Samir Khalaf

Biography

Samir Khalaf is professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Behavioral Research at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Educated at AUB (BA 1955, MA 1957) and Princeton University (Ph.D 1964), he has also held academic appointments at Princeton, Harvard, MIT and New York University. He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on comparative modernization, socio-cultural history, urbanization, and post-war reconstruction. Among his books are Sexuality in the Arab World (with John Gagnon, 2007) The Heart of Beirut (2006), Civil and Uncivil Violence in Lebanon (2002), Cultural Resistance: Global & Local Encounters in the Middle East (2001), Beirut Reclaimed (1994), Recovering Beirut (with Philip Khoury, 1993), Lebanons Predicament (1987), Persistence and Change in Nineteenth-Century Lebanon (1973) and Hamra of Beirut (1973). He has been a recipient of several international fellowships and research awards and appointed on the international jury to review master plans for the post-war reconstruction of Beirut. He is a trustee of several foundations and serves on the editorial boards of a score of international journals and publications. He has been recently honoured at Harvard (April 2007) and three programs in the university of Sydney and Melbourne in Australia (April 2009).

Curriculm Vitae

Personal Data

Born October 14, 1933, Beirut, Lebanon

Married, two children, Lebanese Nationality

Education and Degrees

B.A. Economics, American University of Beirut, 1955

M.A. Sociology, American University of Beirut, 1957

M.A. Economics and Sociology, Princeton University, 1959

Ph.D. Sociology, Princeton University, 1964

Professional Positions

Assistant Instructor, Department of Sociology, American University of Beirut, 1956-57

University Fellow, Princeton University, 1957-59

Assistant Instructor, Department of Economics and Sociology, Princeton University, 1959

Instructor in Sociology, American University of Beirut, 1959-63

Assistant Professor of Sociology, American University of Beirut, 1963-67

Chairman, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, American University of Beirut, 1963-67

Associate Professor of Sociology, American University of Beirut October 1967-75

Chairman, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, American University of Beirut, 1970-73

Research Fellow, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, 1972-74

Visiting Lecturer, Princeton University, 1973-74

Professor of Sociology, American University of Beirut, June 1976-84

Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Department of Sociology and Program in Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, September 1984-85

Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology and Program in Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, New York University, September 1986-90

Visiting Fellow, Center for International Studies, Princeton University, July 1, 1989 - October 31, 1990

Visiting Scholar, Center for International Studies, MIT, September 1989-93

Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, Princeton University September 1990 August, 1993

Professor of Sociology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, American University of Beirut, February 1994-present

Director, Center for Behavioral Research, American University of Beirut February 1994-present

Recent Awards

Fulbright Scholar, 1984-85

Ford Foundation, 1985-86

MacArthur Foundation Award, 1989-90

Lilly Endowment, 1990-92

The Andrew Mellon Foundation, 1994-2004

International Development Research Center (IDRC), 1997-99

The European Union, 2003-5

Publications

Dissertations, monographs and research reports;

1964 MANAGERIAL IDEOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL CONFLICT IN LEBANON. Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University.

1978 POPULATION AND FAMILY PLANNING IN LEBANON: PROBLEMS, PERCEPTIONS, AND PROGRAMS (New York: Institute of Society, Ethics and Life Sciences).

1980 THE ASSYRIANS OF LEBANON: A MIGRANT MINORITY IN PLURALISTIC SOCIETY (Beirut: The Middle East Council of Churches).

2004 THE BOURJ RECLAIMED: AS A CULTURAL AND COSMOPOLITAN PUBLIC SPHERE (Beirut: Solidere’s International Urban Design Competition).

Books

1965 PROSTITUTION IN A CHANGING SOCIETY (Beirut: Khayat Publishers).

1972 (With per Kongstad) HAMRA OF BEIRUT: A CASE OF RAPID URBANIZATION (Leiden: E.J. Brill).

1979 PERSISTENCE AND CHANGE IN 19TH CENTURY LEBANON (AUB and Syracuse University Press).

1987 LEBANON’S PREDICAMENT (Columbia University Press).

1993 BEIRUT RECLAIMED (Beirut: Al-Nahar Press).

1993 (With Philip S. Khoury) RECOVERING BEIRUT (Leiden: E.J. Brill).

2001 CULTURAL RESISTANCE: GLOBAL ENCOUNTERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST (London: Saqi Books).

2002 CIVIL AND UNCIVIL VIOLENCE (Columbia University Press).

2002 LUBNAN FI MADAR AL’UNF (Arabic Version of Civil and Uncivil Violence: Dar An-Nahar, 2002).

2006 THE HEART OF BEIRUT (London: Saqi Books).

2006 With John Gagnon, (eds.) SEXUALITY IN THE ARAB WORLD (London: Saqi Books).

2009 With Rosanne Khalaf (eds.) ARAB CULTURE AND SOCIETY: A READER (London: Saqi Books).

2009 LEBANON ADRIFT (London: Saqi Books) In progress.

2009 UNGODLY PURITANS: EARLY ENCOUNTERS OF NEW ENGLAND PURITANS IN LEBANON

(Columbia University Press) In press.

2010 AMERICA AS SOFT POWER: PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE LEVANT (Columbia University Press). In progress.

Articles

1964 “Hayat al -Mumis al-Mihaniyya wal-Iktisadiyya wal-Ijtima’ayyah,” (The prostitute’s Subculture”: Her Professional and Social Life). HIWAR, Vol. II, No. 11/12, pp.89-110.

1965 “Industrial Conflict in Lebanon,” HUMAN ORGANIZATION, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 23-33.

1965 “al-Kuttab al-Arab wa-Ulm al-Ijtiam’ fi Lubnan,” (Arab Scholars and Lebanese Sociology,) NASHAT AL-ARAB FI AL-ULUM AL-IJTIMA’YYAH FI MA’ AT’AM. (CONTRIBUTIONS OF ARAB SCHOLARS TO THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN 100 YEARS). Arab Studies Program, pp. 503-597.

1965 “al-Muthakkaf al-Arabi wa-Alam al-Numou,” (The growing Pains of Arab Intellectuals). HIWAR, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 5-22.

1965 “The Intellectual Elite and Social Change in the Arab World.”SYSTEMES SOCIAUX EN MILIEU RURAL ET SYSTEMES D’EDUCATION DANS LES PAYS MEDITERRANNEES, Center for European Sociology.

1966 (With Emilie Shywayre) “Family Fims and Industrial Development: The Lebanese Case” ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CULTURAL CHANGE, pp. 59-69. Reprinted in DEVELOPMENT DIGEST, Vol.,No.1, pp. 59-70.

1966 “The Growing Pains of Arab Intellectuals”, DIOGENES, No. 54, pp. 59-80.

1967 “ Industrialization and Industrial Conflict in Lebanon, “ INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY, Vol. VIII, No. 1, pp. 89-98. Reprinted in SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, Fuad Baali (ed.) (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1972).

1967 “Correlates of Prostitution: Some popular Errors and Misconceptions,”SOCIOLOGIA INTERNATIONALS, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp110-122. Reprinted in the JOURNAL OF SEX RESEARCH, Vol 4, No. 2, (May, 1968), pp. 147-182.

1967 “al-Rawabit al-Taqlidiyyah wa-Dawraha fi Nitham Lubnan al-Siyasi”, (Primordial Ties and Politics in Lebanon). HIWAR Vol. 5, No. 43, pp. 16-87.

1968 “Primordial Ties and Politics in Lebanon,” MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp.243-269.

1968 “Lebanese Labour Unions: Some Comparative Structural Features,”MIDDLE EAST ECONOMIC PAPERS, pp. 11-138.

1969 “Basic Social Trends in Lebanon,” CULTURAL RESOURCES OF LEBANON, (Beirut College for Women) pp. 147-159.

1971 “Family Associations in Lebanon,” JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE FAMILY STUDIES, Autumn, pp. 235-250.

1972 “Adaptive Modernization: The Case of Lebanon,” Charles Cooper and Sidney Alexander (eds.), ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND POPULATION GROWTH IN THE MIDDLE EAST. (New York: American Elsevier) pp. 567-598.

1972 (With per Kongstad) “Urbanization and Urbanism in Beirut: Somepreliminary Results” Carl Brown (ed.), FROM MEDINA TOMETROPOLIS. (Princeton: Darwin Press) pp. 116-149.

1972 (With per Kongstad) “The Development of Urban Nuclie: A Case Study.”STUDIES ON SELECTED DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST (UNESOB).

1974 “Lebanon,” ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. 15th Edition, pp. 764-769.

1974 “Beirut,” ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. 15th Edition, pp. 815-816.

1975 “The Americanization of the World: Western Perspectives on Modernization in Developing societies,” THE CENTRALITY OF SCIENCE AND ABSOLUTE VALUES. (New York: International Cultural Foundation), Vol. II, pp. 1071-96.

1977 “Changing Forms of Political Patronage in Lebanon,” E. Gellner and J. Waterbury (eds.), PATRONS AND CLIENTS. (London: Duckworth) pp. 185-205.

1979 “Urbanization in the Arab World: Problems and Policy Implications.” THE LIBERAL ARTS AND THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATIONIN THE MIDDLE EAST. (AUB Press), PP. 153-165.

1980 “Lebanon’s Parliamentary Elite,” J. Landau, E. Ozbudun and F. Tachau(eds.), ELECTORAL POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST ISSUE,VOTERS AND ELITES. (Hoover Institution: Stanford University) pp. 243-271.

1982 “Communal Conflict in 19th Century Lebanon,” B. Braude and B. Lewis (eds.), CHRISTIANS AND JEWS IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (New York: Holmes and Meier), Vol. II, pp. 107-134.

1982 “On the Demoralization of Public Life in Lebanon,” STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Vol. XVII, No. 1 (Spring), pp. 49-72.

1982 “Urban Planning in Lebanon,” H. Behnfeld and H. Traeder (eds.),URBAN PLANNING IN ARAB COUNTRIES. (Berlin: German Foundation for International Development) pp. 53-84.

1983 “Some Salient Features of Urbanization in the Arab World,” EKISTICS, Vol. 50, No. 300, (May/June), pp. 219-223.

1983 “Some Sociological Reflections on the Urban Reconstruction of Beirut,”F. Ragette (ed.), BEIRUT TOMORROW. (American University of Beirut Press), pp. 18-24.

1983 “The Social Reconstruction of a Fragmented Society,” LE MONDE, April 14, p.2.

1985 “Social Structure and Urban Planning in Lebanon,” Ann Elizabeth Mayer (ed.) LAW, PROPERTY AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST. (State University of New York Press) pp. 213-235.

1985 “The Anguish of Lebanese Intellectuals,” JOURNAL OF ARAB AFFAIRS, (Fall), Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 17-44.

1986 “Civil Strife and Primordial Loyalties in Lebanon,” Talal Farah (ed.),CRISIS IN LEBANON. (London: Talis House).

1987 “The Background and Causes of Lebanese/Syrian Immigration to the United States before World War I,” Eric J. Hoogland (ed.). CROSSING THE WATERS. (Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1987), pp. 17-36.

1988 (With Guilain Denoeux) “Urban Networks and Political Conflict in Lebanon,” Center for Lebanese Studies (ed.), CONSENSUS AND CONFLICT IN LEBANON. (London: I.B. Tauris), pp. 181-200.

1988 “On the Pathologies of Pluralism and Civil Violence in Lebanon,”National Defense University (ed.), LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT: THE LESSONS OF LEBANON. (Washington, D.C.: Institute for National Strategic Studies).

1988 (With A.R. Norton, L. Fawaz, G. Salame and S. Nasr) “Prospects for peace in Lebanon,” ARAB AMERICAN AFFAIRS. (Washington, D.C.). (Spring), No. 24, pp. 11-28.

1988 “Social Mobilization in the Arab World,” J.M. Spiegelman (ed.), ARAB U.S. ECONOMIC RELATIONS. (Washington, D.C.: National Center for Export-Import Studies).

1989 “Beseiged and Silenced: The Anguish of the Lebanese People,” PROSPECTS FOR LEBANON. ( Oxford: Center for Lebanese Studies).

1989 “On Loyalities and Social Change.” George Sabagh (ed.), THE MODERN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE MIDDEL EAST. (Cambridge University Press) pp. 89-111.

1991 “Ties that Bind: Sectarian Loyalities and the Revival of Pluralism in Lebanon.” THE BEIRUT REVIEW, Vol 1, No. 1 (Spring), pp. 12-61.

1991 “Ras-Beirut Adrift: An Endangered Liberal Community,”S. Seikali, P. Dodd, and R. Baalbaki (eds.), QUEST OF UNDERSTANDING. (American University of Beirut Press) pp. 71-96.

1992 “Social Interdependence in the Arab World.” Cyril E. Black and L. Carl Brown (eds.), MODERNIZATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST: THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND ITS AFRO-ASIAN SUCCESSORS. (Princeton, N.J.: Darwin Press, Inc.), pp. 251-284.

1993 “Urban Design and the Recovery of Beirut” Samir Khalaf and Philip S. Khoury (eds.), RECOVERING BEIRUT. (Leiden: E.J. Brill) pp. 11-62.

1993 (With Hashim Sarkis) “Chronology of Beirut’s Urban History.” S. Khalaf & P.S. Khoury (eds.), RECOVERING BEIRUT (Leiden: E.J. Brill) pp. 243-263

1993 “The Spaces of War: Territorial Identities and the Restoration of Civility in Lebanon,” Richard Sennett (ed.), PLACE AND RIGHT. (N.Y.: Rockfeller Foundation). In Press.

1993 “Culture, Collective Memory and the Rehabilitation of Civility.” Deirdre Collins (ed.), PEACE FOR LEBANON: FROM WAR TO RECONSTRUCTION (Boulder, Col: Lynne Rienner, 1993), pp. 273-286.

1994 “New England Puritanism and Liberal Education in the Middle East.”Serif Mardin (ed.), CULTURAL TRANSITIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. (Leiden: E.J. Brill) pp. 50-85.

1995 “Communal Strife in Global Politics.” M. Esman and S.Telhami (eds.), INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION AND ETHNIC CONFLICT. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press) pp. 101-125.

1996 “Postscript” Peter Rowe and Hashim Sarkis (eds.), OPEN CITY (Harvard Graduate School of Design). 64-72.

1997 “From Geography of Fear to a Culture of Tolerance.” Paul Salem (ed.), CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE ARAB WORLD.(Washington, D.C., The Brookings Institution) 354-383.

1997 “Space, Place and Well-Being.” HURRIYAT No. 7 (Spring, 1997) pp. 7-11.

1997 “Protestant Images of Islam: Disparaging Sterotypes Reconfirmed.” ISLAM AND CHRISTIAN MUSLIM RELATIONS Vol. 8 No. 2 (Spring 1997): 211-229.

1998 “Leavening the Levant.” JOURNAL OF MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES: HISTORY, CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD. Vol. 7, No. 2: 268-292.

1998 “Contested Space & the Forging of New Cultural Identities.” In P. Rowe & H. Sarkis (eds) PROJECTING BEIRUT (Prestel Verlag):140-164

2001 “Lebanon’s Golden/Guilded Age: 1943-1975” in Charles Chartouni (Ed). HISTOIRE

SOCIÉTÉS ET POUVOIR: AUX PROCHE ET MOYEN ORIENTS (Paul Geuthner): Tome 1, 67-110.

2001 “Godly and Ungodly Puritans” in E. Doumato, E. Tejirian, and R. Simon (Eds).

ALTRUSIM AND IMPERIALISM (N.Y: Columbia International Affairs Online).

2001 “Early Encounters of Protestant Missionaries in Lebanon.” In E. Tejirian and R. Simon (eds.) ALTRUISM AND IMPERIALISM (Middle East Institute: Columbia University): 14-45.

2002 “The Worldliness of Edward Said” in G. Meyer, (ed). WOCMES AWARD OF OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES (University of Mainz, Germany) In press.

2003 “On Roots and Routes: The Reassertion of Primordial Loyalties” in Theodore Hanf and N. Salam (eds). LEBANON IN POSTWAR LIMBO (Bader-Bader: Nomos Verlagsgesslschaft, 2003): 87-106.

2003 “The Radicalization of Communal Loyalties” in Thomas Scheffler (Ed). RELIGION

BETWEEN VIOLENCE AND RECONCILIATION. (Orient - Institute, 2000). Beiruter Texte Und Studien. Band 76: 283-299.

2004-5 “The Spaces of War and Postwar.” In Al-Abhath No. 52. (April): 49-87.

2005 “With Friends Like These.” In Richard Vernon and Vicki Esses (eds.) WHY NEIGHBOURS KILL: EXPLAINING THE BREAKDOWN OF ETHNIC RELATIONS (University of Western Ontario). In press.

2005 “On Collective Memory, Central Place and National Identity.” Center of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (ed). Beirut: Civil Pleasures, Civil Wars (Barcelona: CCCB: 1-14).

2006 “Reclaiming the Bourj: As a Cultural and Cosmopolitan Public Sphere.” In H. Sarkis and M. Dwyer (eds.) TWO SQUARES (Harvard Graduate School of Design): 24-49.

2006 “Living with Dissonant Sexual Codes”. In S. Khalaf and J. Gagnon (eds.) SEXUALITY IN THE ARAB WORLD (London: Saqi Books): 7-34.

2006 “Postscript.” In S. Khalaf and J. Gagnon (eds.) SEXUALITY IN THE ARAB WORLD (London: Saqi Books): 299-304.

2006 “The July War on Lebanon”. In Conflict in Focus (December, 2006): No. 14-15:07-09.

2007 “Resurgent Communal Identities & Protracted Collective Violence in Lebanon: A Dialectical Reading.” In Peter Mott (ed.) COMPARING CULTURES AND CONFLICT (Arnold-Bergstrasser Institute): 237-252.

2007 “American Missionaries in the Levant: Precursors to Soft Power and High Culture”. In Brian Edwards (ed.) GLOBALIZATION AND THE CIRCULATION OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION IN NORTH AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST (Carnagie Corporation). In press.

2007 “The spaces of Postwar Beirut”. In W. Pullan, J. Anderson and M. Dumper (eds.) REASSESSING CONFLICT IN CITIES (Cambridge University Press). In press.

2007 “Introduction.” Michel Chiha and Palestine: Editorial Reflection, 1944-54 (London: Stacy International): 1-17.

2007 “AUB and Ras Beirut: and Idyllic Twinship.” In The Moore Collection (American University of Beirut): 12-24.

2008 “The Pathologies of Protracted and Displaced Collective Violence in Lebanon”. In P.R. Kumaraswany (ed.) CAUGHT IN CROSS FIRE: CIVILIANS IN CONFLICTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST (Greenwood Press): 75-93.

2009 "The Inside/Outside Dialectics and Protracted Civil Unrest in Lebanon." In Amy Freedman (ed.) Sites of Opportunity: The Nexus between Internal and External Security Threats (University of Toronto Press). In Press

2009 "Unobtrusive Research Strategies in a war and Postwar Settings." In Sonja Mejcher-Attasi (ed.) Collecting Practices in Lebanon. In press.

Other Publications

1987 “The Americanization of George.” THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR (September 22): 14. Reprinted in NEWSDAY ( October 11, 1987); in Judson R.

Landis, SOCIOLOGY (Wadswoth, Inc., 1989): 82; MacCarthy, Rasool and Banks (eds.), READING AND LEARNING ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES (Wadsworth, 1993): 394.

1991 “Lebanon Through Ramzi’s Eyes.” THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR (August 2): 19. Reprinted in NEW LEBANESE AMERICAN JOURNAL (August 8, 1991).

1992 The Evangelical Imagination: New England Puritans and Foreign Missions

(Report submitted to the Lilly Endowment, Inc): 85 ps.

1997 “Good Fences Make Good Neighbours.” Daily Star (March 17): 6

1997 “The Places Where we Spend our Time Shape Who we Are and Who we Become.” Daily Star (March 8): 6

2004 “Hamade Lives, Lebanon’s Openness Too.” Daily Star (October, 6): 4

2005 “Lamenting the Victim of Lebanon’s September 11.” Daily Star (February 21): 4

2005 “Collective Enthusiasm and Lebanon’s Reawakening.” An-Nahhar (February 22): 1-12.

2005 “Lebanon’s Youth are now Writing their Own Future.” Daily Star (March 29)

2006 Memories of Ras Beirut. A documentary Film.

Professional Associations:

American Sociological Association

Middle East Studies Association of North America

Editorial Boards:

International Journal of comparative Sociology

Economics, Social and Political Studies of the Middle East (E.J.Brill)

International Review of Sociology

The Beirut Review

Honors & Awards

The Heart of Beirut. First Prize for the Souad Al-Sabbah Book Award (Alumni

Association of AUB, 2006).

Sexuality in the Arab World. Finalist for the Publishers Book Choice of New

York (2008).

A two-day “celebration” at Harvard University hosted by the Department of

Anthropology and Programs of Gender and Sexuality and Middle Eastern

Studies (April 2007).

Honored by three programs in the universities of Sydney and Melbourne in

Australia (April 2009) for his accomplishment in teaching, research and

scholarly output.

Others:

Member of Joint Committee on the Near an Middle East: American Council of Learned Societies and Social Science Research Council, 1979-1981

Member of Higher Council of Urban Planning, Lebanon 1978-1984; reappointed in 2006.

Member of the Municipal Council of Aley, Lebanon, 1970-1984

Member of the Board of Trustees, AMIDEAST, 1986-Present.

Member of the Board of Trustees, Human Rights Watch, 1989-Present.

Member, Advisory Board: Canadian Institute of Peace, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992, American Advisory Board: Lebanese American University, 1991-1994.

Member, Foundation Michel Chiba, 1998-Current

Member of International Jury; Martyrs’ Square and the Grand Axis of Beirut International Urban Design Ideas Competition. (October 14-16, 2004) and (May 2-6, 2005).

Courses Taught:

Introduction to Sociology, Sociological Theory, Development of Social Thought, Deviance, Industrial Sociology, Urbanization, the Sociology of the Arab World, Modernization in the Arab World, Social Change and Development, Social Movements in the Arab World, Social Policy, Islamic Militancy, Stability and Change in the Middle East, Social Conflict and Social Change in the Middle East, Sexuality and the Status of Women in the Arab World, War and Society in Lebanon, Sexuality and Society, The Cultures of Inquiry.

News:

Two years ago in April 2007, AUB Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) and Director of AUB's Center for Behavioral Research (CBR) Samir Khalaf was honored at Harvard University by its Center for Middle Eastern Program and the Program on Women, Gender, and Sexuality in recognition of his outstanding teaching, research and scholarly output. The two-day event involved a public lecture and a "Master Class" where five PhD candidates discussed various dimensions of his work in relation to urbanism, sexuality, modernity, violence, and identity.

This April the honor comes from Australia in the form of an "Inaugural Guest" for a series of international lectures being launched by three programs: The Sociology Department of the University of Sydney, the Center for Excellence in Islamic Studies, and the Future Generation Program at Melbourne University. Ghassan Hage, future generation professor of anthropology and social theory at the School of Philosophy, Anthropology of Social Inquiry (PASI) at the University of Melbourne, recently announced the three-day "celebration":

"The Australian Research Council-funded Center for Excellence in Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne, the University of Western Sydney, and the University of Griffith Queensland have a longstanding interest in the promotion of scholarship on Islam and the Middle East. This involves promoting the study of Islam and the Middle East in Australia. As part of this brief it has been decided to begin a series of lectures whereby Middle Eastern academics with a noted history of scholarly output are invited to Australia to familiarize the Australian academic world with their achievement."

"With fifty years of internationally-recognized scholarly output behind you. With your relentless commitment to the highest standards of scholarly investigation and objectivity that was remarkably maintained even in the dark years of the Lebanese civil war, we could not think of anyone more deserving of being our inaugural guest for these series of lectures. This will take a similar form to the celebration of your work and achievement that was held at Harvard University but we feel particularly lucky that we can also celebrate the 50th anniversary of your academic career!"

Fifty years ago, still a PhD candidate at Princeton University, Khalaf began his appointment at AUB as part-time instructor in sociology. Except for two years as a Fulbright Fellow at Harvard (1972-74) and ten years as visiting professor at Princeton (1984-94), his entire career has been fully engrossed with AUB. Although averse to administration, he has had two stints as chair of SBS and, since his return in 1994, has been directing the Center for Behavioral Research (CBR).

Khalaf has managed to sustain his resourceful output and creative exuberance throughout his career, often against formidable odds. Even during the darkest days of the war, he redirected his research interests to explore the nature of protracted strife, geography of fear and post-war reconstruction. Now, in presumably his twilight years, there is a renewed surge in both the volume and diversity of his outstanding intellectual output. He has authored 16 books and research monographs and another three are in progress.

His articles and book chapters, all in reputable publications, are about to reach the 100 mark. Also worth noting, is that Khalaf is not an "ivory tower" academic or intellectual recluse. Nor is he a narrow-minded and dispassionate specialist who shuns responsibility for fear of the moral and cultural consequences of his scholarly work. Early in his career he opted to be involved in outreach activities; particularly urban reconstruction, human rights and cultural and intellectual exchange. He was elected to the Municipal Council of Aley, served on Lebanon's Higher Council of Urban Planning, and was appointed on a score of international design competition juries.

Khalaf's stellar accomplishment is doubtlessly his resourceful leadership in reviving the activities and stature of the Center for Behavioral Research (CBR). An inventory of the Center's activities since 1995, in the wake of almost two decades of relative inactivity, will reveal the role it played as an intellectual forum for facilitating contacts among local and foreign scholars and in uplifting the quality of AUB's research output. The Center clearly played a much-needed role in rendering AUB more attractive as a site for high-quality research, scholarly debate, and academic collegiality.

What stands out is not only the range and diversity of talent or activities; such as hosting international conferences, sponsoring research and postdoctoral fellows, public lectures, graduate assistantship and faculty research grants.

Through a generous and extended Andrew Mellon Foundation Grant (often with supplementary support from IDRC, Ford, Chiha Foundation, Oxford University, George Khoury and the Mikaty Foundation), the Center sponsored and organized an impressive set of activities and programs, including:

Eight international conferences were hosted on topics such as: "Science Technology and Society," "Building City and Nation," "Arab Provincial Capitals in Late Ottoman Empire," "Tribute to Edward Said," "Sexuality in the Arab World" and "The Marginalization and Mobilization of Arab Youth."

A total of sixty eight Visiting Research Fellows and Associates, mostly pre-doctoral candidates from the United States, Europe, Australia, Canada, Asia, and other universities had residences, of various durations, in CBR.

Fifty two graduate students received full graduate assistantships. Many, as a result, were able to finish their MA requirements in the optimal time span of two years.

Perhaps the most visible public events were the 6-8 public lectures CBR hosted yearly. Not all, naturally, were of the rock-star quality of Edward Said or Naom Chomsky. CBR attracted altogether around sixty notable speakers of the likes of: Rashid Khalidi, Peter Rowe, Miguel Morationos, Johan Galtung, John Waterbury, Tony Tanner, Adonis, Mary Ann Glendon, Hrant Khatchadorian, Anthony King, Lucette Valensi, Georgi Mirsky, Mary Wilson, Walter Wallace, Augustus Norton, Saud Joseph, Ghassan Hage, Eugene Rogan, Fawaz Gerges, Brian Street, Frank Wisner, John Keane, Peter Johnson, Fadlou Shehadi, Yasir Suleiman and many more.

Twenty four scholars, normally with fresh PhD's, enjoyed the privilege of a full-year of uninterrupted research and writing. In addition to preparing their manuscripts for publication, some were able to offer seminars on special topics related to their research.

The success of CBR's "Brown Bag" bi-weekly sessions, largely the outcome of the initiative generated by visiting fellows and graduate students, has gone beyond our initial expectations. After a modest beginning, they started to attract a devoted audience of participants.

The most compelling byproduct has been the Faculty Research Awards. Twenty five of AUB faculty have benefited from the opportunity of devoting their summer break to research and writing in lieu of teaching. The number of publications generated by such activities is very promising, enhancing AUB's stature as the foremost scholarly and research institution in the region.

Between 2000-04, the Center was involved in a collaborative "Euromed Heritage Project," supported by the European Commission and the University of North London. Beirut is one of fourteen other Mediterranean cities being explored with special focus on oral history, visual, and intangible culture.

After an inevitable lull in the Center's activities, it is now poised to redirect the nature of its programs. Funds for the coming three years have been recently secured to launch a set of international conferences that will explore vital but overlooked problems in the Arab World. The first, scheduled for late May, will bring together 35 international and local scholars to address issues related to the Marginalization, Exclusion, and Mobilization of Arab Youth. Like earlier ventures, the proceedings will materialize in a published and widely circulated volume.