December 21, 2025

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Al-Tikriti Publishes Article on 16th Century Captives

by

bookThe Turkish History Foundation [TTK: Türk Tarih Kurumu], recently published the conference proceedings from the “International Piri Reis and Turkish Maritime History Symposium” [“Uluslararası Piri Reis ve Türk Denizcilik Tarihi Sempozyumu”], which Professor of History and American Studies Nabil Al-Tikriti participated in at Istanbul in September, 2013. The title of this peer-reviewed volume is Findings in Turkish Maritime History [Türk Deniz Tarihi Bildiriler]. Al-Tikriti‘s contribution is entitled “Advocating for Release: the al-Dārānī Appeals,” and can be downloaded from this link: https://www.academia.edu/10447817/Advocating_for_Release_the_al-D%C4%81r%C4%81n%C4%AB_Appeals.
In this submission, Al-Tikriti briefly summarizes and describes two letters written in the early 16th century by individuals identified separately as Abū Bakr al-Dārānī and Taḳīyüddīn Dārānī, who may have been the same person, and were at one time prisoner(s) of the Knights of St. John in Rhodes. The first letter, in Arabic, was translated into modern Turkish by İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı in 1954, and translated into French by Nicolas Vatin in 1994. The second letter was translated from Ottoman Turkish into French in 1994 by Nicolas Vatin, who described the letter, stating that the reverse side of the paper probably contained the original Arabic letter, and that it was probably written at some point after 1516. Al-Tikriti thinks it might have been written during Bayezid II’s (d. 1512) reign, but otherwise concurs with both Uzunçarşılı’s and Vatin’s earlier analyses.

McClurken Presents on Digital Initiatives

by

AAC&U

At the 100th Annual Conference of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, Jeffrey McClurken, Professor of History and American Studies and Special Assistant to the Provost for Teaching, Technology, and Innovation, co-presented as part of a panel entitled, Century America: A Multi-Campus Digital History Collaboration.  McClurken presented with Leah Tams ‘14, Professor Ellen Pearson of UNC-Asheville, and Jennifer Marks, a senior at Truman State University on Century America, an online course sponsored by COPLAC and the Teagle Foundation for 13 students from nine schools that resulted in a public digital history project about local communities during the Great War and Influenza Epidemic. See more about Fredericksburg and the other communities at Http://centuryamerica.org/

EduCon

Two days later, McClurken co-led a discussion about students and digital identity at EduCon 2.7, a conference about technology, education, and project-based learning. McClurken talked about the opportunities that UMWBlogs and Domain of One’s Own creates for students at UMW to create, refine, reflect, and expand on their presence in the digital world as students, as learners, as scholars, and as graduates. He partnered with teachers and edtech leaders from K to 12 in this conversation.

McClurken Featured on With Good Reason

by

An encore presentation from the University of Mary Washington’s Open and Digital Resource Conference, moderated by Jeffrey McClurken, professor of History and American Studies, aired on the “With Good Reason” public radio program from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5.

Audio files of the full program and its companion news feature are available at  http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2014/11/the-future-of-higher-education-2/

 

Al-Tikriti Discusses Military-NGO Relations and Recent Middle Eastern Developments

by

In this past month, Associate Professor of History and American Studies Nabil Al-Tikriti discussed both military-NGO relations and contemporary Middle East politics at three public forums, each invited appearances.

Prof. Nabil Al-Tikriti addresses Officer Candidates at Ft. Leonard Wood

Prof. Nabil Al-Tikriti addresses Officer Candidates at Ft. Leonard Wood

On Oct. 6, in his capacity as a member of the MSF/Doctors Without Borders USA Board of Directors, Al-Tikriti addressed U.S. Army staff at Missouri’s Fort Leonard Wood. Appearing in five meetings overall, he discussed MSF’s field relationship with the U.S. and other military counterparts, particularly in cases he had either experienced or been informed about in Somalia, Albania, Turkey, Haiti, and other locales in the Middle East and Africa. He also presented the movement’s overall goals, orientations, and decisions throughout its history. Much of the day was concerned with explaining MSF’s determination to maintain its institutional neutrality, impartiality, and independence in field operations, particularly in conflict situations. In the wake of this lengthy and fruitful exchange of views, he remains grateful for the hospitality displayed by the U.S. Army counterparts he met at Fort Leonard Wood.

On Oct. 19, Al-Tikriti presented a talk to the National Community College Peacebuilding Seminar, entitled “Things Fall Apart: Prospects for Conflict in the Middle East and Beyond.” Integrated with a working dinner, Al-Tikriti offered a presentation which combined elements of his humanitarian field experience and scholarly expertise in Middle East studies to discuss the current direction of regional conflict, as well as the role of humanitarian actors in such conflicts. His presentation was part of a community college faculty seminar entitled “Teaching about Global Conflict and Resolution,” which was hosted by Northern Virginia Community College and funded by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

On Oct. 28, Al-Tikriti offered a lecture entitled “The Iraq Crisis Today” to over 100 students at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. In the course of this presentation, Al-Tikriti surveyed the multiple legacies of U.S. foreign policy in the region, particularly the effects of the 2003 Anglo-American invasion on Iraqi and regional politics and society. This talk was sponsored by the College’s Middle Eastern Students Association, who hosted Al-Tikriti for a dinner after the lecture was completed.

O’Brien Contributes to Library of Congress Exhibit

by

Bruce O’Brien, professor of History and American Studies, is one of four national experts who served as an adviser for the Library of Congress’ exhibition “Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor” to celebrate the document’s 800th anniversary.

The exhibition runs from Nov. 6, 2014, through Jan. 19, 2014, and will display one of only four surviving copies of the 2015 Magna Carta. On loan from the Lincoln Cathedral in England, the document will travel to several museums before its final stop at the Library of Congress. The exhibition will also feature medieval manuscripts, published works, prints, photographs, maps, posters and annotated draft opinions by justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.

For more information, visit http://loc.gov/today/pr/2014/14-113.html.

Crisis in Crimea Panel, April 2

by

Crimea Poster final

The UMW Model United Nations invites you to a panel discussion “Crisis in Crimea” on Wednesday, April 2 at 4:30 p.m. in Trinkle Hall, Room 106A. The panel features Nabil S. Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history and American studies, and John M. Kramer, chair and distinguished professor of political science and international affairs.

Nabil Al-Tikriti Participates in NGO Field Associative Debate

by

IMG_9708  In his capacity as a board member of the United States section of  MSF/Doctors Without Borders, Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history and American studies, participated in the annual Field Associative Debate (FAD) for MSF staff serving throughout South Sudan, in Juba on 1-2 March.

This year’s FAD topic covered arguments in favor of and against the utilization of “remote control” management in constricted relief contexts, whereby international staff avoid direct presence and leave local operations to national staff — in its extreme form, a sort of humanitarian sub-contracting. After debating this year’s topic, staff members then presented recommendations and motions for consideration by the MSF International General Assembly. After the FAD was completed, Prof. Al-Tikriti conducted a brief field visit to MSF’s child and maternity hospital intervention in Aweil, South Sudan. Upon his return, he completed a thought piece on his experience for internal review.

A brief video produced to commemorate this year’s South Sudan FAD can be accessed here:

Nabil Al-Tikriti Presents Great Lives Lecture on T.E. Lawrence

by

Pro Photo 2012 I On Tuesday, Feb. 12, Nabil Al-Tikriti delivered a lecture entitled “Troubled Man, Troubling Legacy: T.E. Lawrence, 1888-1935” as part of the Chappell Great Lives lecture series at Dodd Auditorium on the UMW campus. The prezi visuals which accompanied the presentation can be accessed here: http://prezi.com/bjyci7hkur_a/te-lawrence-troubled-man-troubling-legacy/.

The Great Lives series official video production can be accessed here: www.umw.edu/greatlives/2013/02/14/video-lawrence-of-arabia/.

In advance of the lecture, The Free-Lance Star published an opinion piece by Prof. Al-Tikriti regarding T.E. Lawrence, which can be accessed here: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2013/022013/02102013/752750/index_html?page=1.

Here is the entire text of the opinion piece, published by The Free-Lance Star on Sunday, February 10:

“RARE IS THE individual who attracts over 40 biographies within decades of his or her departure from this world. Thomas Edward Lawrence, whose troubled legacy we will examine in Dodd Hall on Tuesday starting at 7:30 p.m. is one of those rare specimens.

Certain facts about his biography are well-known to casual observers, usually informed by David Lean’s 1962 film classic, “Lawrence of Arabia.” As everyone knows, Lawrence organized and led the Great Arab Revolt, which delivered the Arabs from the terrible Turkish yoke and overturned the mighty Ottoman Empire. He was more a sensitive scholar than a classic warrior, and was reluctantly pressed into service to help his country in its hour of need. He shied away from the limelight, and hated the attention he received as a result of his fame.

While each point is defensible, all are interpretations that have reached the public only after several levels of distillation. The real story is far more complicated.

Lawrence was indeed a complex man, a visionary of sorts who as a child craved to be recognized as a hero and then grew arguably insane as an adult due to his success in this realm. He welcomed the publicity offered by the prominent American journalist Lowell Thomas, the individual most responsible for shaping the legend of “Lawrence of Arabia.” He carefully managed his own image and was not above reminding people who he was when they were either unaware or uninterested in his fame. By the end of his life, he had developed a series of personality quirks that suggested borderline psychosis, and the account of his death never fully satisfied all observers.

Real contention about Lawrence springs from his legacy and the overall British legacy in the Middle East following the Great War. The popular narrative suggests that without the “Arab” uprising, the “Turks” would never have been defeated, as well as that, without Lawrence, there would have been no “Great Arab Revolt.” Neither of these propositions passes without intense criticism in the region itself. While those participating in Lawrence’s military endeavor were certainly Arab when they weren’t loyal soldiers of the British crown, they never numbered more than a few thousand, and were never more than an idealistic core of committed activists leading a motley crew of criminals, opportunists, and tribal raiders interested far more in the violent privatization of spoil and plunder than the ideals of national liberation.

As difficult as it has been for subsequent Arab and Turkish nationalists to recognize, the vast majority of Ottoman subjects in what is today the eastern Arab world were loyal to their empire to the end. In many cases, they were loyal beyond the end, as when Iraqi peasants appealed to Mustafa Kemal to rescue them from their new British overlords in the early 1920s.

Lawrence, who repeatedly claimed in his own classic “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” to have been tortured by his irreconcilable loyalties to both the British Empire and Arab independence, was capable of a ruthless pursuit of his often inconsistent agenda. He was aware of allied agreements destined to betray British promises made to the Hashemite family, and he believed that Jewish settlement of Palestine need not conflict with the rights of the indigenous Palestinians. He felt that putting Faisal on the throne in the newly created country of Iraq, and his brother Abdullah in the equally unknown Transjordan, discharged his obligations to the Arab cause. Much like today’s Obama administration, Lawrence found the judicious use of air power to be modern, humane, and more efficient than alternative methods of exerting sovereign control over recalcitrant populations.

Although this individual’s illegitimate birth, proclivity for whippings, misanthropic and chaste approach to sexual relations, and extreme personality tendencies are all psychologically fascinating, our talk on Tuesday evening will focus more on public interpretations of his legacy than his private demons. Those planning to attend should do their utmost to first screen Lean’s film classic, as all good history should begin with a great flick.”