Juan R. I. Cole Professor of History 1029 Tisch Hall University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1003 Voice: (734) 764-6305, 763-1599 FAX (734) 747-4811

Juan R. I. Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively about Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and South Asia. He has given numerous media and press interviews on the War on Terrorism since September 11, 2001, as well as concerning the Iraq War and the building conflict with Iran from 2003. He has a regular column at Salon.com. He continues to study and write about contemporary Islamic movements, whether mainstream or radical, whether Sunni and Salafi or Shi`ite. Cole commands Arabic, Persian and Urdu and reads some Turkish, knows both Middle Eastern and South Asian Islam, and lived in a number of places in the Muslim world for extended periods of time. For three decades, he has sought to put the relationship of the West and the Muslim world in historical context, and his most recent book is Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). He also writes on current events, and his articles on contemporary Sunni radicalism include "Muslim Religious Extremism in Egypt" in Middle East Historiographies (University of Washington Press, 2006) and "The Taliban, Women, and the Hegelian Private Sphere," Social Research (Fall 2003). He has authored several recent journal articles on Shi`ite movements in present-day Iraq, as well as an extended essay, "The Ayatollahs and Democracy in Iraq." (Amsterdam University Press, 2006). These works were foreshadowed by an earlier book, Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi`ite Islam (IB Tauris 2002), as well as in his monographs, edited books and articles of the 1980s and 1990s.. A bibliography of his writings may be found here.

Education

1975   B.A. History and Literature of Religions, Northwestern University

1978   M.A. Arabic Studies/History, American University in Cairo

1984   Ph.D. Islamic Studies, University of California Los Angeles

Professional History

1984-1990   Assistant Professor of History, University of Michigan

1990-1995   Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan

1992-1995   Director, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan

1995-2007   Professor of History, University of Michigan

2007-   Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, University of Michigan


Scholastic Awards and Grants ;James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, Hunter College, 2005. ; Hudson Research Professorship, Winter, 2003 ; Award for Research in Turkey, May, 1999, International Institute, U-M ; Research Excellence Award, College of LSA, U-M, August, 1997 ; OVPR and LSA Faculty Assistance Fund Grants, June, 1995 ; LSA Faculty Assistance Fund Grant, March 1994 ; Rackham Research Partnership, 1992-93 ; National Endowment for the Humanities, Jan.-June, 1991 ; Office of the Vice-President for Research, U-M (Pakistan), Summer 1990 ; Horace H. Rackham Faculty Grant, Egypt, Summer 1988 ; SSRC/ACLS Post-Doctoral Award, England, Summer 1986 ; Fulbright-Hays Islamic Civilization Postdoctoral Award, Egypt, 1985-86 ; SSRC/ACLS Doctoral Fellowship, Pakistan, India, UK, 1981-83 ; Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Fellowship, India, 1982

At the University of Michigan, he teaches courses on the modern history of the Middle East and on South Asia. He regularly teaches History 241, America and Middle Eastern Wars. He also offers a survey, History 443 Modern Middle East History. For graduate students he offersr History 664 Studies on the Modern Middle East, History 749 Seminar on the Modern Middle East, and History 793 The Study of the Near East, and has co-taught History 615 Comparative World History.

The Coles were originally the Kohls, from the County of Hessen-Darmstadt, and had a connection to the lumber business there. For more on the Cole genealogy click here. They emigrated to the U.S. around 1830, settling in Pennsylvania as dairy farmers. A branch moved south to Winchester, Virginia, late in the nineteenth century, and so Cole's roots are in the Shenandoah Valley, though he did not spend much time there. Rather, he grew up in a peripatetic military family that happened to be in Albuquerque, N.M., when he was born, and had two long tours in France (a total of seven years) and one 18-month stay at Kagnew Station, in Asmara, Eritrea (then Ethiopia), and which lived all over the U.S. After going to Northwestern and becoming interested in Islamics and the Middle East, he went on to live six years in the Arab world, and another two and a half in South Asia (India and Pakistan, mainly Delhi, Lucknow and Lahore). He writes primarily about three broad areas: the social and cultural history of modern Egypt; the religious and cultural history of modern Iran and Iraq; and religion in South Asia. His hobbies include reading literary novels and science fiction, learning languages, bicycling, and the internet and the information revolution. He married the former Shahin Malik in Lahore in 1982, and they have one son, Arman, born in 1987, (who produced some of the graphics throughout this site).

Recent National Service

Middle East Studies Association of North America:

• President, 2006.
  • 1999-2004. Editor, The International Journal of Middle East Studies (Published by Cambridge University Press for the Middle East Studies Association of North America).
  • 1998 Program Committee chair, MESA annual conference
  • 1996, 1989 Officer Nominating Committee
    
  • 1991, Book Award Committee, Middle East Studies Association
    
  • 1988-1992 Book Review Editor, International Journal of Middle East Studies
    
  • 1987-1989 Society for Iranian Studies: Council
    
  Other
  
  • 2003- Editor, H-Mideast-Politics Electronic Forum.
    
  • 1997- Editor, H-Bahai Electronic Forum and Journal
    
  • 1995-2000 Editorial Board, Critique
  • 1993-1996 Social Science Research Council: Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East
    
  • 1993 Columbia University, Middle East Institute: Outside Reviewer.
    
  • 1992-1994 Eastern Consortium of Middle East Centers: Chairman, Persian-Turkish Summer Programs
    
  • 1992-1995 American Institute of Iranian Studies: Board of Directors
    
  • 1992 American Council of Learned Societies: Fellowship Selection Committee
    
  • 1991- Editorial Board, Iranian Studies
    

WebMaster: Juan R.I. Cole