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For immediate release
April 15, 2009 |
Washington, D.C. –The Carnegie Corporation of New York today selected Georgetown professor Samer Shehata as a 2009 Carnegie Scholar for his commitment to enriching the quality of the public dialogue on Islam.
Shehata, an assistant professor at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS), was as one of 24 scholars that included both well-established and promising young thinkers, analysts and writers who will receive two-year grants of up to $100,000 from the foundation.
“We are particularly pleased Samer Shehata has been selected for this prestigious award from the Carnegie Corporation of New York,” said Robert L. Gallucci, dean of the Walsh School of Foreign Service. “I am confident that the results of his research will further enhance the reputation of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in the School of Foreign Service.”
For his grant project, “Islamist Electoral and Parliamentary Participation: Egypt, Morocco and Kuwait,” Shehata will examine why Islamist parties participate in elections in semi-authoritarian regimes, the reasons behind their electoral success and the particular policies they adopt once they enter parliament.
Shehata, a specialist in Arab politics, will use ethnographic research, interviews and close analysis of official records to illustrate the degree to which participation in electoral politics has an effect on the character of legislative institutions in these regimes. He will also explore the consequences of Islamist electoral and parliamentary activity on Middle East politics.
“I am delighted to be given the opportunity to pursue my research on Islamist electoral and parliamentary participation in the Middle East as a Carnegie Scholar,” said Shehata. “Islamist groups are, without question, the most popular and influential force in the Middle East today, and elections in the region are taking place more frequently and with greater seriousness… My research examines the intersection of these two important phenomenon – Islamists and elections.”
Shehata teaches courses on comparative and Middle East politics and political economy, U.S. policy toward the Middle East, Islamist Politics, Egyptian politics and society, culture and politics in the Arab world and other subjects. During the 2002-2003 academic year, Shehata served as acting director of the Master of Arts in Arab Studies Program.
Before coming to Georgetown he spent one year as a fellow at the Society of Fellows at Columbia University and another as director of Graduate Studies at New York University's Center for Near Eastern Studies. He has also taught at the American University in Cairo. In the spring of 2002, he developed a popular course with Michael Hudson called the U.S., the Middle East and the War on Terrorism, which he continues to teach. He has published numerous articles in both academic and policy journals and his first book “Shop Floor Culture and Politics in Egypt” (State University of New York Press, 2009), will be published in the fall.
“We are cultivating a diverse scholarly community spanning a range of disciplines with the expectation that their voices will help Americans develop a more complex understanding of Muslim societies here and throughout the world – revealing Islam’s rich diversity,” said Carnegie Corporation of New York President Vartan Gregorian. “Only through vibrant dialogue, guided by bold and nuanced scholarship, can we move public thinking into new territory,” he added.
About the Carnegie Scholars program
The Carnegie Scholars program allows independent-minded thinkers to pursue original projects oriented toward catalyzing intellectual discourse as well as guiding more focused and pragmatic policy discussions. Scholars are selected not only for their originality and proven intellectual capacity, but for their demonstrated ability to communicate their ideas in ways that can catalyze public discourse.
About Georgetown University
Georgetown University is the oldest and largest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in Washington, DC, Doha, Qatar and around the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit www.georgetown.edu.
