Middle East area studies served US government needs until 1970s liberation struggles spurred critique.

Evidence

Overall, few if any questioned the premise that research on the Middle East (and in area studies in general) should be tailored to meet the needs of the US government. This was the dominant trend until the 1970s. At that point, various factors, particularly the impact of successful national liberation struggles on the field of Middle East studies, led to a flurry of books and articles critical of both Orientalism and modernization theory. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 149

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Western scholarship constructed the East as savage to justify imperial conquest.; Said’s Orientalism changed the meaning of ‘Orientalism’ from benevolent human interest in the East to an apparatus of knowledge and writing aligned with western imperial power. — Chapter 14 - From Orientalism to Islamophobia; Cold War funding tied Middle East studies to US strategic needs (+1 more)