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MESA Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Awards, July 1, 2023

July 1, 2023.

Students completing their dissertations between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022 may submit entries for the Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Awards. The competition is meant to recognize exceptional achievement in research and writing for/of dissertations in Middle East studies. Winner in each category (social sciences and humanities) is awarded $1,000. Kerr Dissertation Awards Nominations Guidelines.

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2022 Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award in the Humanities (MESA)

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Choon Hwee Koh receives MESA's Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award

The  Middle East Studies Association has chosen Choon Hwee Koh’s “ The Sublime Post: A History of Empire and Power through the Ottoman Post Station System, 1600-1839”  for its 2020 Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award in Social Sciences. Her dissertation was completed at Yale University’s Department of History under the supervision of Professor Alan Mikhail.

Commendation of the Award

Dr. Koh’s dissertation carefully excavates previously ignored archives of the postal station system to revolutionize our understanding of the Ottoman Empire and other centralized states in the Middle East and the wider world. Through her use of Ottoman fiscal registers, imperial decrees, provincial, and judicial records, Koh deftly shows how the Empire’s postal station system, which has been overlooked in the scholarly literature, was essential to the Empire’s administration between 1600 and 1839. Although that system exclusively served Ottoman elites, Koh demonstrates that it reflected a set of interesting relationships among disparate groups across the empire: bookkeepers, couriers, judges, postmasters, sultans, and ordinary villagers. Overall, her dissertation demonstrates that studying logistical networks and the people who maintain them provides essential new insights into social change, politics, and the networks that link the most isolated communities to centers of power—from early-modern Ottoman Empire to contemporary Iran. 

Christopher Markiewicz Receives Malcolm Kerr Dissertation Award

Christopher Markiewicz (PhD, NELC 2015) wins Malcolm Kerr Dissertation Award from the Middle East Studies Association, for his dissertation:  The Crisis of Rule in Late Medieval Islam: A Study of Idris Bidlisi (861-926/1457-1520) and Kingship at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century.  The MESA Dissertation Awards were established in 1982 to recognize exceptional achievement in research and writing for/of dissertations in Middle East studies: 

Markiewicz's dissertation was supervised by Professor Cornell Fleischer.

Celebrating the Legacy of Malcom H. Kerr

The work and life of Malcom H. Kerr, a UCLA professor for 20 years, was celebrated at UCLA on April 8, 2014.

By Peggy McInerny, Director of Communications

International Institute, April 4, 2014 — It tells you a great deal about a scholar that 30 years after his death, his family, colleagues and former students continue to celebrate his legacy. Malcom H. Kerr (1931–1984), a well-known expert on Arab politics and professor of political science at UCLA for 20 years, was such a man.

Kerr was assassinated in 1984 at the age of 52 in front of his office at the American University of Beirut (AUB) — a university where he had grown up, completed a master’s degree and returned to as president in 1982. He left behind a wife and four children, ages 15, 18, 22 and 25. Although Islamic Jihad took responsibility for his murder at the time, evidence discovered later indicated that Hezbollah killed Kerr at Iran’s behest.

That Kerr loved the Middle East, and Lebanon in particular, spoke fluent Arabic and was one of the most informed specialists on Arab politics in the United States, only heightened the tragedy of his death. Like his friend the renowned historian Albert Hourani, with whom he did postdoctoral work at Oxford University, Kerr trained a generation of Middle East specialists and had an extraordinary impact on the field.

His untimely death left his family, friends and colleagues around the world devastated. His legacy lives on in many ways: through his books, his students, the Malcom Kerr Dissertation Awards of the Middle East Studies Association and his personal collection on the Near East. (The collection, like that of the legendary Gustav E. von Grunebaum, who recruited Kerr to UCLA, is now part of the Middle East collection of the UCLA Library.) Not to mention the memoir written by his wife Ann Kerr-Adams, Come with Me from Lebanon (Syracuse University Press 1994), and another written by his daughter Susan Kerr van de Ven, One Family’s Response to Terrorism  (Syracuse University Press 2010).

On April 8, 2014, a memorial to Kerr on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death was held at UCLA, cosponsored by UCLA’s Center for Middle East Development , Political Science Department , G.E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies , and the International Institute .

The fully registered event featured presentations by Keith Watenpaugh (UC Davis), Fred Lawson (Mills College) and Necia Tschirgi (UC California San Diego). On hand for welcoming remarks were Jeffrey Lewis, professor and chair of the UCLA Department of Political Science, and a very famous colleague of Kerr: former UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young.

Fittingly, the speakers addressed the impact of American education in the Middle East, which began in earnest with the establishment of AUB in Beirut in 1866, followed by the founding of the American University in Cairo in 1919 (Malcolm Kerr taught at both). American education in the region continues to flourish, with a number of American universities having established campuses in Arab countries over the last decade, including New York University, Cornell, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Commonwealth, Texas A&M and Michigan State.

Contrary to what one might expect, Ann Kerr retains a deep love for the Middle East, where she has enduring ties. (She met Malcolm in Beirut during a junior year abroad at AUB.) And she continues to work to cultivate a more informed understanding of the region among Americans. Her family, after winning a judgment against Iran in a federal court in 2003, chose to encourage dialogue between the United States and Iran rather than pursue punitive damages against the latter.

All of Kerr’s children have grown up to become successful professionals, although his widow alone continues to be actively engaged with the Middle East. As Ann likes to say, “I have two PhDs, an MBA and an NBA.” A professional NBA basketball player for 15 years, their son Steve is now a sports commentator for TNT. Son John is an agricultural economist teaching at Michigan State University and working in international development; daughter Susan, an elected county official (Liberal Democrat) in the UK; and son Andrew, a businessman working in construction in Washington, DC.

Ann, who will participate in the April 8 memorial, has worked for over two decades at the UCLA International Institute as coordinator of the Visiting Fulbright Scholar Enrichment Program for the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Within months of 9/11, she put together and began to teach a Fiat Lux course at UCLA that brings undergraduate students together with international Fulbright scholars to learn about their countries and hear their perspectives on the United States. The highly popular course is fully enrolled whenever it is offered. “Teaching this seminar is one of the most gratifying ways I have found to carry out the mission of the Fulbright Program and our own International Institute to create international awareness and understanding,” she says.

Ann is a well-loved member of the UCLA International Institute, which commends her service and celebrates the legacy of her late husband Malcolm Kerr.

Click here for an excellent, comprehensive article on the life and work of Malcom Kerr

Additional resources: Articles by Ann Kerr-Adams Middle East Association Malcom Kerr Dissertation Awards

Selected works of Malcom Kerr: Lebanon in the Last Years of Feudalism, 1840–1868 (AUB 1959) The Arab Cold War: Gamel ‘Abd al-Nasir and his Rivals, 1958-1970      (Oxford University 1965/ 1975, 3rd ed.) Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashid Ridā      (Princeton University 1966) The Elusive Peace in the Middle East (SUNY 1975) Co-editor, with Abraham S. Becker and Bent Hansen, Economics and Politics of the      Middle East (American Elsevier 1975) Co-editor, with El-Sayed Yassin, Rich and Poor States in the Middle East: Egypt and      the New Arab Order (Westview 1982)

An earlier version of this article was published on April 4, 2014.

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In this section, malcolm h. kerr dissertation awards, university of toronto, political sciences, 2022 co-winner (social sciences).

Scarecrows of the State: An Ethnography of Security Checkpoints in Contemporary Baghdad

Omar Sirri’s beautifully written dissertation shows how routine and mundane interactions at checkpoints between security personnel and residents of Baghdad serve to construct and maintain state authority in post-invasion Iraq. He draws on a wide variety of social scientific theories and approaches to inform his ethnography of how police and soldiers, officials, and residents understand what they are doing. The analysis opens doors for future studies on urban security and on how state power manifests itself and is constructed through social interactions and affective attachments.

The dissertation was completed at the University of Toronto in the Department of Political Science under the supervision of Anver Emon & Courtney Jung

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Celebrating the Legacy of Malcom H. Kerr

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By Peggy McInerny, Director of Communications

The work and life of Malcom H. Kerr, a UCLA professor for 20 years, was celebrated at UCLA on April 8, 2014.

International Institute, April 4, 2014 — It tells you a great deal about a scholar that 30 years after his death, his family, colleagues and former students continue to celebrate his legacy. Malcom H. Kerr (1931–1984), a well-known expert on Arab politics and professor of political science at UCLA for 20 years, was such a man.

Kerr was assassinated in 1984 at the age of 52 in front of his office at the American University of Beirut (AUB) — a university where he had grown up, completed a master’s degree and returned to as president in 1982. He left behind a wife and four children, ages 15, 18, 22 and 25. Although Islamic Jihad took responsibility for his murder at the time, evidence discovered later indicated that Hezbollah killed Kerr at Iran’s behest.

That Kerr loved the Middle East, and Lebanon in particular, spoke fluent Arabic and was one of the most informed specialists on Arab politics in the United States, only heightened the tragedy of his death. Like his friend the renowned historian Albert Hourani, with whom he did postdoctoral work at Oxford University, Kerr trained a generation of Middle East specialists and had an extraordinary impact on the field.

His untimely death left his family, friends and colleagues around the world devastated. His legacy lives on in many ways: through his books, his students, the Malcom Kerr Dissertation Awards of the Middle East Studies Association and his personal collection on the Near East. (The collection, like that of the legendary Gustav E. von Grunebaum, who recruited Kerr to UCLA, is now part of the Middle East collection of the UCLA Library.) Not to mention the memoir written by his wife Ann Kerr-Adams, Come with Me from Lebanon (Syracuse University Press 1994), and another written by his daughter Susan Kerr van de Ven, One Family’s Response to Terrorism  (Syracuse University Press 2010).

On April 8, 2014, a memorial to Kerr on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death was held at UCLA, cosponsored by UCLA’s Center for Middle East Development , Political Science Department , G.E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies , and the International Institute .

The fully registered event featured presentations by Keith Watenpaugh (UC Davis), Fred Lawson (Mills College) and Necia Tschirgi (UC California San Diego). On hand for welcoming remarks were Jeffrey Lewis, professor and chair of the UCLA Department of Political Science, and a very famous colleague of Kerr: former UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young.

Fittingly, the speakers addressed the impact of American education in the Middle East, which began in earnest with the establishment of AUB in Beirut in 1866, followed by the founding of the American University in Cairo in 1919 (Malcolm Kerr taught at both). American education in the region continues to flourish, with a number of American universities having established campuses in Arab countries over the last decade, including New York University, Cornell, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Commonwealth, Texas A&M and Michigan State.

Contrary to what one might expect, Ann Kerr retains a deep love for the Middle East, where she has enduring ties. (She met Malcolm in Beirut during a junior year abroad at AUB.) And she continues to work to cultivate a more informed understanding of the region among Americans. Her family, after winning a judgment against Iran in a federal court in 2003, chose to encourage dialogue between the United States and Iran rather than pursue punitive damages against the latter.

All of Kerr’s children have grown up to become successful professionals, although his widow alone continues to be actively engaged with the Middle East. As Ann likes to say, “I have two PhDs, an MBA and an NBA.” A professional NBA basketball player for 15 years, their son Steve is now a sports commentator for TNT. Son John is an agricultural economist teaching at Michigan State University and working in international development; daughter Susan, an elected county official (Liberal Democrat) in the UK; and son Andrew, a businessman working in construction in Washington, DC.

Ann, who will participate in the April 8 memorial, has worked for over two decades at the UCLA International Institute as coordinator of the Visiting Fulbright Scholar Enrichment Program for the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Within months of 9/11, she put together and began to teach a Fiat Lux course at UCLA that brings undergraduate students together with international Fulbright scholars to learn about their countries and hear their perspectives on the United States. The highly popular course is fully enrolled whenever it is offered. “Teaching this seminar is one of the most gratifying ways I have found to carry out the mission of the Fulbright Program and our own International Institute to create international awareness and understanding,” she says.

Ann is a well-loved member of the UCLA International Institute, which commends her service and celebrates the legacy of her late husband Malcolm Kerr.

Click here for an excellent, comprehensive article on the life and work of Malcom Kerr

Additional resources: Articles by Ann Kerr-Adams Middle East Association Malcom Kerr Dissertation Awards

Selected works of Malcom Kerr: Lebanon in the Last Years of Feudalism, 1840–1868 (AUB 1959) The Arab Cold War: Gamel ‘Abd al-Nasir and his Rivals, 1958-1970      (Oxford University 1965/ 1975, 3rd ed.) Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashid Ridā      (Princeton University 1966) The Elusive Peace in the Middle East (SUNY 1975) Co-editor, with Abraham S. Becker and Bent Hansen, Economics and Politics of the      Middle East (American Elsevier 1975) Co-editor, with El-Sayed Yassin, Rich and Poor States in the Middle East: Egypt and      the New Arab Order (Westview 1982)

An earlier version of this article was published on April 4, 2014.

Published: Friday, April 11, 2014

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