Judging from the programs of the MESA meetings over the past several years and the contributions to the Bulletin and IJMES the preponderance of research and teaching thus far in our history in the religious studies field has been in connection with Islam. That is not surprising, given the dominance of Islam in the Middle East. The syllabi received by the Headquarters and Secretariat dealing with religion for the ongoing syllabus project all treated Islam exclusively.

Historical writing by Syrians on Syria up to the 20th century followed the traditional patterns of annals, in chronicle form, biographical notes, and general histories. These histories, when written by Muslims, were mainly concerned with Islamic and Arab countries. Interest in other countries, especially Europe, discerned in the writings of Christians (a noted example is the history by Mīkhāīl Barīk, Tārīkh al-Shām 1720-1782, ed. Q. al-Bāshā [Harīsā, 1930J ) , became widespread in the writings of both Christians and Muslims in the 19th century as a result of the growing influence of Europe in Near Eastern affairs.

It is not easy to present a summary of Middle East studies in France. Traditionally located in several important institutions—Collège de France, School of Applied Higher Studies (EPHE), National School of Oriental Languages—they have burst out of these walls over the past two decades. Many courses on the Middle East are now given in the Universities of Paris and the provinces. The new organization of higher education created after the crisis of May 1968 was guided by a spirit of university autonomy and thus makes any general summary even more difficult. Several universities have often been created in the same city and specialists have been split up among them rather than remaining together.

In a report on the climate for social science research in Turkey published some seven years ago, Edwin J. Cohn noted that there had been a considerable intensification of interest and activity in the social sciences in Turkey, spurred both by the training of Turkish social scientists and by the increased interest of European and American scholars in Turkish experience with rapid social, economic, and political change. At the same time, Cohn reported, “the climate for research, especially research by Americans, has deteriorated…” This assessment remains basically accurate. Of course, in the intervening years, there have been further developments. Two in particular will be dealt with here: continued increase in institutions, facilities, and trained personnel on the Turkish side; and greater formalization of official rules governing the conduct of research by foreigners.

The use of the computer as a research tool for the study of the Middle East is a relatively new phenomenon. As the social sciences preceeded history and the humanities in making use of the computer, so have American and European studies preceeded non-Western area studies in this respect. Older, purely literary methods are still dominant in area-specialist journals, computerized and quantitative articles appearing in any quantity only in the journals dealing with the modern period or those which have begun publication within the past decade or two (see my article in the American Research Center in Egypt Newsletter, 93 [Fall 1975]). Much of the social scientific research done on the Middle East, has, in common with that done on Europe and America, involved routine computer processing and statistical analysis, but this material is also generally published in disciplinary journals where most area scholars never see it. Many students of the Middle East are therefore often unaware of the very existence, let alone the potentialities, of much of this new methodology.

Scholarly research in Afghanistan is still in its infancy, but for those who are attracted by the opportunity of breaking new ground, it offers unique possibilities. Recent political events within the country support the view that the climate for foreign researchers is improving. While the long-term effects of the republican coup of July 1973 are not yet clear, in the short run a general mood of optimism and energetic change has pervaded official circles. It is difficult to predict how long this aura of good will is going to last, but for the time being, Ministry officials are looking with favor on foreign research projects in a variety of areas that will help fill the awesome gaps in the field of Afghan studies.