Saree Makdisi


Saree Makdisi is an American literary critic of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century British literature. He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture. Makdisi currently holds the title of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA.

Background

Makdisi was born in the United States. His father, Samir Makdisi, is a Lebanese professor of Economics at the American University of Beirut and his mother, Jean Said Makdisi, is a Palestinian independent scholar. He is also the grandson of Anis K. Makdisi, a professor of Arabic at American University of Beirut and the nephew of the late literary scholar, Edward Said. In 2009, Makdisi gave the Edward Said Memorial lecture at Adelaide University.
He spent his early childhood in the United States, moving to Lebanon at the age of eight. While he grew up in a Christian family, they lived in a "largely Muslim neighborhood in Beirut." Makdisi returned to the United States for his final year in high school and also attended college there. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1987, Ph.D. from Duke University in 1993, and taught for a decade as an Assistant Professor, then as an Associate Professor, of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago before joining UCLA in 2003.

Selected publications

Books

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