
September 11, Jihad, and Islamic Law. Provost's Lecture Series, SUNY Stony Brook, February [Invited speaker].
2001
Dissing Orientalist Discourse: What Said Said and What Ethnographers Did. American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC, November.
What Islam Is, What Islam is Not: Critiquing Islam within Reason. Brooklyn Law College, November [Invited speaker].
Legal Advice on Less than Lethal Vices: Tobacco, Coffee and Qât in a 17th Century Yemeni Text, Arabic Studies Seminar, Columbia University, September.
2000
The Archaeologist's Spade and the Apologist's Stacked Deck: The Near East through Conservative Christian Bibliloatry. The United States and the Middle East: Cultural Encounters, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, New Haven, December.
Slamming Islam: Participant Webservation with a Web of Meanings to Boot. American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, November.
Indigenous Knowledge and Traditional Yemeni Agriculture. The Place of Ancient Agricultural Practices and Techniques in Yemen Today: Problems and Perspectives, Sanaa, Yemen, June [Invited speaker].
Stimulants sans Sin: A Social History of Qât, Coffee and Tobacco in Yemen. American Institute for Yemeni Studies, Sanaa, Yemen, June.
Stimulants sans Sin: A Social History of Qât, Coffee and Tobacco in Yemen. Middle East Center, Rutgers University, April [Invited speaker].
1999
Making "Medieval" Yemen Meaningful. Middle East Studies Association, Washington, November.
The Tragedy of a Comic: Fundamentalist Christian Propaganda against Islam. University of Chicago, Middle East Center, November [Invited speaker].
1998
Holy War and Profane Rhetoric: Fundamentalists Crusading against Fundamentalists. Middle East Studies Association, Washington, DC, November.
Reflections on Fieldwork in Yemen [not in Morocco]. American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, November.
Irrigation in Yemen. Centre Nationale d'Études Agronomiques des Régions Chaudes, Montpellier, France, February [Invited speaker].
1997
Tricksters in Arabia. Chicago Humanities Festival, November. [Invited speaker].
Medieval Agriculture in Yemen. AIYS, Sanaa, Yemen, August.
Farming Agricultural Texts: An Anthropologist at Play in the Field of Medieval Agriculture. XXth Int. Congress of History of Science, Liège, Belgium, July.
The King James Version of the Bible. Lecture, Hofstra University, Great Books Series, March.
1996
Why People Don't Chew Nescafe: Qât vs. Coffee in Yemeni Society. Lecture, Drew University, Madison, NJ, December [Invited speaker].
Does it Hold Water?: Islamic Law and Customary Practice in Yemen. Middle East Studies Association, Annual Meeting, Providence, November.
1995
The Arabic Anthology of al-Malik al-Afdal: A Window on the Literary World of a 14th Century Yemeni Sultan. Middle East Studies Association, Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, December.
Gendering Islam: Orientalists, Believers and Feminists at Play in the Bed of the Prophet. American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC, November.
High in Yemen: The Social History of Qât in South Arabia. Lecture, Middle East Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, September [Invited speaker].
Farming Texts in Context: Reconstructing Medieval Yemeni Agriculture from Anthropology and History. Lecture, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archeology, Bryn Mawr College, April [Invited speaker].
Farming Agricultural Texts: What Medieval Yemeni Texts Can Tell Us about the Art and Practice of Agriculture. Lecture, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Chicago, February [Invited speaker]..
1994
Anthropological Theory and the Middle East: Deadening a Beaten Camel. American Anthropological Association, Atlanta, November.
Endangered Peoples: Can Native Cultures Survive? International Scene Series, Hofstra University, September.
1993
The Qu'ran. Lecture, Hofstra University, Great Books Series, December. [http://www.ahjur.org/quran.html]
Rasulid Yemen and International Trade at the Close of the Thirteenth Century. Lecture, Center for Middle East Studies, University of Chicago, February [Invited speaker].
2022
Food Sovereighty Workshop: Community-Centered Approaches for Food Systems Transformation. Ohio State University, Columbus, October. Invited speaker.
Tips for Grant Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Center for Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop, Qatar University, October.
2012
What's Happening In Yemen, Kevorkian Center, NYU, Workshop for Teachers, March.
2010
Science Comes West: The Impact of Muslim Scholars on Western Science and Scholarship, Public lecture at Lamu Fort, Lamu, Kenya, June.
Islamophobia, Muslim Students Association, Hofstra University, April.
2008
Muslims and the Media in the Blogosphere, Teachers Workshop, Princeton University, May.
2006
Caricature and Controversy -- The Journalism, Politics and Religion
Behind the Muslim Cartoon Story. Panel Discussion, Hofstra University,
March.
One Islam with Many Faces: Yemen. Hofstra University, February.
2005
Intelligent Design vs. Natural Selection. Hofstra's Day
of Dialogue Panel, October.
Bones and Bonobos: Making Scientific Sense of Human Evolution. IDEAS Institute, Hofstra University, September.
Stimulants without Sin: The Impact of Coffee and Qat in Yemeni Culture. Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, CA, January.
Israeli-Palestinian Crisis. Speaker, International Scene Series, Hofstra University, October.
Seminar on Orientalism Re[tro]visited. Medieval Studies Reading Group, Hofstra, May.Holy War and Profane Rhetoric. High School Assembly, Friends Academy, Locust Valley, NY, September.
Islam and the Middle East. Hofstra Teach-In on the September 11 Tragedy, Hofstra University, September. [I helped organize one of the first teach-ins after 9/11.]
Lecture on Islam and the September 11 Tragedy. Friends Academy, Locust Valley, NY, 12th Grade, September.
Net Gains for our Students: Asigning Website Critiques. Hofstra University, Center for Teaching Excellence Workshop, March.
Lectures on Crusades and the Arab World and Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution. Friends Academy, Locust Valley, NY, 9th grade, February.
1999
The Tragedy of a Comic. Informal Faculty Colloquium, Hofstra, March.
Unveiling Gender: Three Middle East Dialogues [with Dr. Najwa Adra]. Chicago Humanities Festival, November.
Holy War and Profane Rhetoric: The Islamic Concept of Jihad. Lecture, Central Queens YMHA, March. [New York Council for the Humanities Lecture]
Holy War and Profane Rhetoric: The Islamic Concept of Jihad. Lecture, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, March. [New York Council for the Humanities Lecture]
Archaeology. Workshop for Quest Program, Bowling Green Elementary School, East Meadow, NY, December.
QATAR UNIVERSITY
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
SUNY, STONY BROOK
2019 (January-June)
Senior Fellow, Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, Bonn, Germany
2017-2018
Senior Postdoctoral Scholar, Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy
of Sciences, Vienna.
2015-2016
Intangible Heritage of Seasonal Navigation and Time Telling in the Arab Gulf.
NPRP 8-992-5-133, Qatar Foundation. Awarded May, 2015, Lead PI.
Integrated assessment of Qatari coral ecosystems. Towards an Ecosystem- based
Approach for management. NPRP Project, Qatar Foundation. Awarded May, 2015,
Key Investigator.
2005
Harris Manchester College Summer Fellowship, Oxford University. [Study in
Oxford of early texts on Protestant Christian Apocalytpic about Islam and Catholicism.]
2002-2005
Fellow, Center for Teaching and Scholarly Excellence, Hofstra University.
2001-2002
National Endowment for the Humanities Award. [For preparation of book on history of Yemeni agriculture].
1999
Distinguished Alumni Award, Strongsville High School. [Strongsville High
School Alumni Association.]
1996-98
1974-77
NDFL
Arabic Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania.
American Anthropological Association (AAA) (1981-2022)
The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARII)
•Board Member (2003-2013)
American Institute for Yemeni Studies (AIYS)
•President (2014-2022)
•Secretary (1991-1999)
•Board Member (1986-1990, 2002-2005, 2009-2013, 2024-2028)
•Editor, Yemen Update (1991-2001)
•Editor, Yemen Update Online (2020-present)
Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
Publications Committee (2010-2014)
AIYS (American Institute for Yemeni Studies) website https://www.aiys.org [Webmaster, 2014-2022]
Tabsir: Insight on Islam and the Middle East http://www.tabsir.net [Webmaster, Academic blog, 2005-present]
MENA Tidningen (Lund University Center for Middle Eastern Studies), http://www.menatidningen.se/english [2016-2019, Advisory Board and frequent contributor]
Regarding Religion http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/tag/regarding-religion/ [2014, Commentary blog on Anthropology News of the American Anthropological Association.]
Teaching the Qur'an Online and Over Time: A Virtual Seminar [SSRC Project with Dr. Bruce Lawrence, Duke University] http://www.ahjur.org/quran/virqur.htm [2003-2004]
Yemen Webdate Blog (American Institute for Yemeni Studies) [2014 - present] https://www.aiys.org/news
Yemeni Heritage and History Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/590852444344916
MESNET (Middle East Section, American Anthropological Association) [1999-2003, no longer active].
Arabic (non-native fluent); Spanish (reading and speaking); German (reading); French, Italian (very basic reading)