Saree Makdisi
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Saree Makdisi (born 1964) is an American literary critic and professor; specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century
British literature British literature is from the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. This article covers British literature in the English language. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) literature ...
. He is of Palestinian and Lebanese descent. He also writes on contemporary
Arab Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
politics and culture. Makdisi currently holds the title of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
(UCLA).


Background

Makdisi was born in the United States (Washington).Makdisi, Saree: ''Palestine Inside Out'', p. xxv. Norton, 2010. His father, Samir Makdisi, is a Lebanese-
Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
professor of economics at the
American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...
and his mother, Jean Said Makdisi, is a Palestinian independent scholar (formerly of Beirut University College). He is also the grandson of Anis K. Makdisi, a professor of
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
at American University of Beirut and the nephew of the late literary scholar,
Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of Postcolonialism, post-co ...
. In 2009, Makdisi gave the Edward Said Memorial lecture at the
University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
. He spent his early childhood in the United States, moving to Lebanon at the age of eight. While he grew up in a
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
family, they lived in a "largely
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
neighborhood in Beirut." Makdisi returned to the United States for his final year in high school and also attended college there. He received his B.A. from
Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
in 1987, Ph.D. from
Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
in 1993, and taught for a decade as an assistant professor, then as an associate professor, of English and
comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...
at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
before joining
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
in 2003. His work has been commended for his application of
psychoanalytic theory Psychoanalytic theory is the theory of the innate structure of the human soul and the dynamics of personality development relating to the practice of psychoanalysis, a method of research and for treating of Mental disorder, mental disorders (psych ...
, including theories of
Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...
and Lacan, to MENA societies. On November 26, 2023 Makdisi with his two brothers, Karim and Ussama, began hosting a podcast entitled ''Makdisi Street''


Selected publications


Books

* ''Romantic Imperialism: Universal Empire and the Culture of Modernity'' (New York and Cambridge, Eng.:
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 1998) * ''
William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...
and the Impossible History of the 1790s'' (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
, 2003) * ''Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation'' (WW Norton, 2008; revised and updated, with a new foreword by
Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awa ...
, 2010) *''Making England Western: Occidentalism, Race & Imperial Culture'' (London and Chicago,
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...
, 2014) *''Tolerance is a Wasteland: Palestine and the Culture of Denial'' (University of California Press, 2022)


Articles and interviews


"Domesticating Exoticism: Transformations of Britain's Orient, 1785-1835"
from ''Romantic
Imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
January 2009 radio interview
about ''Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation'' on
KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is a public, listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed o ...
.


Awards

*2009 Arab American Book Award, Honorable Mention: ''Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation''


Notes


External links

*
Official websiteOfficial blogUCLA faculty profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makdisi, Saree American people of Palestinian descent American writers of Lebanese descent Duke University alumni Literary critics of English Living people Wesleyan University alumni Writers on the Middle East University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of Chicago faculty 1964 births Said family