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Prior days' news: By date | Search This week's print issue Back issues: By date | Search August 15, 2007Alumni Group Seeks to Deny Tenure to Middle Eastern Scholar at Barnard CollegeControversial research on Israel and the Palestinian territories has become the basis of yet another campaign to prevent a professor from winning tenure. A group of Barnard College alumni has drafted an online petition asking their alma mater to deny tenure to Nadia Abu El-Haj, an assistant professor of anthropology whose scholarship, they say, is flawed and skewed against Israel. The group’s criticisms of Ms. Abu El-Haj focus on her book Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society (University of Chicago Press, 2001), which argues that Israeli archaeologists have produced biased research that bolsters the “origin myth” of the Jewish state. The petition, which has drawn just over 1,000 signatures, accuses Ms. Abu El-Haj of ignoring or mischaracterizing large parts of the archaeological record, of not being able to speak Hebrew, and of treating Israeli archaeologists unfairly in her work. Ms. Abu El-Haj declined to comment today. The petition comes on the heels of a high-profile campaign — led by Alan M. Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor — to persuade DePaul University to deny tenure to Norman G. Finkelstein, a professor known for his criticisms of Israel and what he calls the “Holocaust Industry.” Mr. Finkelstein was denied tenure. —John Gravois Posted on Wednesday August 15, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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This post seems somewhat skewed to me. Professor Finkelstein demonstrated lack of expertise and as for the subject of the post, if a person doesn’t even know one of the principal languages of an area, how on earth can they understand findings.
— Dr. Irene Lancaster FRSA Aug 15, 03:22 PM #
The title of the post is factual, unlike the skewed content of your response.
Are you claiming that only someone who reads Hebrew can judge the quality of an Israeli archaeologist? Are the primary texts all in Hebrew?
— john Aug 15, 03:40 PM #
I have an opinion about this post but I will need to keep quiet because I do not have tenure yet and I am afraid, very afraid.
— Richard Aug 15, 03:58 PM #
Again…this is shocking to see the clout in skewing the educational system into just a pro Israel and anti research faculty in the USA!!!
Not speaking Hebrew…you do not need to speak a language to interpret
scientific data…and you can hire people to interpret…how many from the USA in Iraq and Afganistan speak the language of the occupied
countries there? This is again limiting education by a powerful lobby…This is why I only support candidates that do not take lobby monies!!!
— DEB-Z Aug 15, 04:03 PM #
If the controversy is over the quality of Prof. Abu El-Haj’s, surely the fact that it survived the review process of an eminently respected university press should be the guiding factor in its counting toward a tenure decision. There is regularly dispute about issues of scholarship, but publication by a press of the quality of the University of Chicago Press is surely a mark of scholarly respectability, although of course not of correctness.
— David Aug 15, 04:07 PM #
Unless Barnard has started admitting men, shouldn’t it be “Barnard College alumnae”?
— Gustave Aug 15, 04:11 PM #
One hopes that the tenure committee will place greater store in the review and publication processes of the UChicago press than in the decidedly biased petition of some alumni (many of whom I would presume have no expertise in the field of archeology).
I can only wonder about the long term chilling effect of these politicized interventions into tenure matters.
— Charles Aug 15, 04:41 PM #
That academe is not able to rise above an argumentum ad hominem as demonstrated in this case is quite distressing. However, this “campaign” against Dr. Abu-el-Haj is yet more evidence that most arguments about the Middle East are rarely based on scholarship or data, but more often on emotion and politics.
— M J Miller Aug 15, 04:47 PM #
Question for DEB-Z. Do you refuse to support candidates who take Saudi money, or are you just sickened by Jewish money? Isn’t that the lobby you’re talking about? Be truthful! Mark
— Mark Silinsky Aug 15, 04:50 PM #
Respected higher education philosopher Sterling McMurrin said that academic freedom is a guiding principle for university action not only because of its intrinsic worth for a free people but also because it is the major instrument by which a society critically examines its own institutions and values in the search for a higher quality and more adaptive pattern of life. To deny tenure because a scholarly work does not support a “preserved and accepted” view of a major religious tradition is to simply continue the political practice of the last six years of making United States culture less adaptive and more endangered in the 21st century world context. The alums need to focus on the future of their institution and culture and not on limiting the adaptability of the United States.
— Everett Frost Aug 15, 04:55 PM #
Ms. Abu El-Haj declined to comment today about her work. However, her opinion on Israel is incorrect and Muslim scholars always support their own terrorists than seeking the truth. The University of Chicago Press has published controversial and trashy material.
— Kan Chandras Aug 15, 05:04 PM #
The original post seems completely factual to me. I am puzzled where Dr. Irene Lancaster perceives bias. As to the content, tenure decisions shoud not be made by alumni or any outside parties, but by the rightful committees within the organization granting tenure.
— Roland Aug 15, 05:47 PM #
The decisions about promotion and tenure should be conducted by our peers. As patients we don’t make decisions about the content a doctor should know because we are not the expert.
The involvement of external constitutencies or scholars who are critcized by scholarly research do not bode well for academic freedom anywhere.
This is so reminiscent of McCarthyism. . . prosecution for ideological reasons.
And to those who would not speak out because they do not have tenure, if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything. If you sell your soul to get tenure, you will be souless afterwards. . . This is from someone who got tenure by doing my work but taking ethically appropritate stands when necessary.
— Kimberly Aug 15, 05:54 PM #
The president of Barnard happens to be a cultural anthropologist herself. This is one tenure decision that will surely be based on the candidate’s merits rather than on public opinion.
— CU Alum Aug 15, 06:05 PM #
A lesser question: “Facts…” was published in 2001: haven’t any criticisms or analyses been published in the intervening 6 years. Why now?
A clarification: The petition doesn’t attack Dr. Haj’s inability to read ancient inscriptions (“the findings” of comment 1; the “primary texts” of comment 2; the “scientific data” of comment 3). Rather, it censures her inability to read the publications (mostly untranslated) of the Israeli scholars she denigrates.
Dr. Finkelstein’s work is meticulously documented, annotated, and footnoted; Dr. Haj’s sources are (mainly) anecdotal and anonymous. Linking the two misserves the former.
— richard Aug 15, 08:09 PM #
I believe this movement by the Barnard graduates is a first! I can remember students rallying around a distinguished faculty member when the nabobs and nincompoops wanted an academic/administration lynching, but never the students organizing to lead the lynching. Wonder who could have motivated the grads to launch a petition drive?
When this Reign of Error is over, most of academe will be embarrassed over its cowardly silence.
Don Freeman
— Donald M. Freeman Aug 15, 08:33 PM #
If you check out who have signed the petition, you’ll see there are many men and not so many actual Barnard alums.
A real Barnard alum who will fight any witch hunts.
— Kara Aug 15, 09:11 PM #
Muzzling Scholars of Arabic Ancestry
by Joachim Martillo (ThorsProvoni@aol.com)
“Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition” by Yael Zerubavel discusses the construction of memory and the invention of traditions in Mandatory Palestine and in the State of Israel. The book describes some unusual Israeli or Zionist practices associated with Masada and Bar Kochba archeological excavations.
Rather like Nadia Abu el Haj in “Facts on the Ground: Archeological Practice and Territorial Self-fashioning in Israel,” Zerubavel describes the use of archeology and other scholarship to construct Zionist national identity.
Other scholars have investigated the political use of archeology in various contexts. Not only Max Weinreich and Eric Hobsbawm provide similar analysis in their published works, but “Constructing ‘Korean’ Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State-Formation Theories” by Hyung Il Pai addresses precisely that same issues with regard to the development of Korean national consciousness.
Even though Abu el Haj focuses more narrowly on professional archeologists whereas Zerubavel looks at Israeli society as a whole, both authors make similar points in their books, and Zerubavel provides support for some of the claims for which Nadia Abu el Haj has been most criticized.
Zerubavel received the 1996 Salo Baron Prize of the American Academy for Jewish Research for her work while Nadia Abu el Haj is the target of an international campaign to drive her out of Columbia/Barnard. The difference in the responses evoked by the two authors merits a scholarly study in itself.
— Joachim Martillo Aug 15, 10:37 PM #
Dear Mark,
To your question…No not just the Jewish Lobby, I am Jewish…I mean all lobbies, as I believe I stated…I truly believe in no lobbies monies should influence the politicians, media, or academics!!! Especially academics where we as parents are paying over 30-40 thousand dollars a year for special interest groups to control classes!
— DEB-Z Aug 15, 10:40 PM #
El-Haj’s work has been subjected to withering criticism from many in her field. Her book is more agitprop than scholarly research. Here are reprints/links to a few of the critical analyses:
http://www.paulasays.com/articles/nadia_el_haj/factsgroundreview.html
http://www.paulasays.com/articles/nadia_el_haj/denial.html
http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2007/08/david-meirlevy-facts-on-the-ground-nadia/
http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/11769.htm
— Ben David Aug 16, 05:52 AM #
Yet another victim of the US (orthe AIPAC) thought police.
— Salfeet Aug 16, 07:08 AM #
It seems to me that any group from the college should be encouraged to express their opinion on any tenure decision and it should be part the decision making process. That said the committee and the provost should make their decision based on best academic practices.
— Steve Aug 16, 07:18 AM #
One does not need to invoke lobbies or state policy to understand the purported bias in Abu el Haj’s work but attitudes that are present as individuals in different societies.. Academics are not immune to the biases present in their lands of origins. . Scientists, despite multiple denials, are not unbiased, but can only try to control the degree of their bias. I doubt that the author even realizes the extent of the pervasive demeaning attitude in her study, at least in my view A good exercise for the author would be to examine the same issue as it relates to her own society as a baseline for the fairness of her approach. Having accomplished that feat, the perceived attack on Israeli
archeological self-interest would be more credible.
— Arthur Lustig Aug 16, 07:41 AM #
Message for DEB-Z. If you are so concerned about universities being bought off by foreign monies, you may want to check-out MESA’s position of Cambridge’s pulling its new publication, “Alms for Jihad.” You tell me, who has the real power to censor the Middle East East debate.
— Mark Silinsky Aug 16, 09:02 AM #
Arguing the validity of this work is a side show to the essential question that the world has must come to terms with in order to really create peace:
What is the nature of hatred?
Israel exists not because of archaeological evidence legitimizing biblical fantasies.
It exists because a large portion of humanity has for thousands of years, exhibited hatred and contempt for Jews, Jewish culture, and in some circles, our right to exist. The founding of Israel in 1948 was and continues to be the only response to this condition that will guarantee the survival of our people. Its very existence was forged on the same anvil of hate provided by people who would see it destroyed. You cannot have it both ways.
So, if you are unhappy about Israel’s existence, then it is your duty to eradicate the hatred that underpins what has become the crucial political issue of our time.
Texts like this do not serve that purpose, and rightly deserve to be criticized.
— Jeff Schantz Aug 16, 09:16 AM #
I can’t evaluate her scholarship, but the fruits of her apparent bias disturb me. I hope she is worthy of and recieves tenure so that she can continue to spark academic consideration of her views. The academy should not reject her findings, but draw more serious scholars to the issues. This can bring the world to better understandings of both the facts and the emotions.
— Kim Aug 16, 09:20 AM #
I get so physically drained listening to the same old attack/counter-attack between two utterly predictable positions, marshaled by utterly predictable militants.
I can’t imagine being a scholar who works on the Middle East.
To deal with such close-minded, religion-inspired, ultra-nationalist bigotry from every side on a daily basis, in your research, in the classroom—it must really grate on the soul.
A question to you handful of humanistic, critical thinkers in Middle East studies (whether Jewish, Muslim or neither): how do you DO it?
(Does anyone remember that old Star Trek episode, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield?” ...from way back in the late ’60s; but it says all there is to say on the subject.)
— d Aug 16, 09:27 AM #
I also disagree with any strong “Alums for Jihad”, or ACTA, which is a “watch dog” group founded by Lynne Cheney, the wife of the Vice President!, or other individuals that try to influence negative feelings, news coverage, wars, and class selections and material directed toward specific groups for the purspose of creating hate and segregation. It appears we have the wife of the VP very involved in this process. Apparently helping with the development of this McCarthyism taking place in universities across America now!
Yesterday: http://wwwindybay.orgnewsitem/2007/08/15/18440891.php
As a parent and a voter I am very interested in what is taking place with mind control in this country. Esp. as this related to brain washing who we support in wars and social issues!
— DEB-Z Aug 16, 09:42 AM #
As a Columbia University alumna, of which Barnard College is a part, I am appalled and ashamed that the University would even consider being pressured by outside groups in tenure decisions. As stated before by Kimberly, tenure decisions are left to the appropeiate committee and shoulfd not be influenced by outsiders. This goes to the very heart of academic freedom, for the preservation of which tenure was instituted. I hope Columbia does the right thing in this regard.
— Josephine Herrera Aug 16, 10:12 AM #
It’s a pity so few of the people who express outrage about Abu El-Haj’s book have read it. Most of the accusations the petition makes are false, distorted, or without evidentiary support, including the claim that Abu El-Haj does not read or speak Hebrew, the claim that she denies the existence of ancient Israeli kingdoms, and the notion that scholars never use unattributed quotations. The latter, at least, is standard practice in cultural anthropology, intended to protect the identity of the individuals with whom we speak. On other occasions, Abu El-Haj’s opponents have claimed that she spent almost no time in Israel for her research (she was there for two years) and that she cites no Hebrew-language sources or archaeological reports, a claim which is easily checked—and disproved—simply by looking at her bibliography. The irony in this latter charge is the odd assumption that Israeli archaeologists and scholars only write for their colleagues in Hebrew, making the Israeli scholarly community sound far more insular than it is. The thoughtless and irresponsible claims of the petitioners, not Abu El-Haj’s research, is the real shame.
— Gregory Starrett Aug 16, 10:22 AM #
I’m not an academic, and I’m not a parent of a college student (yet). I’m just someone who’s interested in public discourse on various topics. I’m puzzled by the emotional reaction to this story. From what I can tell, an alumi/ae group is expressing its opinion (last I heard, we still had that right). They have no control over the tenure process; they are simply raising their opinion to be examined by the decision makers. Are we so afraid of thinking and of others’ opinions in this world? Let the discourse continue! It’s our only hope.
But then, I’m just a simpleton.
— TLC Aug 16, 10:30 AM #
Once again we are faced with an uproar over controversial scholarship and tenure – and once again this leads us to forget that scholarship is only one part of the tenure process. On days like this I wish that all the energy spent “shouting” electronically at each other (with little hope of convincing the other side to change its views) would be spent focusing on what we actually do at universities – teaching students to be able to think critically and clearly, to be able to marshall arguments based on evidence, and to be able to express their conclusions in a logical and reasonable manner. But I suppose I’ll be long gone from the profession before any argument as heated as this one would take place on the quality of a tenure candidate’s teaching.
— T.L. Aug 16, 10:43 AM #
One would do well to read the scholarly criticism of
El-Haj’s work. Like most academic provocateurs riding the last anemic waves left over from the surge tide of 70’s Marxist deconstructionist revisionism, her career seems to have benefitted more from political correctness and the crypto-anti-semitic faculty fashionistas than quality research. I think 1000 alumni may be trying to bring this to someone’s attention. Barnard’s greatest sin may not be in granting tenure to a poor scholar, but in continuing to embrace those who encrypt wanton demolition within the tendentious methodologies of amateur deconstructionism.
— marci Aug 16, 11:50 AM #
The lady knows her stuff, she speaks hebrew, all of this is nonsense, particularly marci’s incoherent spewage.
Frankly, I admire people who fight the fight in the US academy, because anyone who signs this petition against Nadia and anyone who supports this campaign is without exception an enemy of humanity. period.
— Paul Manning Aug 16, 12:12 PM #
Abu al hajj speaks hebrew well, better than most supporters of Israel. She also speaks Arabic (why do we assume that is not relevant to the study of Israel?). Israel’s supporters in the US are loosing it clearly. But again what should we expect from those who support apartheid like system of separation?
— Issam Aug 16, 12:50 PM #
Don’t pay any attention to “marci.” That’s obviously someone’s idea of a funny parody of academic language.
— David McCullough Aug 16, 02:47 PM #
“Fight the fight?,” Mr. Manning? (chuckle, chuckle) Yes, let’s storm the administration building while we’re at it. Oh, wait…your office is probably on the second floor.
C’mon. It’s free speech. Let people sign petitions without whining about it. Applaud it, in fact. It’s the conflict of opinions that keeps a republic strong. I hardly think that “anyone who supports this campaign is without exception an enemy of humanity.” Maybe they’re just intelligent people with opinions that differ from yours.
Deep breaths.
— TLC Aug 16, 03:33 PM #
Interesting that her lack of Hebrew is being used to say she doesnt have enough knowledge to make a judgment about the area.
99.99% of all current Western “experts” on Islam and the Middle East do not speak a word of Arabic yet that doesnt keep them from being quoted by the media and others.If she doesnt have the right to publish because of her lack of Hebrew then Thomas Friedman, Dershowtitz and Robert Spencer have no right to comment on the Middle East, Arabs or Islam.
— Abu Sinan Aug 16, 03:46 PM #
i meant to say “i noticed someone making …”
— mo Aug 16, 03:59 PM #
Counter-petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/Barnard2/petition.html
— Paul Manning Aug 16, 04:46 PM #
Actually, there might be merit in dissing someone who doesn’t know Hebrew from commenting on Israeli history. A consistent application of the concept would disqualify a whole bunch of shady people who don’t know Arabic but pass themselves off as experts on the Arab world and claim to understand it, would have us bomb more, dispossess more Palestinians, and so on.
— bill kelsey Aug 16, 04:55 PM #
As was written earlier the right of Israel to exist is indisputable, the century of suffering and hatred toward the jews is unjustified, with the culmination of this hatred occuring under the Gernamn Nazi regime. Israel should exist, it should have been established in Bavaria, NOT Palestine.
— NT1992 Aug 16, 06:48 PM #
Funny, when the Israeli occupied the Siena desert they suddenly discovered Jewish sites that proved the land was belong to the Jewish state! When they had to leave 10 years later they changed and withdrawn all their discoveries
The Jewish are stealing Arabic cultural icon, like the food (Hummus) and music instruments (Elouud) and the list goes on. If I where them, I would stick to Bagels, as it is the only cultural identity they have
— Not in my name Aug 16, 07:34 PM #
NT1992
How true the suffering and killing of the Palestine people for this placement that had nothing to do with them. It was more for the ease of the Europeans that just wanted the Jewish people “moved” out of Germany! True horriffic
history toward the Jewish people started ages ago and continued in Europe during WW2 where they were killed and displaced. However, they were not the only country or culture picked out for massacure during that century. The Armenian people suffered much the same faith and we killed many Viet Nam, etc. and now Iraq, Africa, and Palestine. Many in Israel apparently see it as the Palestines turn, just as the Jews were treated now the Palestine people are treated. Professor Finkelstein, I am sure, will be well regarded when historians study these sad centuries for all cultures and crimes in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe by Europeans, Americans, and Israelis!
We must see extremism is the cause of wars and hatred be it Extreme Radical Islam OR Extreme Radical Jewish OR Extreme Radical Christian or attitudes of superior cultures, classes, and/or beliefs create hatred of others and wars!
The only means to eradicate this is to support faculty like Professor Finkelstein who has the conviction to do research and THINK OUTSIDE OF THE LOBBY!
— DEB-Z Aug 16, 08:37 PM #
The reason people think she doesn’t know Hebrew is that she makes so many stupid , elementary mistakes in the book. Like not knowing the the difference between Nahal and Neve.
And because she quotes very, very few Hebvrew sources – and the ones she quotes are available online in English.
And because she shows evidence in the book of talking only to English-speaking tour guides and- no quotes form ordinary Israelis.
And, you know, people have been accusing her in reviews of not knowing Hebrew since the book first came out. If she knew Hebrew she could simply say so.
— Anna Aug 16, 10:46 PM #
“Professor Finkelstein demonstrated lack of expertise…”
Says who? As a matter of fact, no one who is qualified to do so (hint: Dershowitz is not qualified) has seriously questioned Prof. Finkelstein’s expertise.
— Hurria Aug 16, 11:08 PM #
The issue is fascism. The dictatorship of the dogmatists. I am sick and tired of Jews who continually attack their critics on spurious grounds. Support truth, fight fascism.
Yes, I am Jewish.
— Lewis Beyman Aug 17, 02:32 AM #
Most of the respondents on both sides miss the point, imho. There is a process in which El-Haj’s research, teaching, and service will be evaluated -at various levels. That process will be under scrutiny for fairness. It is clear to me, in the case of Finkelstein, that the process was undermined by external pressure, and that it was unfair. The AAUP is now investigating it, I am told. I have prima facie complete confidence that Barnard, unlike De Paul, will have a good process.
More on this next week at the Magnes Zionist.
Jerry Haber
— Jerry Haber Aug 17, 02:39 AM #
About McCarthyism rebirth, comment #28 from DEB-Z Aug 16 @ 09:42 AM mispelled the reference link, here it is http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/15/18440891.php
— DJ Aug 17, 02:52 AM #
NT1992 has no genuine awareness of modern Eastern European Jewish history.
Ethnic Ashkenazim were up to their eyeballs in the commission of mass murder, genocide and ethnic cleansing by the 1930s.
The theft and murder of Arab Palestine (still continuing before our eyes) is the culmination of ethnic Ashkenazi genocidalism.
Please check out:
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/search?q=genocidalism
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2007/04/holoexaleipsis-holocaust-holosphage-and.html
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2007/02/pattern-of-ethnic-ashkenazi.html
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2007/07/updating-ajc-attacks.html
http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2007/07/answering-dan-fleshler-in-realistic.html
— Joachim Martillo Aug 17, 03:07 AM #
Dr Irene Lancaster, you are a fraud. Norman Finkelstein was never faulted by anyone for his “expertise,” EVER. Unlike the plagiarist and charlatan Alan Dershowitz. Indeed, Dr. Finkelstein was never in any academic dispute in which he did not prevail. He and Ruth Bettina Bim prevailed against Daniel Goldhagen. He and some Israeli historians prevailed against Joan Peters. Every academic judge of his critique of Dershowitz’s plagiarized academic fraud the Case for Israel supported Dr. Finkelstein. His tenure committee voted for him. His department and faculty, UNANIMOUSLY. But you, the Lynn Cheneys, the Reed Irvines, the Alan Dershowitzes, the David Horowitzes, the anti-academic McCarthyites, had to get to the PRESIDENT. Coast-to-coast, your witch hunt was described as unprecedented and a direct assault on academic integrity. There will be a backlash. You neoconservative totalitarians are not the only people who can withhold funds. Honest scholars on the MidEast are NOT the only people who can have their careers destroyed. And I don’t think your stormtrooper tactics will prevail much longer.
— Marion Delgado Aug 17, 04:40 AM #
Perhaps every segment of the university community, including alumnae, should indeed have a role in any issue affecting the institution. But the fact is, most business does not attract the interest of those who have graduated. The very existence of a petition such as the one concerning El-Haj carries the implicit threat of financial consequences for the school. There can be little doubt that fear of fiscal problems was behind the Finkelstein decision.
— Eulenspiegel Aug 17, 12:49 PM #
Unless those of us in academia organize ourselves to resist this kind of muzzling, then what we do is all for nought. I cannot imagine people of African descent being taken seriously if they argued that [name yet another would-be scholar who refutes anti-Black racism and professes disgusting Eurocentrism] should be denied tenure. Neither Israel, nor Jewish histories – constructed or otherwise – are exempt from scholarly critique. Whether or not we agree with Nadia or Norman is not the point. Defend their right to ask questions, no matter how they make some folks uneasy. I’m not about to wear a muzzle just because the Dershowitzes of the world say I should. And we should not tolerate otherwise. Kudos to those who do critical work in Middle East Studies. I could not stand the hostility — I most certainly would have hurt someone or myself by now.
— TILLY Aug 17, 04:48 PM #
When I was in graduate school in anthropology a hundred years ago, or thereabouts, one was required to be familiar with the body of literature that pertained to one’s subject of interest. In this case, that literature is predominantly written by Israeli archaeologists … in Hebrew. Not only does Ms. El-Haj misuse common Hebrew words in her book (indicating a lack of familiarity with the language), she does not reference any of the relevant major works (indicating a lack of familiarity with the literature). In my day this would have been considered academic malpractice and one couldn’t even have passed a course on such a basis, much less achieve tenure.
In addition, El-Haj is engaging in very frightening racial “science” focused on Jews. She’s been giving talks recently to promote her research: “The Descent of Men: Genetics, Jewish Origins and Historical Truths”... “Jews – Lost and Found: Genetics and the Evidentiary Terrain of Recognition” ... “Bearing the Mark of Israel? Genetics, Genealogy and the Quest for Jewish Origins.”
What seems obvious to me is that El-Haj is an anti-Israel activist trying – though not entirely succeeding – to present herself as a person of academic stature, with only a doctoral dissertation (the basis of her only book ) to show for it. It also seems obvious that Barnard is afraid NOT to grant tenure to a Palestinian Arab Woman, for fear of being declared an “enemy of humanity” (as per the unfortunate comment #34 above).
I applaud Paula Stern and the petition signatories for supporting rigorous methodological parameters, no matter how antiquated they may seem in today’s highly politicized environment.
— Anne Lieberman Aug 18, 08:09 AM #
To quote the late Dr. Albert Glock, former head of the archaeology department at Birzeit University in the West Bank, who was murdered in 1992 by unknown assailants (believed to be Jewish settlers): “Archaeology in Palestine/Israel has been conducted from [a]...perspective of affirming a Judeo-Christian heritage that satisfies Western Christians and Jews….There is little room for Palestinians in an agenda motivated to connect the Israeli present to the Jewish past in Palestine.” (Dr. Albert Glock, “Cultural Bias in the Archaeology of Palestine”, Journal of Palestine Studies, No. 94, Vol. XXIV, p. 53)
To quote Uri Avnery, renowned journalist and former member of the Knesset: “... most Israeli archaeologists have always been the loyal foot-soldiers of the official propaganda. Since the emergence of modern Zionism, they have been engaged in a desperate endeavor to ‘find’ archaeological evidence for the historical truth of the stories of the Old Testament. Until now, they have gone empty-handed: there exists no archaeological proof for the exodus from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan and the kingdoms of
Saul, David and Solomon. But in their eagerness to prove the improvable (because in the opinion of the vast majority of archaeologists and historians outside Israel – and also some in Israel – the Old Testament
stories are but sacred myths), the archaeologists have destroyed many strata of other periods.” (Uri Avnery, “Three Provocations: The Method in the Madness,” CounterPunch, Feb. 13/07
http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery02132007.html)
— Straightshooter Aug 18, 01:20 PM #
I briefly met Professor Meira Weiss of the Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology at Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus University, I was impressed by her view of events in Israel and she was willing to participate in a Conference I was hoping to fix in Wadi Rumm, Jordan, the theme was Reconciliation for combatants in Israel/Palestine with the eventual formation of One State for all human beings there. Then Professor Weiss disappeared from the scene and I suspect she could have been dismissed?
I was considering holding a Symposium on Anthropology at my Conference which hasn’t yet materialised, with luck it could this coming November because I believe part of the solution could thus arise for the present humanitarian disasters in our Holy Land.
Could anyone enlighten me about the fate of Professor Meira Weiss?
Dr.David Leighton.“Peace thro’ Brotherhood”.
— Dr.David Leighton Aug 18, 02:58 PM #
Dr. Lancaster,
Your comment surprises me. I can only assume, or rather hope, you are not an archaeologist. If you can name me a classical archaeologist who is a native speaker of Latin or (ancient) Greek, I stand to be corrected.
— bill b Aug 18, 03:58 PM #
Has anyone noticed that Jews all come down on the Jewish side of the issue????
— Tovah Hartman Aug 19, 07:42 AM #
I am Jewish and am open to educated views and opinions.
As I frequently state “Radical Jews are the same as Radical Islamists, and Radical Christians. The people who say they are the most religious cause most of the hatred and wars on the planet!!! For what? In the name of their “superior” religion or country!
...They should be praying for forgiveness for their thoughts, actions, and lack of support for academic freedom and non bias based research.
These universities should be embarrassed for letting religious groups act like it is acceptable for McCarthyism and brain washing to be taking place, in this century, on our campuses!
— DEB-Z Aug 19, 01:56 PM #
No. 55, Anne Lieberman, shows the racism inherent in the attacks on Dr. El-Haj. “El-Haj is engaging in very frightening racial “science” focused on Jews.” I noticed, however, that Ms. Lieberman left out the part about Muslims drinking the blood of Jewish children during Ramadan.
— George Aug 19, 02:58 PM #
I wonder if deb z knows how much AIPAC controlls the Senate and Congress of this country.Woe to any elected official who dares critize Israel.
— don Aug 20, 01:48 AM #
reply to post no. 1 >
Dr. Irene Lancaster : How can you say that Prof. Finkelstein lacked expertise . That is just plain ignorance and nonsense. Please refer to the website Democracy Now and listen or read the discussion between former Israeli Foreing Minister Ben-Ami and Prof. Finkelstein. Dr. Irene, you must be an ardent zionist who is racist and is prepared to make false statements just like Dershowitz. You have no conscience or integrity.
— Joseph Aug 20, 05:32 AM #
This book is an effort to deconstruct the relationship between modern Jews and ancient Israel for the sake of “proving” that Israel is an illegitimate, colonial intrusion on the Middle East by people (Jews) with no ancient connection to the land.
In Facts on the Ground Nadia Abu El Haj denies the existence of the ancient Israelite kingdoms, those kingdoms area a pure political fabrication, “a tale best understood as the modern nation’s origin myth.” She also denies the connection of contemporary Jews to any ancient Jewish people in the near east – however defined, and even states that Herodian Jerusalem “was not a Jewish city.” A substantial literature on the El Haj book exists in cyberspace, much of it intemperate.Readers looking for evidence and rational discussion might start with these: phdiva.blogspot.com/2007/05/nadia-aby-el-haj-and-use-of-evidence.html
http://www.greycat.org/papers/archaeo.htm
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/25976.html
two recent news articles:
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/20070814ElHajbarnard.html
http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/08/2007082005n.htm
The best academic review of the book is
Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society, Alexander H Joffe. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Chicago: Oct 2005. Vol. 64, Iss. 4; p. 297
It can be found at: http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archives/008510.shtml
— Anna Aug 20, 02:55 PM #
Why Is Columbia Cowering? [on Nadia Abu El-Haj]
by Candace de Russy
Phi Beta Cons (NRO)
August 20, 2007
http://phibetacons.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NGM1YzNmMjU0MGJjNWVmODE4MWZlNzM1NTQxMjQyYTc=
The administration and faculty on Morningside Heights have ducked behind an ivy wall of silence. Concerned that alumni will discover what they are up to, they are refusing to take calls from reporters and alumni – refusing to confirm or deny what everybody now assumes: that the controversial anthropologist Nadia Abu El Haj is up for tenure.
El Haj has published one book, which has been criticized by her scholarly peers as a form of Jewish history-denial often called “Temple Denial,” because of its parallel with “Holocaust Denial.” In her book, Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society, El Haj makes the spurious claim that the ancient Jewish kingdoms never existed. According to her, even in the time of Jesus Jerusalem was “not Jewish.”
A two-part tenure process is part of the complex relationship between Columbia University and Barnard College. Barnard faculty members first go up for tenure at Barnard and, if it is granted, their tenure bid is brought before Columbia.
JTA reports that Barnard President Judith Shapiro is believed to have “secretly” approved El Haj’s tenure in May 2007, hitting the ball into Columbia’s court.
Why the secrecy? Some say to prevent alumni from finding out. But the alumni are finding out. Some have started a petition, and others have announced that they will withhold donations if this tenure decision goes through.
Another part of the process that universities sometimes like to keep under wraps is the names of the people who make the key decisions. So here, for the record, are the names of the members of the Barnard Committee on Appointments, Tenure and Promotions who voted to grant tenure to a woman who has written an entire book asserting that the Israelite Kingdoms are a “pure political fabrication”: Natalie Kampen (art history), Keith Moxey (art history), Joel Kaye (history), Herbert Sloan (history), and Paul Hertz (biology).
— Candace de Russy Aug 20, 03:18 PM #
For a thorough critique of Old Testament history akin to that of Ms. Nadia Abu El-Haj see The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, New York: The Free Press, 2001; and The View from Nebo: How Archaeology is Rewriting the Bible and Reshaping the Middle East, by Amy Dockser Marcus, Boston: Little, Brown, 2000. Also refer to “Grounds for Disbelief” by Aviva Lori in Ha’aretz, May 10, 2003.
In any event, if the United Kingdom of Israel actually existed under David and Solomon, it lasted a mere 77 years or so (about 1004-927 BCE.)
Even the Hasmonean Dynasty under the Macabees (controlled by Rome) lasted only 70 years (about 140 – 70 BCE)
To paraphrase the late eminent “Holy Land” anthropologist Ilene Beatty: As descendants of the Canaanites, Palestinians have priority; the fact that they continued to live there (and were the huge majority when the state of Israel was proclaimed on 15 May 1948) gives them continuity. They also have present possession because except for those and their descendants dispossessed by the Zionists, they still inhabit the land of their ancestors. (“The Land of Canaan,” by Ilene Beatty, in From Haven to Conquest, edited by Walid Khalidi, Professor Emeritus Middlle East Studies, Harvard; Washington Institute for Palestine Studies, 1978, p. 15)
All of this is of course, academic. Israel exists and while few people in the West apparently know it, the Palestinians and Arab states have long since agreed to formally recognize its sovereignty.
(Even Hamas has indicated it will eventually.)
However, Israel must be compelled by the international community through whatever means necessary to abide by international humanitarian law (e.g., the UN Charter, The International Declaration of Human Rights, the Fourth Geneva Convention); binding UNSC resolutions and its previous commitments (including those given in 1949 before the UNGA and the Lausanne Peace Conference) and withdraw from all lands, including East Jerusalem/the Old City) it has occupied since launching the June 1967 war; cease opposing the creation of a viable Palestinian state in the currently occupied remaining 22% of mandated Palestine; agree to a connecting corridor between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and as proposed in the 2002 Arab League Beirut Peace Summit (again presented to Israel last month) agree to cooperate in achieving a “just” solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.
Regrettably, Israel has thus far (since 1949) chosen to invade and occupy Palestinian and other Arab lands rather than live in peace and security in the region.
For its own good, Israel must understand that demographics and the thrust of geopolitics in the region and the world are not on its side.
— Straightshooter Aug 20, 04:17 PM #
Paul Manning of Trent University Embarrasses Himself in Public
A week after I launched a petition to Deny Tenure to Nadia Abu El Haj, http://www.petitiononline.com/barnard/petition.html Paul Manning of Trent University launched a counter-petition. http://www.petitiononline.com/Barnard2/petition.html
Manning, an anthropologist who studies linguistic and semiotic anthropology in Wales and the nation of Georgia, was earning his PhD in Anthropology at the University of Chicago when Abu El Haj was a young professor of Anthropology in the same department. He first leapt to her defense in a comment about the alumnae/i petition posted at the Chronicle of Higher Ed.
“anyone who signs this petition against Nadia and anyone who supports this campaign is without exception an enemy of humanity. period.” Paul Manning
http://chronicle.com/news/article/2866/alumni-group-seeks-to-deny-tenure-to-middle-eastern-scholar-at-barnard-college
An enemy of humanity. Imagine. A group of alumna/i expressing concern that a candidate for tenure at their alma mater fails to meet ordinary standards for the use of evidence in research are enemies of humanity.
Within a day of making that remarkable assertion Paul Manning took me and the other alumnae/i signers to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to put us on trial for crimes against humanity. Scratch that. Actually, he put up a petition of his own. http://www.petitiononline.com/Barnard2/petition.html Without, apparently, giving the book a very careful read.
Manning’s petition asserts that “Ms. Abu El-Haj has been singled out from among many other authors who make the same points.”
I challenge Manning to name “many other authors” who make the extraordinary point Abu El Haj makes that at the time of Herod “Jerusalem was not a Jewish city, but rather one… inhabited, primarily, by ‘other’ communities.” (bottom of page 175)
In fact, I challenge him to find even a single such author.
— Paula Stern Aug 20, 06:39 PM #
“If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her cunning. May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember thee” Psalms 137:5. At one time every literate Jew knew that verse, in the Semitic language, Hebrew.
Along comes Professer Nadia Father of the Journey to Mecca, a practitioner of the arcane craft of deconstruction, aspiring to be a tenured professor at Barnard College. The tradition, beloved of the ideologically pure, partly developed by Paul DeMan who wanted the world to ignore his Nazi past and devoted to the brilliant idea that the social is constructed. Wow, what a concept! Imagine, sexism, feminism, capitalism, socialism. Zionism and Palestinism all constructed! But wait, is it the case that some of these constructions are more privileged, maybe better, than others?
The aspiring anthropologist wants to demonize the Jews’ constructions while valorizing the noble cause of the Palestinians, who presumably constructed that holy ground that I used to pray about before or maybe after my folks constructed it. How do we write about “facts on the ground” when there are no facts, or about truth where there is no truth? After all, there are only constructions waiting to be deconstructed by the brave new band of scholars who assert everything and nothing at the same time.
Let Barnard’s masters, er peers, at Columbia decide about tenure, let free speech prevail everywhere, and may there be peace upon Jerusalem
‘Yehay shalom al Yerushalayim’
— Manny Aug 20, 10:57 PM #
El Haj is just another phoney baloney pseudo academic who deserves to be fired never mind offered tenure.
Her book has been exposed as a work of ideological fiction. I couldn’t imagine that a real ivy-league university would support academic fraud once it had been outed.
American academia is on a roll now. First Finkelstein of the masterbation cartoons, then Ward (I’m an Indian!) Churchill, now this El Haj bimbo.
Adieu and good riddance!
— jaime Aug 22, 12:01 AM #
OH MY GOD...it appears some of these writers should be studying Jewish fundamental religious classes and keep this to the Temple level. Keep this out of our Universities…This quoting of religious verse is just like having a religious holiday display on city hall during Christmas…I am shocked at their extreme
religious views to land identification. Their apparent extremism about ancient history that is yet to be fully
explored and interpreted in an educational non biased way does not appear to register with extremists….Do Jews honestly think they invented the horse and cart in the ME?
Please many people made up the world then and now. Palestine people deserve rights of history and dignity too!
Fight to end religious control of campus faculty and extreme groups by threats of stopping monies.
People who are not members of these minorities will stop funding these schools when word gets around if this communist approach to education is allowed to continue! It is not “the Jewish way is the only way or faculty hit the highway in the USA”. The VP’s wife and others who want to limit faculty like Dr. Norm Finkelstein from conducting research will be exposed for limiting education like a modern day McCarthy’s witch hunt. Support faculty that think outside the “lobby”!
— DEB-Z Aug 22, 12:13 AM #
The politicization of tenure here ignores the fact that this book is one of many concerned with how contemporary archaeology is related to nationalism. Israel is not unique in its incorporation of archaeology to give a modern political regime an aura of great time depth. It would be a surprise if archaeology was not politicized by the state. Abu el Haj is highly respected by those working on this topic of nationalism and archaeology, and her work would not be respected if it was unfounded advocacy; it would never have been published in the difficult peer-review process of a major university press. To say that the ancient societies of the region were not what modern states would like to make them is different from denying they existed. Most disturbing here are the many comments asserting that scholarship that critically examines how present-day interests influence research should be shut down. All research has a point of view. Some researchers just don’t acknowledge it.
— an archaeologist studying nationalism Aug 25, 09:03 PM #