The Middle East and north Africa

About this book

The establishment of Middle Eastern studies, until recently known as Orientalism, grew out of "the decision of the Church council of Vienne in 1312 to establish a series of chairs in Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, and Syraic at Paris, Oxford, Bologna, Avignon, and Salamanca" (Edward Said, Orientalism, New York, 1979, p. 50).