Download PDF | Allen James Fromherz - The Gulf in World History_ Arabia at the Global Crossroads-Edinburgh University Press (2022).
376 Pages
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Gulf in World History is the result of collaborations between scholars, staff, administrators, reviewers and editors from different parts of the planet. It has been a global project since its inception, involving scholars from around the world from differing academic cultures and perspectives. In this way, the book is a reflection of its thesis: the Gulf as a catalyst of global encounters. I can only attempt to mention some of those from around the world who made this book a reality. The germ for the volume came from a call for fellowships from the New York University Abu Dhabi Institute. It was its support, both of my application for a senior fellowship and of my supplemental application for a major workshop to be held at NYU Abu Dhabi, that provided the original impetus for the book.
The Humanities Institute at NYUAD impressed me not simply in terms of its support for this project. Every week there seemed to be a major event, lecture or workshop on some topic related to Gulf heritage, history and culture. In my mind, the NYUAD Humanities Institute is at the vanguard of a new renaissance in Gulf Studies that has swept through universities, both established and new, throughout the Gulf in just the past decade. From Senior Vice Provost Fatma Abdulla to Vice Chancellor Carol Brandt to Dean Robert Young, who attended and presented at our workshop, providing important insights, there was support from every level at NYUAD. Specifically, I want to thank Reindert Falkenburg, Vice Provost for Intellectual and Cultural Outreach. His feedback on my proposal was especially helpful in terms of framing the larger significance of the Gulf as a ‘missing link’ in world history. Also, I enjoyed our discussions about Dutch masters Bosch and Breughel.
I also want to thank the excellent staff at the Institute for their incredible depth of knowledge and support. Nora Yousif, Alexandra Sandu, Nils Lewis, Gila Waels, Antoine El Khayat, Manal Demaghlatrous, thank you not only for making sure everything ran smoothly and efficiently, but also for your friendship and your deep knowledge of the region. Martin Klimke, Cyrus Patell, Yousef Casewit, Giuliano Garavini, Matthew Maclean, Marcel Kurpershoek, Justin Stearns, Philip Kennedy and Michael Cooperson, thank you for your companionship and your many insightful suggestions. Michael and Philip, the library of Arabic Literature is a true lodestone for any scholar who works in the language.
I want to thank NYUAD Humanities Research Fellowship Program specifically for the financial support of the book itself, which has allowed us to produce beautiful images for the text. At Dartmouth and at Boston University I wish to thank Gene Garthwaite, Diana Wylie and Dale Eickelman for serving as references and reviewers. At Emory I want to acknowledge Vincent Cornell, who deserves credit for working on an NEH grant with me that was later transformed into the Global Gulf workshop, Rkia Cornell, Scott Kugle, Devin Stewart and Roxani Margariti and the whole MESAS department. I also want to sincerely thank all of the contributors and all of the people who helped chapter authors complete their work in a timely manner.
I am grateful to authors who also provided advice or images during the production phase. The number and quality of chapters has exceeded expectations in almost every way. I have provided more details about the contributors in the introduction. I am particularly proud of the international and interdisciplinary background of our authors, with scholars specialising in literature, medieval astrology, archaeology, Indian history (thank you, Seema Alavi, for your feedback), as well as those subjects more familiar to students of Gulf. We also have contributions from every level of academe, from recent graduates or graduate students to senior professors. Specifically, we all gained from the interventions by Isa Blumi, Richard Payne, Leah Kleinberger, Nathalie Peutz, Nicolas Purcell and others who attended and presented at the workshop. Especially helpful for contextualising the history of Abu Dhabi and the UAE were Frauke Heard-Bey and her husband David Heard. Ahmed Yaqoub, a graduate student in Abu Dhabi, provided insights on the history of the Baluchi community. We also received honoured guests from UAE University in Al-Ain, including the Dean. Edinburgh University Press in Scotland, in my view the foremost press on pre-modern Islamic history, publisher of the works of scholars such as Montgomery Watt and Carole Hillenbrand, has been an important partner for the success of this project. I want to thank the EUP editorial board, the senior editor Nicola Ramsey as well as Kirsty Woods, Eddie Clark and Rebecca Mackenzie.
Clive Gracey, the photographer of our cover image, deserves special recognition for allowing us to use his stunning images for this text. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, including to Kathleen Ridolfo and Iman Busaidi for providing me with research support that helped me develop the seeds of this project while in Oman. Another important partner in the success of this book has been Georgia State University and the Global Studies Institute under the leadership of Tony Lemieux and Jennie Burnet. As director of the Middle East Studies Center at GSU, I have been able to work on this edited volume, which includes a chapter by Asian Studies Center director Ghulam A. Nadri, due to the support of the GSI. I want to thank the Provost of GSU, Risa Palm, and the Dean Sara Rosen for the semester leave afforded to recently promoted Professors. This has also allowed me the time and mental space needed to accomplish this major project.
I want to express gratitude to my home department for research support and flexibility as I have travelled around the world completing research for this and other books. Thank you Michelle Brattain, Mary Rolinson, Ian Fletcher, Kate Wilson and the whole department, for your encouragement. My graduate students at GSU have been particularly helpful as well. Leah Kleinberger, Dr John Sullivan, Donna Hamil, thank you for working with me either as a GRA or through the Middle East Studies Center and its activities.
Dr Patricia Coates, thank you for volunteering to help with indexing and other duties related to the book. It is an honour to work with such an intelligent and engaged graduate cohort. Finally, I want to thank my close friends and family in Atlanta and in Oregon. William Tomlin and the Law Office of William L. Tomlin, thank you for looking over portions of the text and providing suggestions. Of course, any errors are completely my own. Glenn Faulk, Bill Crawley, Joe Maxwell and Hugh Latta, thank you for being supportive friends. Robin Fromherz, Allen J. Fromherz, Rebecca and Amy Fromherz, Kathy Martin, Emmit, Diesel, Marseille and Daisy, thank you all for your love and care.
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