Postwar US Middle East studies was born as a national-security policy apparatus
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 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Cold War funding tied Middle East studies to US strategic needs; Middle East area studies served US government needs until 1970s liberation struggles spurred critique. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 149; Oriental studies were reconceived as instruments of national policy toward postcolonial nations
Related
- Middle East area studies served US government needs until 1970s liberation struggles spurred critique. (similarity 0.92)
- Postwar American Middle East studies were born from national-security concerns, not pure scholarship (similarity 0.89)
- US universities produced Middle East knowledge specifically to serve imperial needs. (similarity 0.86)
- Foundations and state built area studies to serve Cold War empire (similarity 0.86)
- Oriental studies were reframed as instruments of national postwar policy, not scholarship (similarity 0.84)
- US area-studies programs grew from government knowledge needs during decolonization (similarity 0.84)
- American Middle East studies depended on recruited British and European Orientalists (similarity 0.83)
- US area-studies programs grew to meet the state’s knowledge needs during decolonization. (similarity 0.83)
- Oriental studies were reconceived as instruments of national policy toward postcolonial nations (similarity 0.83)
- Think tanks replaced academic Middle East studies when scholars turned critical of empire (similarity 0.83)
- US Middle East research institutions retained the European Orientalist outlook (similarity 0.83)
- Orientalist knowledge became enlisted in Cold War counterinsurgency and national-security manipulation (similarity 0.82)
- European Orientalism was normalized into a coherent US scholarly consensus (similarity 0.82)
- Three US foundations funded university area studies to consolidate global hegemony (similarity 0.81)
- Cold War language programs reframed Arabic study as a propaganda and policy tool (similarity 0.81)
Broader Connections
- Oriental studies were reconceived as instruments of national policy toward postcolonial nations
#corroborates(0.90) - Middle East area studies served US government needs until 1970s liberation struggles spurred critique.
#corroborates(0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 149