Nadia Abu El Haj
Nadia Abu El-Haj | |
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PhD) | |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Barnard College, Columbia University |
Website | Barnard faculty profile |
Nadia Abu El-Haj (
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Early life and education
Abu El-Haj was born in the United States, the second daughter of a "
Abu El-Haj spent a couple of years in private schools in
Academic career
Abu El-Haj taught at the
A former
Research
Facts on the Ground
In 2001, Abu El-Haj published Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society.[3] In it, she uses anthropological methods to explore the relationship between the development of scientific knowledge and the construction of the social imaginations and political orders, using the discipline of Israeli archaeology as the subject of her study.[3] Arguing that the facts generated by archaeological practice fashion "cultural understandings, political possibilities and 'common-sense' assumptions",[11] she posits that, in the case of Israel, the practice works to serve the "formation and enactment of its colonial-national historical imagination and ... the substantiation of its territorial claims".[13]
Facts on the Ground has been reviewed in both scholarly and popular publications. The book was awarded the
Other scholarship
Abu El-Haj's more recent scholarship explores the field of
Reviewing El-Haj's 2012 book, The Genealogical Science: The Search for Jewish Origins and the Politics of Epistemology, geneticist Richard Lewontin, writing in The New York Review of Books, described her as a "genetic determinist" not in the "usual sense" but because she writes that "fundamental aspects of who one is are determined by one's past" and that "who we really are collectively and individually is given by and legible in biological data." He proposes that a term such as "biological determinism" might be coined to describe her attitude despite her assertion that although the choice to act or not act on the available information about our ancestry, which she describes as telling us who we "really are" is a matter of free choice.[16][17]
Tenure controversy
Abu El-Haj joined the Anthropology Department at Barnard College in the fall of 2002.[11] Because of Barnard College's affiliation with Columbia University, professors recommended for tenure at Barnard are subject to approval by Columbia. Abu El-Haj was recommended for tenure by the faculty at Barnard in the 2006–07 academic year,[5] and by Columbia in the 2007–08 academic year.[18]
Dueling petitions
On August 7, 2007, an
By the time Barnard announced that it had granted Abu El-Haj tenure, in November 2007, 2,592 people had signed the anti-tenure petition and 2,057 had signed the pro-tenure petition.[20]
Academic debate of Abu El-Haj's credentials
In August 2007,
The Chronicle of Higher Education also wrote that many of Abu El-Haj's supporters said that peer review, and not public pressure, is the appropriate measure of a scholar's work, noting that she has been the recipient of many awards, grants, and academic appointments.[21] An article in The New York Times in September 2007 reported that many of Abu El-Haj's supporters, particularly those in the field of anthropology, praised her book as "solid, even brilliant, and part of an innovative trend". For example, Michael Dietler, a professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, described Abu El-Haj as a top-quality scholar. Dietler also said Abu El-Haj was being opposed because she is of Palestinian descent.[2]
Alan F. Segal, a professor of religion and Jewish studies at Barnard, questioned the quality of her research. Saying that Abu El-Haj had suggested that "ancient Israelites had not inhabited the land where Israel now stands", Segal said that she either ignored or misunderstood the evidence to the contrary.[2] In a critique of Facts on the Ground published in the Columbia Daily Spectator, Segal wrote that he opposed Abu El-Haj for professional, and not political, reasons.[22] Segal later told The Forward that Abu El-Haj hates Israelis.[23]
William G. Dever, retired professor of Near East archaeology at the University of Arizona, told The New York Sun that Abu El-Haj should be denied tenure because her scholarship is "faulty, misleading and dangerous", and not because she is a Palestinian or a leftist.[24]
Segal and Dever spoke at lectures sponsored by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and LionPAC (a pro-Israel advocacy group at Columbia)[7] aimed at rebutting El-Haj. In his lecture, Dever disputed the notion that archaeology has inherent biases.[23] In responding to the controversy surrounding Abu El-Haj's work, Barnard President Judith Shapiro said that showing how archaeological research can be used for political and ideological purposes is a legitimate cultural anthropological enterprise.[5]
Tenure decision
On November 2, 2007, Barnard announced that Abu El-Haj had been granted tenure.[18] Subsequent to the tenure decision, Barnard president Shapiro praised Abu El-Haj to an interviewer from the New Yorker.[7]
Published works
- The Genealogical Science: The Search for Jewish Origins and the Politics of Epistemology, University of Chicago Press (2012)
- "The Genetic Reinscription of Race" in Annual Review of Anthropology (2007).[3]
- "Rethinking Genetic Genealogy: A Response to Stephan Palmi" in American Ethnologist (2007), 34:2:223–227.[11]Contents and Abstracts from AE Vol. 34, No. 2 | AESonline.org
- "Edward Said and the Political Present" in American Ethnologist (2005), 32:4:538–555.[3]
- "Reflections on Archaeology and Israeli Settler-Nationhood" in Radical History Review (Spring 2003), 86:149–163.[1] Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
- "Producing (Arti)Facts: Archaeology and Power during the British Mandate of Palestine" in Israel Studies Summer (2002), 7:2:33–61.[11]
- Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society (2001), University of Chicago Press.
- "Translating Truths: Nationalism, Archaeological Practice and the Remaking of Past and Present in Contemporary Jerusalem" in American Ethnologist (1998), 25:2:166–188.[11]
References
- ^ Arenson, Karen W. (September 10, 2007). "Fracas Erupts Over Book on Mideast by a Barnard Professor Seeking Tenure". The New York Times.
- ^ Karen W. Arenson (10 September 2007). "Fracas Erupts Over Book on Mideast by a Barnard Professor Seeking Tenure". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Nadia L. Abu El-Haj". Columbia University Department of Anthropology. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
- ^ "AAUP: Who Got to Decide on Nadia Abu El-Haj's Tenure?". Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
- ^ a b c "Input or Intrusion?", Inside Higher Ed, November 21, 2006.
- ^ Alan Finder (November 3, 2007). "Embattled Barnard Anthropologist Is Awarded Tenure". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Kramer, Jane (2008-04-14). "The petition" (PDF). The New Yorker. pp. 51–59.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Abu El Haj, Nadia (1995). "Excavating the Land, Creating the Homeland: Archaeology, the State, and the Making of History in Modern Jewish Nationalism": 382.
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(help) - ^ "Barnard Welcomes New Faculty to Campus". Barnard News Center. September 1, 2002. Archived from the original on June 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
- ^ "Academy Scholars (1986-2006)" (PDF). Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Nadia Abu El Haj". Barnard College Department of Anthropology. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
- ^ American Ethnologist - 34(2):i[permanent dead link], anthrosource.net; accessed January 31, 2015.
- ^ Nadia Abu El Haj (2001). Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society. University of Chicago Press. p. 2.
- Middle East Studies Association of North America.
- ^ ‘Professor Abu El Haj can have little reason to feel that her first book has been ignored; but it cannot have been pleasant to have ones work called 'crank scholarship’ and 'a corruption of honest fact,' and to be described oneself as 'fraudulent,' a 'charlatan anthropologist,' and even 'a classic racist.' Nadia Abu El Haj also has the unenviable distinction of having her own personal name taken and registered as the Internet domain for a site dedicated to attacking her and damaging her reputation and her career; she is perhaps the first person who is not a politician or a convicted criminal to have been subjected to this disreputable treatment.’ Ralph Harrington, 'Was Nadia Abu El Haj Treated Fairly?,' History News Network November 2007
- ^ Lewontin, Richard C.; El-Haj, Nadia Abu. "Distressed Genes: An Exchange | by Nadia Abu El-Haj | The New York Review of Books" – via www.nybooks.com.
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(help) - ^ Lewontin, Richard C. "Is There a Jewish Gene? | by Richard C. Lewontin | The New York Review of Books" – via www.nybooks.com.
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(help) - ^ a b Annie Karni (November 2, 2007). "After Battle, Barnard Professor Given Tenure". The New York Sun. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- ^ "Barnard prof's critics launch website" Archived 2007-09-17 at the Wayback Machine, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 30, 2007.
- ^ John Gravois (November 2, 2007). "A New Fact on the Ground: Nadia Abu El-Haj Wins Tenure at Barnard College". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- ^ a b Gravois, John (August 20, 2007). "Newest Battlefield of Middle East Conflict Is Tenure Case at Barnard College". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- ^ Alan F. Segal (2007-09-21). "Some Professional Observations on the Controversy about Nadia Abu El-Haj's First Book". Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
- ^ a b Marissa Brostoff (October 17, 2007). "Archaeologists Challenge Barnard Professor's Claims". The Forward. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
- ^ Gabrielle Birkner (November 16, 2006). "Barnard Alumnae Opposing Tenure for Anthropologist". New York Sun. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
External links
- Barnard faculty profile
- Columbia faculty profile
- Who Got to Decide on Nadia Abu El-Haj's Tenure? By Dan Rabinowitz and Ronen Shamir, American Association of University Professors