US university establishes chair in Palestinian studies named after poet Darwish
Providence, Rhode Island (QNN)- Brown University has become the first in the United States to appoint a faculty chair in Palestinian Studies.
The university, among America’s high-ranking Ivy League schools and located in Rhode Island, has become home to a faculty chair in Palestinian Studies named after Mahmoud Darwish, “a towering and beloved figure of Palestinian and Arab literature and humanistic values”, an announcement by the university read.
“We are 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.”
Professor Beshara Doumani is the first holder of the Mahmoud Darwish Chair at Brown and will start his tenure in July. He is a well-known academic in the field of Middle East studies.
“By joining together the names Mahmoud Darwish and Beshara Doumani, the appointment embraces the vitality of Palestinian life as a driving concern in academic, cultural, and political affairs at the global level,” the university said.
Elias Muhanna, a professor at the university, told the UAE-based newspaper The National, “This is the first faculty chair in Palestinian studies at a North American university, which represents a major milestone.”
Muhanna added that it is especially significant due to the fact that Palestinian studies had long been overlooked and neglected in the academic world. “It has faced the kind of pressure that other fields rarely encounter.”
