Beshara Doumani, Brown University’s First Mahmoud Darwish Chair

Earlier this week, Brown University announced a new faculty chair in Palestinian Studies, named for Mahmoud Darwish. Its first holder will be scholar and writer Beshara Doumani:

The university wrote, in a prepared statement, that they were “immensely grateful to the group of donors who have come together to make the chair a reality. Its establishment signifies Brown’s commitment to the vitally important field of Palestinian Studies in perpetuity.”

Beshara Doumani, who will be the first holder of the Mahmoud Darwish Chair in Palestinian Studies starting July 1, is a professor of history whose research focuses on the social, economic, and legal history of Eastern Mediterranean. His books include Family Life in the Ottoman Mediterranean: A Social History, Family History in the Middle East: Household, Property, and Gender, and Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900. He was also editor of Academic Freedom After September 11.

Doumani also has a literary essay titled “A Song from Haifa” in Seeking Palestine: New Palestinian Writing on Exile and Home, edited by Raja Shehadeh, which opens with what he calls a “bluesy ditty” from Haifa, which leads him to memories of the city and his father.

From the essay:

You can read the full announcement at Brown University’s website.