Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society

Welcome

Welcome to SERMEISS -- the Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society -- a professional society for specialist or non-specialist educators and other individuals whose professional activities actively engage the Middle East and Islam. The organization was founded in 1977 to provide scholars in the southeastern United States with an opportunity to meet regularly with colleagues to share research findings and teaching concerns. SERMEISS is an affiliated organization of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA).

The SERMEISS 12-state region includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

SERMEISS NEWS

SERMEISS – Fall 2026 Meeting Registration is Open!

We are happy to announce that registration for the SERMEISS Fall 2026 Annual Meeting is now open! The meeting will take place October 16-18, 2026, in Valle Crucis, North Carolina, and it coincides with the Valle Crucis Fair this year, which is something many returning attendees are excited about!

You can find the registration form linked below:

https://forms.gle/RwzsKCRZTQ1sGT8q8

We have a fantastic program, packed with presentations on a range of topics. Highlights include the launch of Dylan Baun’s new book, Beirut Radical: A Global Micro-History from the Sixties to the Lebanese Civil War; a presentation from Margaret Peacock on her book Frequencies of Deceit: How Global Propaganda Wars Shaped the Middle East, the winner of the 2026 SERMEISS Book Award; and our annual Current Events Roundtable, “Yet Another War in the Middle East – Regional Disorder from Gaza to Iran.” Thank you to Program Chair Curt Ryan and Program Committee members Matt Malczycki and Michael Samuel for their work putting together the program.

Depending on your room choice, meeting registration, accommodation, and meals for the entire weekend may cost less than $300 per person, which means that SERMEISS remains one of the most affordable academic conferences around.

If this will be your first SERMEISS meeting, please expect a much more relaxed environment than you’re likely to find at other academic conferences. Casual attire and hiking boots are encouraged! Many of our members bring their families to enjoy the mountains, and you are more than welcome to do the same.

We are also excited to announce that childcare will be available on the premises this year, provided by licensed caregivers in the area. If you are planning to bring little ones, please indicate your interest on the form so we can make the necessary arrangements. The cost will depend on the number of children being cared for.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly at edsermeiss@gmail.com. I am always happy to help!

Looking forward to seeing everyone in Valle Crucis,

Buket Oztas, Executive Director

Annie Tracy Samuel, President

Curt Ryan, Program Chair

SERMEISS Summer 2026 Newsletter

The latest issue of the SERMEISS Annual Newsletter is out, and we're excited to share it with our members and friends!

This issue is packed with updates from across our community. You'll find announcements on our 2025 award winners and a preview of the 2026 awards cycle, highlights from recent member publications spanning Sufi intellectual history, Coptic Christianity, Cold War propaganda, and more, as well as news and updates from members working across the region and beyond. We also have an exciting preview of our fall meeting at Valle Crucis Conference Center, taking place October 16–18, 2026. It's always one of the highlights of our year, and you will soon find the call for papers on this page.

As always, this newsletter is a reflection of the remarkable community that makes SERMEISS what it is. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

SERMEISS 2026 Newsletter.pdf

SERMEISS 2025 Book and Article Awards Announcement

The selection committees have completed their careful review of submissions for the 2025 SERMEISS Book Award and Article/Book Chapter Award, which recognize outstanding scholarship on the Middle East and Islamic studies across disciplines and time periods.

This year’s Book Award has been awarded to Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978 (Yale University Press, 2024) by Geoffrey P. Levin (Emory University). The committee also awarded an Honorable Mention to Governing Migration in the Late Ottoman Empire (Edinburgh University Press, 2024) by Ella Fratantuono (UNC Charlotte).

For the Article/Book Chapter category, the prize goes to Lillian Frost (Virginia Tech) for her article "Ambiguous citizenship policies: Examining implementation gaps across levels of legislation in Jordan" published in Comparative Migration Studies in 2024.

The committees had a difficult time making final decisions this year, as there were many excellent submissions across both categories. These award-winning projects stood out for their originality, relevance, and the insight they bring to pressing questions in the field. Each reflects the kind of careful research and thoughtful analysis that strengthens our discipline and sparks new conversations among scholars and students alike.

On behalf of the Executive Board, I’d also like to thank all the committee members for their hard work and dedication to maintaining the high standards of our scholarly community. They managed to complete this process on a noticeably shorter timeline this year, all while the regions we hold close to our hearts are experiencing so much turmoil and uncertainty. This context makes their commitment and care all the more meaningful, and we are deeply grateful for the time and thought they invested in reviewing each submission.

All recipients will be invited to present their work at our Fall meeting in Valle Crucis this October, and we look forward to the chance to engage their ideas in person.

⁦Sermeiss 2021 book award winner ⁦Dr. Ryan Lynch⁩ gets the proceedings started with a great presentation for #Sermeiss2022

Dr. Lillian Frost⁩ presenting non Jordan’s nationality conferral laws for women at the Fall 2022 ⁩ conference in Valle Crucis, NC currently in full color.

Dr. Claudia Yaghoobi ⁦presenting on women’s movement in Iran

⁦Great roundtable on teaching difficult topics in difficult times featuring ⁦ Michaelle Browers⁦⁦, Waleed Hazbun, Mashal Saif⁩, and Matt Malczycki

HOW TO JOIN

Membership is open to specialist or non-specialist educators, including graduate students, and other individuals whose professional activities actively engage the Middle East and Islam and who live in the southeast region. Dues are $25.00 per calendar year.

Institutional membership dues are $200.00 per calendar year. Includes membership and free conference registration fees for up to 6 individuals from the same institution.

MEETINGS

SERMEISS sponsors an annual fall meeting every October in Valle Crucis, North Carolina near Boone, and a spring meeting at a host university every other year.

Spring meetings and alternate fall meetings feature the Bodman Memorial Lecture.

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