Skip to content

Filtered by: Middle Eastern Studies Program

Timur Hammond - How Are We Shaped by the Places We Call Home?

Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment, explores the impact of our environments in shaping identity and culture.

February 5, 2024

Khalil Comments on Secretary of State Blinken’s Latest Middle East Trip in Al Jazeera Article

With little indication that the U.S. will attempt to assert leverage over Israel, Blinken’s latest trip to the Middle East is fundamentally “performative,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. “There is a face-saving domestic consumption element for [the Biden administration] and a separate face-saving element to allow Israel to claim some kind of victory,” he says.

January 18, 2024

The Moynihan Institute Announces its ’23-’24 Graduate Student Research Grant Recipients

Each year, the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs offers grant opportunities for graduate students of any discipline to fund research concerning Central Asia and the Caucasus, Europe, East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.  
January 18, 2024

Khalil Discusses US Support for Israel in Newsweek and Vox Articles

“As this continues over the next few weeks, you’re going to see even greater distance between the U.S. and its allies, and the U.S. and Israel increasingly isolated,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history and chair of the International Relations Undergraduate Program.

December 21, 2023

Khalil Weighs In on Trump’s Statement on Abraham Accords, Peace in the Middle East in PolitiFact

"The Abraham Accords did not achieve peace in the Middle East or help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. 

December 12, 2023

Khalil Talks to Al Jazeera About the US Proposing the Palestinian Authority Should Rule Over Gaza

“At several different levels, this is just a pure pipe dream,” Osamah Khalil, professor of history, says of handing Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. Khalil says the Biden administration is facing mounting pressure over its support for Israel, due to the atrocities it is accused of committing in Gaza.

December 4, 2023

Khalil Quoted in NPR Article on Young Progressive Democrats Leaving the Party Over Israel

"These are the youngsters on campus who are protesting against the war," says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. "And then some of them start to look at Israel's role in the Middle East and say, are we seeing kind of the same dynamic here about U.S. foreign policy?"

November 16, 2023

Khalil talks to BBC News, KNX News and PolitiFact About the War in Gaza and Israel

"The reality is a ceasefire is needed now and that's not something the United States is willing to agree to. The most the United States is willing to do is a humanitarian pause, but that's not nearly sufficient. And on this, the United States and Israel are an outlier in the international community," Osamah Khalil, professor of history, tells BBC News.

November 1, 2023

Khalil Speaks With Al Jazeera, El País, Vox, WTVH About the Israel-Hamas War

“Biden’s strong support for Israel has contributed to the heightened anger and frustration in the region. As we have seen in the protests of the last 24 hours, that anger is palpable and will only grow as long as the United States continues to block a ceasefire or even a humanitarian pause at the U.N.,” Osamah Khalil, professor of history, tells El País.

October 20, 2023

Khalil Discusses the Israel-Hamas Conflict With Clarín, CNY Central, Spectrum News and WSYR

"There really is no winner here, and a military solution is not possible. What needs to happen is for a high-level diplomatic effort by the Biden Administration, using regional partners and allies, to de-escalate the conflict," Osamah Khalil, professor of history, tells CNY Central.

October 10, 2023

Koch Discusses Arizona’s Water Shortage, the Role of Saudi Agribusiness With Al-Monitor, The World

“The (Saudi) government is very aware of the unsustainable agriculture practices that lead to a situation where the groundwater is no longer really able to sustain any substantial commercial agriculture,”  says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.

October 9, 2023

Khalil Quoted in Al Jazeera Article on How the Oslo Accords Failed the Palestinians

“Israel had no intention of agreeing to the emergence of a viable, contiguous, and independent Palestinian state,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. “Israel was able to pursue its occupation and settlement policies with the political cover of endless negotiations,” he says.

September 22, 2023

Action anthropology and public policy change: Lead poisoning in Syracuse, NY

Sandra D. Lane, Robert A. Rubinstein, Occeana Fair, Katie Farkouh, Melaica Delgado, Tanya S. McGee, Kinley Gaudette, Paul Ciavarri, Maureen Thompson, Md Koushik Ahmed

"Action anthropology and public policy change: Lead poisoning in Syracuse, NY," co-authored by Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Robert Rubinstein, was published in the Annals of Anthropological Practice.

September 19, 2023

Hammond Discusses New Book, “Placing Islam,” in UC Press Blog and in Jadaliyya Article

"One initial impetus for the book was my desire to bring geography’s concepts and insights into better conversation with topics in Middle East area studies," says Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment. "Although over a decade has passed since I started research on this topic, expanding the disciplinary connections between geography and Middle East area studies continues to be a core goal."

September 15, 2023

Trajectories of Translation

Timur Hammond, Brittany Cook

"Trajectories of Translation," co-authored by Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment, was published in Progress in Human Geography.

September 13, 2023

See related: International Affairs

Maxwell School Announces 2023 Faculty Promotions

Six faculty members were granted tenure and promoted to associate professor and three were promoted to professor.

July 31, 2023

Koch Quoted in The Hill Article on Saudi Arabian Alfalfa Farms in Arizona

“If they [Saudi Arabia] want to be able to guarantee their population food security, they know that they can’t really do that domestically,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. The Arizonan land was particularly appealing to the kingdom “because you can get more bang for your buck when you buy that farm,” says Koch.

May 10, 2023

Fethi Keles Receives Middle Eastern Studies Program 2023 Teaching Recognition Award

The award was established in 2016 to recognize excellence in teaching and to appreciate indispensable contributions of our faculty to enhancement of knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa region.

May 2, 2023

Koch Discusses Saudi Arabian Farms Using Water From Arizona and California in KUSA Article

“If you can invest the capital to drill a deep well that can get deep into the groundwater supply, then you can really pump as much as you want,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “This was appealing to the Saudis as well to go [to La Paz County], where they’re not being charged for water they extract because there’s no measuring of it.”

April 29, 2023

Hammond Provides Insight into the Geographies of Islam in New Book

Timur Hammond

Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment, has written “Placing Islam: Geographies of Connection in Twentieth-Century Istanbul” (University of California Press, 2023). 

March 20, 2023

Explore by:

  • 1
  • 2 (current)
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs
346 Eggers Hall