Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society

SERMEISS NEWS

Call for Submissions: SERMEISS Book Prize for 2025

The Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society (SERMEISS) is excited to announce its Book Award for 2025. Established in 1977, SERMEISS is dedicated to supporting educators and scholars whose work engages with the Middle East or Islam. As an affiliate of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), SERMEISS fosters collaboration and research excellence within the southeastern United States.

The SERMEISS Book Award recognizes exceptional scholarship in Middle Eastern or Islamic studies across a range of academic disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, regardless of the time period. We invite submissions of peer-reviewed nonfiction works published in English that demonstrate original empirical and theoretical contributions. Eligible books must have a copyright date between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2024. Edited volumes, handbooks, and novels are not eligible for consideration.

Authors affiliated with universities within the SERMEISS region—which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia—are encouraged to submit their work for this recognition.

All submissions must be postmarked or emailed by January 31, 2025. Winner(s) will be announced by July 1, 2025, and recipients will be invited to attend the SERMEISS Fall 2025 Annual Meeting in Valle Crucis, North Carolina, to present their work.

Submissions should include: 

1.    A cover letter including the following information: 

a.    Author name 

b.    Institutional affiliation

c.    Book Title

d.    Publisher Name

e.    Year of Publication

f.     ISBN # 

g.    Contact name, phone, email 

2.    A copy of the book 

SERMEISS will only accept one submission per author.

Please send submissions to the SERMEISS Executive Director:

Buket Oztas, Ph.D.
Executive Director-SERMEISS
Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs 

Furman University
3300 Poinsett Highway
Greenville, SC 29613 

Contact edsermeiss@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Call for Submissions: SERMEISS Book Chapter/Article Prize for 2025

The Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society (SERMEISS) is excited to announce its Book Chapter/Article Award for 2025. Established in 1977, SERMEISS is dedicated to supporting educators and scholars whose work engages with the Middle East or Islam. As an affiliate of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), SERMEISS fosters collaboration and research excellence within the southeastern United States.

The SERMEISS Book Chapter/Article Award honors outstanding scholarship in Middle Eastern or Islamic studies published as an article or a book chapter in an edited volume. Eligible works can come from any academic discipline within the social sciences or humanities and must be peer-reviewed nonfiction, published in English, and demonstrate original empirical and theoretical contributions. For the 2025 prize, submissions must have a copyright date between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2024. 

The award committee may also choose to grant an honorable mention.

Authors affiliated with universities within the SERMEISS region—which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia—are encouraged to submit their work for this recognition.

All submissions must be postmarked or emailed by January 31, 2025. Winner(s) will be announced by July 1, 2025, and recipients will be invited to attend the SERMEISS Fall 2025 Annual Meeting in Valle Crucis, North Carolina, to present their work.

Submissions should include: 

1. A cover letter including the following information: 

a. Author name 

b. Institutional affiliation

c. Publication Title

d. Journal or Book Title

e. Year of Publication

f. Citation information

g. Contact name, phone, email 

2. A copy of the publication in pdf format

SERMEISS will only accept one submission per author.

Please send submissions to the SERMEISS Executive Director edsermeiss@gmail.com and contact her if you have any questions!

Call for Submissions: SERMEISS Overseas Travel Grant for 2025

The Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society (SERMEISS) is excited to announce its Overseas Travel Grant for 2025. Established in 1977, SERMEISS is dedicated to supporting educators and scholars whose work engages with the Middle East or Islam. As an affiliate of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), SERMEISS fosters collaboration and research excellence within the southeastern United States.

The SERMEISS Overseas Travel Grant offers financial support for overseas travel to conduct fieldwork, archival research, survey work, or similar activities related to the Middle East or Islam. The grant is open to pre-tenured faculty and doctoral students in any academic discipline within the social sciences or humanities, regardless of the time period studied. Applicants must be based at a college or university within the SERMEISS 10-state region: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, or Virginia.

Travel funded by the grant must begin after the proposal submission date and be completed during the 2025 calendar year. Upon completing their overseas travel, recipients are required to present the results of their research at a future SERMEISS meeting.

Proposal submissions must be sent to the SERMEISS Executive Director at edsermeiss@gmail.com in pdf form by January 31 and must include:

A brief, 1-page cover letter that includes the following information:

• Name

• University affiliation

• Department

• Project title

• Country of planned travel

• Dates of planned travel

• Name of supervisor (for doctoral students)

• Anticipated future SERMEISS meeting for presentation

A 2–3-page, double-spaced proposal (excluding references) that includes:

• Project description, outlining the research question, existing research, topic description, expected findings, and potential contributions.

• Logistics, specifying where and when the travel will take place.

• Future publication plans, indicating the intended publication outlet (e.g., book, article, etc.).

• Description of financial need, providing details on how the grant funds will be used.

For doctoral students:

• Applicants must have ABD (All But Dissertation) status.

• A letter of recommendation from the doctoral dissertation supervisor is required. This letter should be sent directly to the SERMEISS Executive Director at the email address provided below.

If selected for the travel grant, SERMEISS may ask you to provide a receipt of your airline ticket and a signed travel safety, health, and accident waiver, indemnifying the organization from all legal responsibility. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Buket Oztas at edsermeiss@gmail.com.

SERMEISS Fall 2024 Meeting Cancelled

Dear SERMEISS Members,

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding as we worked to gather as much information as possible and consulted many stakeholders to decide the best course of action for this year’s annual meeting. After a discussion with our Program Chair, Dr. Curt Ryan, our president, Dr. Annie Tracy Samuel, and input from the members of the Executive Board, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Fall 2024 SERMEISS Meeting.

In the spirit of transparency, I want to explain the decision-making process and our reasons behind this decision. On Monday, Curt was able to get in touch with the Valle Crucis Conference Center (VCCC), and we were relieved to hear that they’re doing well. While they weren’t hit too hard by the storm, they’ve been actively involved in supporting the local community with recovery efforts. 

Despite this positive news, several concerns remained about moving forward with the meeting. As many of you know, several roads leading to Valle Crucis are still closed or damaged and are expected to remain that way for some time. These closures would make it difficult for our members to safely reach the conference. I’ve also heard from several of you expressing that you’re not comfortable attending given the current situation. The Executive Board also noted that by holding the meeting, we might place an additional strain on a community already focused on recovery. We wanted to be mindful of that and avoid diverting resources or attention away from the important work being done to help those affected by the hurricane. 

This wasn’t an easy decision—it’s disappointing for all of us, as we were looking forward to gathering and discussing the important issues in the Middle East. But we believe this is the most responsible option, given the circumstances.

Next Steps:

• If you’ve already registered, I will be issuing full refunds. Please bear with me as I process them according to your payment method (so you may receive a check or a refund via PayPal).

• If you would prefer, I can apply your registration fee toward renewing your SERMEISS membership for 2025. Just let me know, and I’ll take care of it.

Thank you again for your understanding and support as we navigate this situation. While it’s disappointing not to gather this year, we’re already looking forward to next year and hope to see everyone then under better circumstances. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Buket Oztas, Executive Director

Annie Tracy Samuel, President

Curtis Ryan, Program Director

SERMEISS 2024 Book and Article Awards Announcement

We are delighted to announce the winners of the SERMEISS 2024 Book and Article Awards. These prestigious awards celebrate outstanding contributions to the scholarship on the Middle East and Islamic Studies published in the last two years.

Book Award: This year, the SERMEISS Book Award is awarded to Jessica Barnes (University of South Carolina) for her exceptional work, Staple Security: Bread and Wheat in Egypt. The book award committee praised Barnes' work for being "exceedingly well written and introducing the compelling concept of ‘staple security,’ which extends far beyond the immediate context of Egypt. Her insightful analysis delves deep into the practices of rural Egyptians within a broader framework of food and security, showcasing the transparency of her research methods and her innovative approaches to overcoming field research challenges. Her comprehensive understanding of the region beyond the mere question of food security makes this book a significant academic contribution and a pleasure to read."

The committee also awarded an Honorable Mention to Dr. Nebil Husayn (University of Miami) for his insightful book, Opposing the Imam: The Legacy of the Nawasib in Islamic Literature. 

Article/Book Chapter Award:  The Article/Book Chapter Award Committee faced a significant challenge this year, selecting from many outstanding submissions covering a diverse range of topics. After careful consideration, the award has been granted to Ella Fratantuono (UNC Charlotte) for her groundbreaking work, Colonization, Territorialization and Displacement in Ottoman Migration Policy, 1856-1918. Fratantuono's work provides a crucial historical understanding of expulsion and colonization within the Ottoman immigration story and "concludes by considering what, if anything, is relevant in the Ottoman colonization story to Turkey’s treatment of Syrian refugees in the 21st century."

Congratulations to all our awardees for their  contributions to Middle Eastern and Islamic studies. Their works continue to inspire and advance our understanding of this complex and dynamic region. 

On behalf of the entire Executive Committee, 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.