Curriculum Vitae
May 2014
Record: ERIK ELIAV FREAS
Assistant Professor of History
Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York
Date of birth:11th July 1965
Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Education:PhD, Doctorate in Modern Middle East History, University of St.Andrews, (May 2006)
Intensive Program in Arabic Language, Arabic Language Institute, American University in Cairo (Spring 1996)
Arabic and Hebrew Language Study, Rothberg School for Overseas Students, The Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1993-1994)
Masters in Anthropology, with a focus on the Middle East, New York University (Jan 1993)
Bachelors Degree in Anthropology, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, (Jan 1988)
Career:(September 2009 – present)
Assistant Professor of History, Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), City University of New York
HIS 101: Western Civilization I; HIS 102: Western Civilization II; HIS 129: An Introduction to the Middle East. Created courses: Global History I; and Global History II.
(August 2006 – December 2009)
Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East History, University of
Illinois at Springfield (UIS)
HIS 160: Comparative Studies, An Introduction to the Middle East; HIS375: Conflict in the Middle East; HIS301: The Historian’s Craft; HIS470: Nationalism, Colonialism, Imperialism; HIS 401: Senior Seminar, Historiographical Issues in Middle East History; CAP 225: What Is Good?; HIS 510: Graduate Reading Seminar, The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
(September 2001 – May 2006)
Teacher’s Assistant, University of St. Andrews
Modules MO1003 and MO1004, Modern European History (First Year); Module MO2005, Modern European History (Second Year); Modules MO1005 and MO1006, Early Modern European History (First Year); AR2003, Introduction to the Middle East (Second Year)
(October 1997 – January 2001)
Staff Assistant, The International Monetary Fund
Inclusive of mission travel to Saudi Arabia and Lithuania
(September 1995 – February 1996)
English Language Instructor, The EuroSchulenOrganization (ESO)
(January 1995 – May 1995)
Independent Research, The Rehovot Development Study Center
Concerning Economic Cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians
Teaching:As an Assistant Professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, I have to date been responsible for two courses on Western Civilization (HIS 101 and HIS 102); and one of my own creation, An Introduction to the Middle East (HIS 129). Pending are two new courses I have created: Global History I, and Global History II, both of which have been approved by the college-wide curriculum committee. I am also working on developing a course that will be team taught, dealing with Islam in contemporary societies. I have also participated in the Writing Across the Curriculum program and have taught a course (HIS 102) paired with English Composition II (ENG 201).
As an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield, I was responsible overall for six courses: a first-year introductory course on the Middle East (HIS 160); a third-year course on historiography (HIS 301); a third year course concerning conflicts in the Middle East during the modern period (HIS 375); a fourth year course, dealing with historiographical issues in the study of Middle East history, and designed to function as a capstone course for history majors (HIS 401); a fourth year course tracing the development of nationalism and the nation-state, beginning with Louis XIV and concluding with the break-up of the Soviet Union (HIS 475); and a graduate course, which provided an in-depth study of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (HIS 510). I taught HIS 475 both in class and on-line. I would note that all six courses were entirely of my own design; moreover, that I was responsible for all aspects of the courses inclusive of the formulation and presentation of lectures, the selection of reading materials, and the marking of all submitted written work, inclusive of essays, gobbets (source evaluations) and final examinations. A sixth course, entitled “What Is Good,“ was created by myself and a colleague for the university’s advanced students’ (CAP) program (CAP 225). The course compared two different world belief systems—Confucianism and Islam—around questions of ethics and social constructions.
As a Postgraduate in the Department of Arabic and Middle East History, I acted as a teacher’s assistant for the first-year modules Modern European History (MO1003 and MO1004) and Early Modern European History (MO1005 and MO1006), as well as the second-year modules, Modern European History (MO2005), and Intro to the Middle East (AR2003). My responsibilities for the Modern European History and Early Modern European History modules included the selection and organisation of topics to be discussed in the class, the marking of essays, gobbets and final examinations, and, in the case of the former, the organisation of detailed studies related to the 1916-17 Arab Revolt and the Suez Crisis of 1956. My responsibilities for the Intro to the Middle East module focused on discussing topics being covered concurrently in the lectures.
Between September 1995 and February 1996, I was employed with the EuroSchulenOrganization (ESO) as an English language teacher. I was responsible for approximately 40 students in total and worked 20 hours a week on average.
Principle Teaching
Interests:History of the Modern Middle East; Politics of the Middle East; History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict; Inter-Arab Politics in the 20th Century; International Politics in the Middle East; U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East; History of Zionism; History of Modern and Early Modern Europe; History of Modern Britain; History of the Ottoman Empire.
Research:My research to date has focused on Muslim-Christian relations in Palestine during the British Mandate period. Specifically, I examine the manner in which the two communities understood the nature of Palestinian-Arab identity, either as a secular one modelled on European nationalism (generally favoured by Christians), or as a religious one defined primarily with respect to Islam (more in line with Muslim sensibilities). During the early part of the Mandate, when the question of what an independent Palestine (or any Arab state) might actually entail in practical terms was still an open one (and at a time when Palestine’s Arabs were confronted with the more immediate problem of Zionism), differences of emphasis were obscured, often consciously. A further factor examined is the rivalry for control of the Palestinian leadership between the two main political factions, the more extreme of which sought to appeal to the Islamic sensibilities of the majority Muslim population as a way of strengthening its position.
In connection with my Masters degree in Anthropology at New York University, my dissertation examined and contrasted the discourses used by Western missionary men and missionary women respectively. The resulting thesis, which constituted an original piece of research, was published in the academic journal Muslim World. In it, I argued that, whereas missionary men used what might be considered a conventional Orientalist discourse a la Said, the language used by missionary women reflected the gender discourse then being employed by church women in their respective home countries.
I conducted an independent research under the auspices of the Rehovot Development Study Centre investigating possible modes of economic cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians under the (then) ‘new autonomy.’ This was done in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Planning. My research was based primarily on the extensive interviewing of Palestinian residents of the West Bank as well as relevant individuals within the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. The final report was incorporated within a larger investigation then being conducted by the Ministry of Economy and Planning with respect to the aforementioned topic.
Publications/
Papers:Am developing thesis into two different monographs, the first focusing on Muslim-Christian relations in Palestine during the late-Ottoman period, and the latter on said relations during the British Mandate period. Regarding the first, I have recently submitted a formal proposal to several publishers, among them the University of Texas Press, Cambridge University Press, and Hurst Publishers.
Have just concludedthe article “Christian versus Muslim Employment in Mandatory Palestine,” which was submitted for publication to the journal Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations (Routledge).
Am currently working on the article “The Exclusivity of Holiness,” which was presented at the International Middle East Congress, November 1-2, 2011, Kocaeli University, Turkey; at the Middle East History and Theory (MEHAT) Conference at the University of Chicago, May 3-5, 2013; and at the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) Conference at the School of Politics and International Relations in University College Dublin, Ireland, June 24-26, 2013.
“Hajj Amīn al-Husaynī and the Haram al-Sharif: A Pan-Islamic or Palestinian Nationalist Cause?,” published in the academic journal British Journal for Middle East Studies, Vol. 39, No. 1 (2012), pp. 19-51.
“Ottoman Reform, Islam and Palestine’s Peasantry,” published in the academic journal Arab Studies Journal, Vol. XVIII, No. 1 (2010), pp. 196-231. Presented at the ‘The Turks and Palestine’ Conference, Jerusalem (June 2004), sponsored jointly by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Institute for Asian and African Studies, and the Itzhaq Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Eretz-Israel and the Heritage of Sephardi and Eastern Jewry. A revised form of the paper was presented at the 30th German Congress of Oriental Studies (DAVO Congress), which took place in Freiburg, Germany (September 24-28, 2007); presented at the MESA Annual Meeting, November 17-20, 2012, Denver, Colorado. A shorter, revised version of this article was recently solicited by the Institute for Palestine Studies.
Book Review of Ussama Makdisi’s Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East, for the Journal of World History, Vol. 20, No. 2 (June 2009), pp. 289-292.
Book Review of Christopher M. Davidson’s Dubai, The Vulnerability of Success, for the journal The Historian, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Fall 2010), pp. 627-628.
Review Article, “The Middle East Under the Mandate System,” published in Itinerario, Vol. xxxii (2008), no. 1, pp. 95-99. Review of four titles on the history of the British mandate period.
“Muslim Women in the Missionary World,” published in the academic journal Muslim World, Vol. 88, No. 2 (April 1988), pp. 141-164. Presented at the Post-Graduate Colloquium on Gender Studies, St. Andrews, Scotland (May 2004), sponsored by the School of Art History at the University of St. Andrews; and at the WOCMES Conference, Mainz, Germany (September 2002), sponsored by the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies.
“Muslim-Christian Relations in Palestine during the British Mandate Period,” a summary of the main points of my PhD thesis. Presented at the MEHAT (Middle East History and Theory) Conference at the University of Chicago, May 11-12, 2007.
“An Investigation of Possible Modes of Economic Cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians under the New Autonomy,” under the auspices of the Rehovot Development Study Centre and the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Planning, May 1995.
AwardsRecipient of the BMCC Faculty Development Grant – for research on monograph ‘Muslim-Christian Relations during the British Mandate Period’ in London and Jerusalem, Summer 2014.
Recipient of the PSC-CUNY Award – for research on monograph ‘Muslim-Christian Relations during the Late Ottoman Period’ in London, Summer 2010.
Recipient of the UIS Summer Competitive Scholarly Research Grant – for research on monograph ‘Muslim-Christian Relations during the British Mandate Period’ in London and Jerusalem, Summer 2008.
ServiceI am currently serving on both the BMCC Academic Senate and the CUNY-wide University Faculty Senate. I am also currently a member of the board for the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship; of the Student/Faculty Discipline Committee; the Personnel and Budget Committee; the Department Curriculum Committee; and member of a specially created committee for the creation of an Associate History Major within the department. Connected with this, I have developed the three new courses noted above. I have also recently served on a search committee for the position of Professor of African or African/American Studies.
I am a member of the Professional Staff Congress’Junior Faculty and Workload Committees, a Member-at-Large of the local chapter’s Executive Committee, Chair of the local chapter’s Membership Committee, and a member of the PSC’s Delegate Assembly.
I am an active participant in MEMEAC (Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center), affiliated with the CUNY Graduate Center, the aim of which is to promote the study of the Middle East and Middle Eastern Americans.
Summer 2011, Summer 2012 and Summer 2013, I served as an AP Reader for European History for the ETS in Kansas City, Missouri.
Summer 2011, I took part in the Faculty Development Network program sponsored by New York University, in the symposium “The Media and the Middle East”; Fall 2012, I took part in a “Workshop for Teachers” on Muslim Societies sponsored by the Southeast Asia Institute at Columbia University Workshop.
At the University of Illinois (UIS), I was a member of search committees for the position of Associate Professor and Director of Collection Services; the position of Professor of Comparative History of Religion; and the position of Professor of Ancient History. I was also the department liaison for the Teacher Education Program.
At UIS, I acted as advisor for theuniversity theatrical production ‘Two Rooms’ (held May 11-12), a hostage drama set in the Middle East featuring faculty and students in the leading roles.
I was a guest speaker on a panel for “Globalization Day” on the subject of globalization from a historical perspective—“Not a New Phenomenon: The Case of the Ottoman Empire,” April 29, 2013; at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on behalf of the Convergence of Faith Community and Neighbors on the subject of developments in Egypt – February 24, 2011; at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on behalf of Peace Action Bay Ridge Interfaith Peace Coalition on the subject of the Middle East and World War I – March 19, 2011; and at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on behalf of the Peace Action Bay Ridge Interfaith Peace Coalition on the subject of the Iranian Revolution – September 20, 2012.
I was a guest speaker at Cherry Hills Baptist Church on the subject of the Arab-Israeli conflict – January 28, 2007; at First Presbyterian Church on the subject of Muslim-Christian relations in the Middle East – April 14, 2007; at First Presbyterian Church on the subject of the ‘Arab media’ as part of the forum ‘World Affairs Council & Great Decisions’ – May 17, 2007; and at Temple B’rith Shalom on the subject of the Iranian Revolution – September 14, 2008.
While based in Springfield, I was the Central Illinois liaison for the Illinois Outreach Network on Islam and the World, based in the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.