Sara Powell

by Sara Powell

ON THE OCCASION of its 30th anniversary, Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) hosted a two-day symposium March 31 and April 1 in Washington, DC on the state of Arab studies programs. Panelists discussed a range of topics, from "Arab Studies in the Cross-Hairs" through "Arab Studies: Arab Perspectives" to "The Legacy of Edward Said."

The symposium was dedicated to the late Hisham Sharabi, Georgetown professor emeritus and renowned Arab intellectual, and included a concluding open discussion between panelists and other participants.

The conference closed with a performance by CCAS students of Egyptian playwright Tawfiq Al-Hakim's social comedy, "The Donkey Market." Remarkably and laudably, the play was performed in the original Arabic. It is a tribute to the rigors of the language training in Georgetown's Master of Arab Studies program that the students, for many of whom Arabic is not a first language, were able to perform their roles fluently. The play was a great success.

Many of the panelists addressed the role of Arab studies in the current political clime-specifically, whether or not academics could or did or should have an impact on U.S. policy toward the Middle East. There seemed to be a general consensus that Middle East experts should advise the government, but much dissension on related questions.

In Wahhabi Islam, Natana DeLong-Bas achieves and engaging and enlighting treatise on Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the founder of a now controversial sect of Islam.

Review by Sara Powell