The world is now undergoing a transformation as profound as that experienced with the rise of the territorial state system after the religious wars of Europe’s feudal period. Modern technology in defense and communications and “emerging trans-state patterns of commerce, politics, and cultural life” are rendering traditional notions of “frontier” obsolete. Dispersed transnational communities—Sikhs in Canada, Muslims in Britain, Germany, France, and the U.S.—sectarian and ethnic militias sustained by emigré and foreign funds, and transnational banking, commercial, religious, and intellectual links often opaque to state authorities may not threaten the existence of the nation-state everywhere, but they serve as a poignant reminder that nation-states are not the only significant political actors in the late twentieth century.

The Golden age of printing for Islamicists surely was the 19th century, when skilled European and occasionally Middle Eastern and Indian typesetters, could compose in as many fonts as an author could write. One reads Goldziher’s Die Zāhiriten with envy, not only for the meticulous transliterated Arabic and generous footnotes at the bottom of the page, but for the extensive Arabic quotations inserted into the text and notes. Since few of the Arabic texts he cited had been published, Goldziher provided his readers with his evidence in the original. Those were the days; and a new golden age for Islamicists may be upon us. With computers, not only footnotes on the page but transliteration and multiscript publishing are suddenly feasible and even simple.

The items discussed below take advantage of the flexibility of the Macintosh system to let even casual computer users produce Arabic. These programs make it possible for anyone easily to produce text in Islamic script (Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, Urdu, etc.) in camera-ready form.

Clothing constitutes a cultural statement. It is a manifestation of culture, no less than art, architecture, literature, and music. Like all cultural phenomena, it communicates a great deal of information both on the physical and symbolic level about the society in which it is found. Fashions, or modes of dress, reflect not only the æsthetics of a particular society (what might be called the “adornment factor”), but also its social mores and values (the “modesty/immodesty factor,” or “reveal/conceal factor”). Furthermore, dress is often a clear economic indicator. The fabric, quality of cut, and ornamentation of a garment are commonly badges of socioeconomic status. More subtly and often symbolically, clothing reflects religious and political norms. In Islamic society, clothing has historically been intimately connected with notions of purity and impurity (tahāra and najas), ritual behavior (sunna), and the differentiation of the believer from the unbeliever (ghiyār), as well as the separation of the genders (hijāb). Thus, within Islamic society clothing constitutes a cultural complex, or what Roland Barthes has dubbed a “vestimentary system.” (Barthes 1957).

In Fall 1990, the Defense Department mailed an eight-page questionnaire to more than a thousand college and university professors who teach courses in contemporary Middle East Studies. Fifteen percent, 184 professors, responded, which is an impressive rate for such an endeavor. The survey asked, among other things, how often courses meet, how course materials are organized, which specific topics are covered, which texts are used and requested a copy of the professor’s course syllabus. I heard about the survey from one of those solicited and called the director of the project to learn the results.

The information sought in this survey is not classified. Specifics about a Middle East Studies course are available to anyone who signs up; and most professors are more than willing to discuss their selection and organization of material. But the survey was conducted without identifying the surveyors or their purpose. Neither the questionnaire nor its cover letter indicated a connection to the Department of Defense.

Three papers were presented: A. Hess, “Revolution in a Haggard Land: State, Society and Technology in Saudi Arabia,” T. Mitchell, “The Object of Development: Egypt in the Discourse of the World Bank and USAID,” and H. Islamoglu-Inan, “Transformation of the Ottoman Political Discourse.” The workshop concluded with a general discussion led by T. Asad.