Fuad Ishaq Khuri ( ar, فؤاد الخوري; 1935 – 4 May 2003) was a Lebanese anthropologist and writer. He was professor of anthropology at the American University of Beirut in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

from 1964 to 1987. Due to the worsening

Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

at the time, Khuri left the country for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and held a series of

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

ships at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. His books ''From Village to Suburb'' and ''Tribe and State in Bahrain'' are considered pioneering works in the field of Arab anthropology. Khuri was widely considered as a prominent scholar on Arab sociology and politics.

Biography

Khuri was born in 1935 as a Lebanese Christian. He earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degree in anthropology at the American University of Beirut (AUB). In 1964, Khuri completed his PhD in

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

at the University of Oregon, with his thesis being on the influence of men in

Magburaka Magburaka is the capital and largest city of Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its population was 16,313 in the 2004 census. and a current estimate of 40,313. It is located at around , along the Rokel River. Magburak ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. He later joined AUB as an instructor in the same year and was later promoted to assistant professor in 1965. Khuri became associate professor in 1971, placed on

tenure Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program disco ...

in 1972, and then promoted to

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

in 1978. As a professor, he served multiple terms as chairperson of the university's Department of Sociology and the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. In 1975, Khuri published ''From Village to Suburb: Order and Change in Greater

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

'', widely regarded as a pioneering case study of

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include Commercial area, commercial and mixed-use development, mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a ...

in the Middle East by an Arab anthropologist. In particular, his analysis of suburbs in relation to Middle Eastern classes of

sect A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that b ...

, family, and social class was well-received. In 1980, he published ''Tribe and State in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

'', a detailed sociopolitical analysis of the Middle East's smallest country based on a year-long field trip undertaken by Khuri in 1974-75. The book chronicles Bahrain's pre-modern history and proved controversial to the Bahraini government as the book was banned in the country despite high demand. Due to escalations in the

in 1987, Khuri resigned as professor and relocated with his family to the town of Reading, England. From 1987 to 1992, he worked as the director of the Issam Fares Foundation on behalf of his Lebanese friend and businessman, Issam Fares. After 1992, he began to solely concentrate on

academia An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

. Over the course of his career, Khuri authored 17 books and 40 articles on

Arab culture Arab culture is the culture of the Arabs, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast. The various religions the Ara ...

Personal life

Fuad Khuri was married to Sonia Jalbout Khuri, an AUB graduate of mathematics who taught the field in both Lebanon and the UK. She also worked as Fuad's research assistant and editor to his books. In his later years while stricken with illness, Sonia would accompany Fuad on his field trips and scribe his notes. Khuri died on 4 May 2003 at the age of 68 and was survived by his wife and two children.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khuri, Fuad Lebanese anthropologists 1935 births 2003 deaths 20th-century anthropologists