The systematic study of historic civilizations is now attracting the attention of a growing number of anthropologically trained archeologists. The objectives of these investigators are not simply to repeat or to verify what is already known from textual evidence, but to extend the scope and fullness of our understanding of these important cultures (Moore, ed., 1974; Sabloff & Lamberg-Karlovsky, eds., 1975; Redman et al. ed., 1978). The study of historic civilizations offers a series of unique opportunities that equal and sometimes surpass those provided by the more commonly studied prehistoric cultures. First, the existence of historical documentation often facilitates the formulation of absolute chronologies for excavated material. By correlating archeological episodes with historically dated events, it is frequently possible even to assign lengths of duration to particular occupations. Second, the architectural and artifactual remains of historic civilizations are usually abundant in quantity and more readily identifiable than prehistoric material. Since many of the excavated tools, decorative objects and buildings are known from texts, art work or their continued use in recent times, identification and functional interpretation are more reliable, having been made by homology rather than by analogy. Third, and finally, the societal organization and processual relationships of historic civilizations are of considerable interest to anthropologists. Relatively sophisticated behavioral questions can be addressed because of the above two interpretive advantages and the fact that the historic record often provides general insights into the political and economic patterns of the era that aid in model building.

During the millennium which followed the introduction of mathematics and astronomy from Indian, Sasanian and Hellenistic sources to the vigorous cultural scene of Abbasid Iraq in the eighth and ninth centuries, Muslim scientists compiled a remarkably rich and varied corpus of literature relating to their subject. Some of this literature survives in the manuscript libraries of the Near East, Europe and the United States, and a very small number of scholars have turned their attention to a small fraction of this material during the past 200 years. Catalogs of varying quality exist for some of these libraries, but there are many important collections which are not yet cataloged at all. Valuable lists of authors, titles and available manuscripts have been prepared by H. Suter, C. Brockelmann, C. A. Storey and, most recently, by F. Sezgin.

The Yemen Arab Republic (Sanca) is becoming day by day more accessible. Research conditions are changing weekly and the number of scholars working in the Yemen has increased dramatically. Accordingly, it seems that the very helpful article by Green and Stookey (MESA Bulletin VIII/3, 1974) needs to be expanded topically, as no single article can now detail all of the research possibilities and materials in the Yemen.

The tradition of social science and history research in Libya is young, but enormous and very encouraging strides in developing research facilities have been made in the last ten years. Interesting and valuable research is now being conducted in Libya by Libyans and it is possible for a foreigner to engage in productive and useful studies.

During recent decades and, more specifically, since the time of the NDEA Act, significant progress has been made in the sphere of language instruction in Arabic. The old anecdote concerning Cambridge University, where beginning students were instructed to purchase Wright’s Grammar and study it for a week before commencing a reading of the Kamil of al-Mubarrad, may be apochryphal or at least have suffered some of the embellishments characteristic of folk tales, but the situation described came reasonably close to the reality for British undergraduates not too long ago. More attention is now being paid to the preparation of teaching grammars, readers and a whole variety of textbooks which will enable students with a wide variety of ages and language aptitudes to acquire proficiency in Arabic. Another area in which a great deal of research is now in progress is that of testing and test validity; in the case of Arabic, instructors in the U.S.A. now have access to a revised and improved version of a standardized test which will assess the proficiency of students at three different levels. In all this the American Association of Teachers of Arabic (AATA)— an international organization in spite of its title— has played an important role, in that it affords a forum for discussion and publication in which problems can be identified and potential solutions suggested. In what follows I will discuss some recent developments in Arabic language instruction implemented by members of AATA on their campuses, all of which can be subsumed under the general heading of “individualization.”