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Outline
- Brief overview of Anthropology in the Arab World
- Historical influences - Position in the world (Periphery, semi-, core)
ex: The discipline of Anthropology is not new to the Arab world. While there were no established anthropological institutions until the 20th century, scholars such as Abu Rayhan al-Biruni and Ibn Khaldun, are recognized for their contribution to the discipline in as early as the 10th century.
- Arab World
- Gulf - discuss relevant Gulf countries - Levant - discuss relevant Levant countries
Lebanon
The American Institute of Beirut was founded by American missionaries in 1866. It has since become secular and independent of this. The department of sociology was the first to offer an anthropology course at the university. The 1950-51 catalogue lists just one course.
The department of anthropology was officially founded in the 1970s, and saw 33 students graduate with MA degrees in anthropology throughout that decade. The civil war in Lebanon that lasted from 1975 to 1990 interfered with its development, and anthropology at the university saw a decline as a result. During this time, the new department of social and behavioral sciences (SBS), which already encompassed sociology, psychology, and communication, absorbed the anthropology department.
During the 1980s, records show just one student having graduated with an MA in anthropology, while there were none in the 1990s. There were three anthropologists on the faculty throughout this time. Among them were Fuad Khuri, Martha Mundy, and Gerald Obermeyer.
The role of anthropology in Lebanon is minimal.
A survey conducted in 1989 by Seteney Shami, a 1976 graduate of the BA program in anthropology at the American University in Beirut, sought to learn more about the teachings of anthropology at universities in the Arab world. Her findings suggested that the role of the discipline in the Arab world were minimal. In an academic report that came out in 2006, anthropologists at the same university claim to have found little evidence in the local community of any significant changes since.
In Arab countries, social sciences are generally regarded through a lens of national (and personal) usefulness.
Consequently, sociology is given the most attention and considered to be the social science with the most usefulness to a developing state. These degrees, however, are often pursued by the students who did not achieve sufficient scores on entrance exams to be accepted into the more "productive" hard science programs, such as engineering, medicine, or architecture.
Today's anthropology graduates in Lebanon have opportunities to work with local NGOs. However for those interested in pursuing anthropology as a discipline, the West still stands as the one destination for that.
Anthropology departments at the American University in Beirut, and in Lebanon, are stifled by war.
However, to the would-be-professionals, the hard sciences, such as engineering, medicine, or architecture, are still the most useful.
- Middle East - discuss remainder of Middle East - Northern Africa - discuss relevant North African countries
- For each country/region:
- Historical, social, and political context in the history of anthropology - Year established/institutionalized - Key people/institutions - Current status