Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society

SERMEISS NEWS

SERMEISS Fall 2025 Meeting

We’re excited to share the Fall 2025 Program for our upcoming meeting in beautiful Valle Crucis, North Carolina. After last year’s hiatus, we are especially looking forward to reconvening October 10–12 and reconnecting with friends and colleagues in the mountains.

This year’s program features a rich lineup of scholarship, including the Bodman Memorial Lecture by Dr. Emek Ergun, as well as opportunities for conversation, relaxation, and engagement. From panel presentations to timely discussions on current events, and our traditional film night with Fran Hassencahl, we’re planning a weekend that offers both intellectual stimulation and a strong sense of community.

Registration is now open and we encourage you to fill out your form and  submit your accommodation and registration fee via PayPal at paypal.me/sermeiss before September 26. If you plan to pay by check rather than PayPal, please contact the Executive Director Buket Oztas directly at edsermeiss@gmail.com.

We can’t wait to see many of you again in Valle Crucis. Please save the date and spread the word!

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.