Middle Eastern and North African Studies
Resources relevant for the study of the Middle East (Southwest Asia) and North Africa from the ancient to the modern period
Learned Societies in Near Eastern Studies (compiled by Jonathan Rodgers)
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La Société Asiatique (1822)La Société asiatique a été fondée en 1822 dans le mouvement d’enthousiasme suscité par les premières conquêtes de l’orientalisme scientifique : déchiffrement d’écritures, résurrection de monuments, comparaison des langues. Elle a traversé le XIXe et le XXe siècles en assurant sa mission : le développement et la diffusion des connaissances sur l’aire immense allant du Maghreb à l’Extrême-Orient, à travers une approche scientifique et multidisciplinaire des cultures orales et écrites des sociétés concernées.
La Société asiatique fédère plus de 700 membres en France et dans le monde. Son organe : le Journal asiatique est publié sans interruption depuis 1822. La diversification progressive des études, leur développement par la spécialisation toujours plus étroite renforcent le rôle d’organisme fédérateur des spécialistes d’études orientales, joué par la Société depuis près de deux siècles. -
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and IrelandThe Royal Asiatic Society was founded in 1823 by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Henry Colebrook and a group of likeminded individuals. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV in the same year 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'.
Throughout the course of the Society's history many distinguished scholars have contributed to its work, including Sir Richard Burton (1821-90) the noted explorer and first translator of the Arabian Nights and Kama Sutra and Sir Aurel Stein(1862-1943 ) the renowned archaeologist and explorer of the 'Silk Road'. The Society is affiliated to associate societies in India (Calcutta, Bombay, Bangalore, Madras, and Bihar), Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Malaysia. -
American Oriental SocietyThe American Oriental Society is the oldest learned society in the United States devoted to a particular field of scholarship. The Society was founded in 1842, preceded only by such distinguished organizations of general scope as the American Philosophical Society (1743), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1780), and the American Antiquarian Society (1812). From the beginning its aims have been humanistic. The encouragement of basic research in the languages and literatures of Asia has always been central in its tradition. This tradition has come to include such subjects as philology, literary criticism, textual criticism, paleography, epigraphy, linguistics, biography, archaeology, and the history of the intellectual and imaginative aspects of Oriental civilizations, especially of philosophy, religion, folklore and art. The scope of the Society's purpose is not limited by temporal boundaries: All sincere students of man and his works in Asia, are welcome for membership.
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Deutsche Morgenländische GesellschaftDie Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG) ist seit ihrer Gründung am 2. Oktober 1845 die bedeutendste wissenschaftliche Vereinigung deutscher Orientalisten.
Den Tätigkeitsbereich ihrer Mitglieder bilden die Sprachen und Kulturen des Orients, Asiens, Ozeaniens und Afrikas sowie die Beziehungen dieser Gebiete untereinander und zu Nachbarregionen.
Die in der DMG vertretenen wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen sind: Ägyptologie, Altorientalistik, Semitistik, Hebraistik, Arabistik, Islamwissenschaft, Wissenschaft vom Christlichen Orient, Iranistik, Buddhismuskunde, Indologie, Turkologie, Altaistik, Mongolistik, Tibetologie, Sinologie, Japanologie, Südostasienkunde, Afrikanistik und verwandte Gebiete.
Der Gründungssitz der Gesellschaft war Leipzig. Die Gründung erfolgte insbesondere auf Betreiben des Arabisten Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer (1801 - 1888), Orientalist an der Universität Leipzig. Während des Dritten Reiches, das zur Gleichschaltung aller akademischen Vereinigungen zwang, löste sich die DMG auf und wurde am 4. Juni 1948 in Mainz wieder gegründet.
Seit 28.09.2006 hat die Gesellschaft ihren Sitz in Halle (Saale). -
Middle East Studies AssociationThe Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a private, non-profit, non-political learned society that brings together scholars, educators and those interested in the study of the region from all over the world. From its inception in 1966 with 50 founding members, MESA has increased its membership to more than 2,600 and now serves as an umbrella organization for more than sixty institutional members and thirty-nine affiliated organizations. The association is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Council of Area Studies Associations, and a member of the National Humanities Alliance. As part of its goal to advance learning, facilitate communication and promote cooperation, MESA sponsors an annual meeting that is a leading international forum for scholarship, intellectual exchange and pedagogical innovation.It is responsible for the International Journal of Middle East Studies, the premiere journal on the region, the MESA Bulletin and a quarterly newsletter. An awards program recognizes scholarly achievement, service to the profession and exemplary student mentoring. MESA is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors elected by the membership.
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International Society for Iranian StudiesThe International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS), formerly the Society for Iranian Studies, was founded in 1967 as an academic society to support and promote the field of Iranian Studies at the international level. ISIS, an affiliated member of the international Middle East Studies Association (MESA), is a private, not-for-profit, non-political organization of persons interested in Iranian Studies in the broadest sense. The objectives of the Society are to promote high standards of scholarship in the field, to encourage the teaching of Iranian Studies at the graduate and under-graduate levels, and to encourage and facilitate scholarly exchange amongst its international membership.
The International Society for Iranian Studies publishes Iranian Studies, a journal that continues to serve as the principal journal in the field. Its current editor is Dr. Homa Katouzian (University of Oxford).The International Society for Iranian Studies (ISIS), formerly the Society for Iranian Studies, was founded in 1967 as an academic society to support and promote the field of Iranian Studies at the international level. ISIS, an affiliated member of the international Middle East Studies Association (MESA), is a private, not-for-profit, non-political organization of persons interested in Iranian Studies in the broadest sense. The objectives of the Society are to promote high standards of scholarship in the field, to encourage the teaching of Iranian Studies at the graduate and under-graduate levels, and to encourage and facilitate scholarly exchange amongst its international membership.
The International Society for Iranian Studies publishes Iranian Studies, a journal that continues to serve as the principal journal in the field. Its current editor is Dr. Homa Katouzian (University of Oxford). Iranian Studies is a peer-reviewed journal of history, literature, culture, and society, covering all regions of the globe with a Persian or Iranian legacy, especially Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus and northern India, as well as diaspora communities of Iranians in Europe and the United States. The organization also publishes a newsletter for the membership: ISISNews. -
The Ottoman and Turkish Studies AssociationThe Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, founded and incorporated in 1971, is a private, non-profit, non-political organization of persons interested in Turkish and Ottoman studies. The objectives of the Association are to promote high standards of scholarship and instruction; to facilitate communication among its members through meetings and written exchanges of information; and to promote international, scholarly cooperation among persons and organizations concerned with Turkish and Ottoman studies.
The Association's activities include publication of the Journal with short research articles, reports of meetings and conferences, book reviews and communications from members. The annual meeting of the Association is held each November in conjunction with the Middle East Studies Association convention. Persons interested in Turkish or Ottoman studies are invited to membership. -
Turkish Studies Association JournalFormerly the Turkish Studies Association Bulletin.
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Association for Jewish StudiesFounded in 1969, the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) is a learned society and professional organization that seeks to promote, maintain, and improve teaching, research, and related endeavors in Jewish Studies in colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning. The Association for Jewish Studies is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies.
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The American Schools of Oriental ResearchThe American Schools of Oriental Research supports and encourages the study of the peoples and cultures of the Near East, from the earliest times to the present.
Founded in 1900, ASOR is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. It is apolitical and has no religious affiliation.
ASOR communicates news of the latest research findings in its publications and through lectures at its Annual Meeting, while its overseas institutes host scholars working in the Middle East. ASOR's book series and journals such as Near Eastern Archaeology and the Bulletin of ASOR, are aimed at both a lay audience and specialist archaeologists, historians, and Biblical scholars. ASOR's Annual Meeting brings together scholars from around the world to present their latest findings and discuss their research. Our independent overseas institutes in Cyprus, Israel, and Jordan facilitate research in the field by students and scholars. Fellowship programs are available to provide funds for work at these -
Near Eastern Archaeology(Formerly the Biblical Archaeologist)
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American Council of Learned SocietiesThe American Council of Learned Societies was established in 1919 to represent the United States within the Union Académique Internationale (UAI) (International Union of Academies), which itself was established earlier that year "to encourage cooperation in the advancement of studies through collaborative research and publications in those branches of learning promoted by the Academies and institutions represented in the UAI—philology, archaeology, history, the moral, political and social sciences." At that time, no organization existed in the United States to perform this function. The ACLS has represented the nation in the UAI with distinction for more than 80 years."
The American Council of Learned Societies is a private non-profit federation of sixty-eight national scholarly organizations. The mission of the ACLS, as set forth in its Constitution, is "the advancement of humanistic studies in all fields of learning in the humanities and the social sciences and the maintenance and strengthening of relations among the national societies devoted to such studies."
The Council consists of a fifteen-member Board of Directors and one Delegate from each constituent society. An elected Board of Directors establishes and reviews policies, sets strategic directions, oversees the investment of endowed funds, and reports on all major decisions to the constituent societies. The Council holds an Annual Meeting, elects officers and members of the Board of Directors, provides general and fiscal oversight, and, assisted by the Executive Committee of the Delegates, admits new members. The principal administrative officer of each society participates in the Conference of Administrative Officers (CAO).
The ACLS is supported by income from endowment, dues from constituent societies and affiliates, contributions from university and college associates, private and public grants, government contracts, and private gifts.
As the pre-eminent representative of humanities scholarship in America, the ACLS carries out its mission in a variety of programs across many fields of learning. Awarding peer-reviewed fellowships is at the core of ACLS activity. While it is difficult to catalogue concisely the wide range of ACLS activities, the many other forms of the Council's work fall under the twin goals of its mission.
International Congress of Asian and North African Studies
This series began life under the briefer title International Congress of Orientalists. It has endured at least two breakaway movements, and two name changes, during its long existence. The temporary change to "Human Sciences" may have been prompted by respect for the Japanese term "jimbun kagaku." The inclusion of North Africa from 1976 onwards chiefly legitimizes the addition of Egypt to other Islamic subjects.
Name changes:
- International Congress of Asian and North African Studies (ICANAS) (1984-)
- International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa (1976-1983)
- International Congress of Orientalists (1873-1973)
Conference proceedings have not invariably been published. Names and venues have been as follows.
International Congress of Orientalists
I (1873) Paris
II (1874) London
III (1876) St Petersburg
IV (1878) Florence
V (1881) Berlin
VI (1883) Leiden
VII (1886) Vienna
VIII (1889) Stockholm and Christiana
IX (1892) London
X (1894) Geneva
XI (1897) Paris
XII (1899) Rome
XIII (1902) Hamburg
XIV (1905) Algiers
XV (1908) Copenhagen
XVI (1912) Athens
A long interval follows, for WW1 and its aftermath
XVII (1928) Oxford
XVIII (1931) Leiden
XIX (1935) Rome
XX (1938) Brussels
Another interval, for WW2
XXI (1948) Paris
It was in this same year that the first of the breakaway Junior Sinologues meetings was held in Cambridge and London
XXII (1951) Istanbul
XXIII (1954) Cambridge
XXIV (1957) Munich
XXV (1960) Moscow
XXVI (1964) New Delhi
Several Indian scholars, distressed at the scant space given to Sanskrit at this Congress, petitioned the Indian Ministry of Education to establish an alternative venue. The result was the first International Sanskrit Conference in March 1972.
XXVII (1967) Ann Arbor
XXVIII (1971) Canberra
The first of the breakaway World Sanskrit Conferences meets in New Delhi in March 1972
XXIX Paris 1973
At this meeting, Sanskritists agreed to form the International Association for Sanskrit Studies, with the mandate to organize a series of World Sanskrit Conferences at different venues.
International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa
XXX (1976) Mexico City
XXXI (1983) Tokyo and Kyoto
International Congress for Asian and North African Studies (ICANAS)
XXXII (1984) Hamburg
XXXIII (1990) Toronto
XXXIV (1993) Hong Kong
XXXV (1997) Budapest
XXXVI (2000) Montréal
XXXVII (2004) Moscow
ICANAS-38: 38th ICANAS Ankara, Turkey in September 10-15, 2007.
Last Updated: Dec 3, 2025 11:45 AM
Subjects: International Studies