Foreword

Summary

Creating Communities in the Study of Middle Eastern Christianity

On 10 June 2020, a group of scholars navigated their way through the web conferencing system called BigBlueButton to reach the meeting of the seminar series on the ‘Anthropologie historique des Chrétiens en Islam’ (Historical Anthropology of Christians in Islam), or, as it was called before 2011, ‘Histoire des Chrétiens d’Orient’ (History of the Christians of the East). Over more than fifteen years, Bernard Heyberger had hosted this seminar in Paris, first from a room in the Sorbonne (2004–10); then from the Institut d’études de l’Islam et des sociétés du monde musulman (IISMM) in the beautiful sixth arrondissement (2011–18); and finally from Aubervilliers, the new campus site for parts of the University of Paris in the northeast of the city (2018–20). At these sessions, he or a guest scholar would present research-in-progress on a topic pertaining to Middle Eastern Christian history in the Islamic world from the early modern period (sixteenth century) to the present. But this time was different: the series was ending because Bernard Heyberger was retiring.

Recall that in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was raging. Unable to welcome colleagues around a common table in Paris, Heyberger organised the meeting online. By this stage, academics were becoming more accustomed to online lectures and discussions, although many admitted that such meetings left them numb from staring into computer screens and dissatisfied by the lack of real contact. Many yearned for face-to-face encounters and struggled with lockdowns, quarantines and fears of the corona virus. And yet, this final meeting of the ‘Anthropologie historique des Chrétiens en Islam’ was a joyful affair, and its online format enabled many more to attend than as if the seminar had happened in Paris, in person. I connected from Philadelphia. Others came from Oxford, Leiden and Marseille; from Athens, Beirut and beyond. As we recognised each other's names among the attendees on our screens and saw messages pop up in the ‘chat’ interface, expressing congratulations and gratitude, it struck me – as I am certain it struck others – that this seminar series had become more than the sum of its parts. It had become an intellectual arena, agora and laboratory, where a community of Middle Eastern Christian history aficionados was formed.