Sari Hanafi

Sari Hanafi in 2016

Sari Hanafi is currently a professor of sociology at the American University of Beirut and chair of the Islamic Studies program. He is the former president of the International Sociological Association and also the editor of Idafat: the Arab Journal of Sociology (Arabic). In 2018, Hanafi founded "Athar", the Portal for Social impact of scientific research in/on the Arab world.

Biography

Sari Hanafi is currently a Professor of Sociology, Director of the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies and Chair of the Islamic Studies program at the American University of Beirut. He is the former President of the International Sociological Association (2018-23). He was also the editor of Idafat: the Arab Journal of Sociology (Arabic) (2017-2022). In 2017, he created the “Portal for Social impact of scientific research in/on the Arab World” (Athar). He was the Vice President of the board of the Arab Council of Social Science (2015-2016).

He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales-Paris (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) (1994). He has also served as a visiting professor/fellow at the University of Poitiers and Migrintern and the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (France), University of Bologna and Ravenna (Italy), Chr. Michelsen Institute (Bergen-Norway), Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Hanafi is also a former senior researcher at the Cairo-based French research center, Centre d'études et de documentation économique juridique et sociale (1994-2000).

He is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on the sociology of religion; connection of moral philosophy to the social sciences; the sociology of (forced) migration applied to the Palestinian refugees; politics of scientific research. Among his recent books are: Studying Islam in the Arab World: The Rupture Between Religion and the Social Sciences (2024 in Routledge); Knowledge Production in the Arab World: The Impossible Promise. (with R. Arvanitis) ; The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East (co-edited with A. Salvatore and K. Obuse). He is the winner of the 2014 Abdelhamid Shouman Award and 2015 Kuwait Award for social sciences. In 2019, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the National University of San Marcos (the first and the leading university in Lima- Peru – established in 1551). In 2022 he became International fellow of the British Academy.

His forthcoming book “Against Symbolic liberalism: A plea for Dialogical Sociology” (Liverpool Univ. Press) (His website: https://sites.aub.edu.lb/sarihanafi/)

Career

Sari Hanafi’s educational background spans multiple disciplines. Hanafi holds a BE in civil engineering, a BA, a Masters and a Ph.D. in sociology, all of which, have bestowed upon him a broad scope of scholarship that could be valuable for translating academic knowledge into leadership for the dean position. Presently, he is the Director of the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies, a Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Media Studies, and the Chair of the Islamic Studies program at the American University of Beirut. Previously, Hanafi was also a faculty member in the Public Policy and International Affairs Program.

Hanafi has always been active in services to his profession, including the President of the International Sociological Association (2018-2023)- the first Arab to join this committee since it was founded in 1948 and previously its Vice President and member of its Executive Committee (2010-2018). He was the Vice President of the board of the ACSS (2015-2016) after being a board member(2012-2015). Hanafi does believe in the importance of the institutionalization of the national scientific communities in the Arab world in order to protect their members from the authoritarian states and uncivil groups but also to reinforce a solid research agenda and to facilitate their connection to the international and regional community. In this regard, Hanafi played a major role in establishing sociological and social science’s national associations for Syria, Palestine, Morocco, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Tunisia and Algeria, as they all became affiliated with the International Sociological Association. This effort is also very important in order to intensify collaborative relations between AUB and scholars from other Arab universities. Since 2007, Hanafi has been the editor of Idafat, Arab Journal of Sociology, published in Arabic by the Association of Arab Sociology. In addition, he has been on the editorial board of many journals.

Hanafi is a strong advocate of the greater involvement of academics and universities in their local societies and the acknowledgment of different regimes of knowledge. The Portal for Social Impact of Scientific Research in/on the Arab World (Athar) that he founded was an instrumental tool in this regard. Furthermore, as one who believes in public sociology, he has frequently given interviews on areas of his expertise on different television channels, radio channels and local and international newspapers.

Awards

• Abdelhamid Shouman Award, 2014
• Kuwait Award for social science, 2015
• Honorary Doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) of the National University of San Marcos, 2019

Research

Due to many grants and awards from different funders (including AUB, IFI, IDRC-Canada, IRD-France, CEDRE-France-Lebanon, Ford Foundation, Waqf al-Nahda-Kuwait, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Norwegian Embassy, and Lebanese Council for Scientific Research), Hanafi had conducted in-depth research on various topics related to knowledge production, sociology of religion (religious discourse and curriculum), connecting moral philosophy to the social sciences, and previously on refugee camps and civil society in the Arab world. Hanafi’s H-Index in Google Scholar is 36 which is considered very high for sociology, and he was cited 4,521 times. Evidently, these figures reflect only the impact of Hanafi’s publications in English. Over the 30 years of his research, Hanafi has published 18 books, over 80 refereed book chapters, over 90 refereed journals, and many op-eds, in English, Arabic, French, German and Portuguese. In addition, 37 of them were translated into other languages.

In recognition of his work, Hanafi was asked to write a foreword for 4 books and to provide an endorsement (printed on the 2nd cover) for 9 books. Finally, he was invited to several academic conferences, workshops, and seminars, and delivered many keynote speeches and other guest lectures at leading universities and professional meetings. It is worth highlighting four of Hanafi’s books that are relevant to his application for the deanship. Firstly, his 800-page book (علوم الشرع والعلوم الاجتماعية: نحو تجاوز القطيعة- أليس الصبح بقريب), translated into English as Studying Islam in the Arab World: The Rupture Between Religion and the Social Sciences (2023) which received 12 reviews, and had 11 talks, in addition to being the center of many debates in the Sharia and Islamic Studies colleges in the Arab and Muslim world.The success of the work has been such, that he was asked to design an introductory course in sociology for Sharia students. Secondly, Hanafi co-edited the book The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East (2022) whose many chapters have become major references and textbooks for many universities.

Furthermore, his co-authored book Knowledge Production in the Arab World: The Impossible Promise (2015), where he reflected on many challenges in research in the Arab world. This book made a large impact in the field, with 6 reviews and a published debate in al-Mustaqbal al-Arabi with three outstanding scholars in the field of knowledge production: Antoun Zahlan, Adnan al-Amin and Mustafa al-Teer. The book was also launched excellently in the Issam Fares Institute (IFI) at AUB, with the participation of Tarek Mitri (IFI director), Seteney Shami (Director-General of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences) and Mouin Hamza (Director-General of the National Council for Scientific Research). This book demonstrates that there is a real crisis in the Arab world, not in term of knowledge production, but in the translation of knowledge into public awareness and policy. Thus, he places great importance on translating his publications into Arabic in order to reach local and Arab scholars and the public. This has kept him connected with his international peers while simultaneously keeping his work locally relevant. Indeed, a few years ago, Hanafi critiqued the manner in which a majority of Arab Eastern scholars fall into the trap of publishing globally and perishing locally, or publishing locally and perishing globally, thus highlighting the need to bridge the gap between these two trends.

Finally, his forthcoming book Against Symbolic Liberalism: A Plea for Dialogical Sociology will be out in five languages: English, Arabic, Farsi, Chinese and Turkish. This global sociology book is a critical assessment of some major paradigms in the social sciences, particularly in sociology. This book is the outcome of many debates he carried out while serving the International Sociological Association (ISA), as a member of the executive committee, VP of National Associations and President of this association. Hanafi set in motion three directions for a global sociology; supplementing the postcolonial approach with an anti-authoritarian one, theorizing post-secular society and connecting sociology to moral philosophy.

Hanafi has placed great importance on translating his publications into Arabic to reach local and Arab scholars and publics. This has kept him connected with his international peers while simultaneously keeping his work locally relevant. In addition to Hanafi’s skills and passion for research, he has experience in administration, gained through a position held at the research and advocacy center - Palestinian Center for Refugees and Diaspora (Ramallah- Palestine) (2000-2004), where he managed six full time and fifteen contractual researchers and administrative staff, and as president of ISA (6500 members).

Since Hanafi’s promotion to full professor in September 2011, he has engaged in a wide range of research activities. In supporting these and other endeavors, he has attracted external and internal funding from various sources, including AUB, IFI, IDRC (Canada), IRD (France), CEDRE (France-Lebanon), Waqf al-Nahda (Kuwait) and Carnegie Corporation of New York. As a result of garnering these grants and awards from different funders, Hanafi had conducted in-depth research on different topics, including knowledge production, religious discourse, and curriculum, as he previously focused largely on refugee camps in the Arab world. His current field of expertise encompasses the domains of political sociology, the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of religion. Predominantly ethnographic in nature, his research methodology involves participant observation techniques, qualitative interviews, and focus groups, in addition to quantitative research methods such as surveys and network analysis.

Sociological Approach

Hanafi’s approach to sociology is very sensitive to the changes triggered by the Arab uprisings in the region since 2011 (see the special issue he co-edited about the Arab uprisings in International Sociology in 2015). These uprisings may have politically failed in many Arab countries, but nonetheless have succeed to produce a cognitive revolution. Being a member of the French, Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian Sociological Associations, as well as different regional and international associations, and having spent several years researching the production of knowledge, Hanafi believes in the internationalization of sociology so long as it is also anchored in local contexts. Since he is wary of antagonistic binary categories such as tradition/modernity, East/West, universalism/contextualism, he organized a large international conference of 55 participants under the title Sociologies in Dialogue (Fourth ISA Conference of the Council of National Associations) and co-edited a forthcoming volume (April 2020). It is important to note that several sociological concepts claim universality, such as in human rights, democracy and gender equality. Yet, he sets three conditions for a concept to be a universal: the first being that it must be the outcome of a quasi-cross-cultural consensus, and not a mere export of values embedded in the Euro-American context. Second, it is not a teleological concept, but a historical experience that attains its meaning and normativity as a result of a collective historical learning process (inherently open-ended). Third, its universality is impossible except as an imaginary; a general wide flexible concept, not a model to be exported.

While Hanafi has found postcolonial theory useful in understanding our modernity, and especially knowledge production, his approach now is to criticize postcolonial studies as a discourse, specifically how it has been projected in the Arab region. The intersection between the social sciences and postcolonial studies has not been without its problems and reflects a growing crisis within some sectors of the Arab left, namely those who espouse postcolonialism as a singular perspective. Hanafi highlighted two features of such discourse being the excessive way anti-imperialists and anti-Western. He suggests this postcolonial approach should be complimented by what he calls an anti-authoritarian approach.

While there are many possible paths for sociology to follow in addressing all the social, economic, political, and ecological challenges of our modernity, as the former President of ISA, Hanafi set in motion two directions for a global sociology: supplementing the postcolonial approach with an anti-authoritarian one, and theorizing post-secular society. Beyond discussing this in many keynote speeches, he has published his vision in the ISA newsletter Global Dialog as a short article (2000 words) (http://globaldialogue.isa-sociology.org/global-sociology-toward-new-directions/) in 14 languages, and it thus was widely discussed internationally. A more in-depth version, taking into account all the comments he received, was published in the prestigious journal Current Sociology.

Major works

The output of Hanafi’s research for 9 years has been published in 54 refereed publications in English, Arabic, French, German and Portuguese. In addition, 17 of them were translated into other languages. Hanafi’s full research output includes:

- 11 books (one co-authored and published in two languages, and six co-edited; the majority of them reviewed frequently in academic journals and newspapers), and three forthcoming, edited books (Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East; Sociologies in Dialogue, and Un miroir des sciences sociales. Acteurs, pratiques et savoirs au Liban).

- 20 book chapters in refereed edited volumes, 6 of which were translated.

- 29 refereed journals articles, published in prestigious, high-impact journals in my field (International Sociology, Current Sociology, Journal of International Migration and Integration, Nordic Journal of Human Rights, Journal of Islamic Ethics, Refugee Survey Quarterly). (for more details, see the below table)

- In addition to these longer pieces above, Hanafi has published 21 book review (5 of which were published in two languages) and 71 op-eds and interviews, mainly in local and regional newspapers, and policy reports (in Arabic, English and French).

Selected books

• Bayna ‘alamayn. Rijal al-a’mal al falastiniyyin fi al-shatat wa bina al qayan al falastini (Between Two Worlds: Palestinian Businessmen in the Diaspora and the Construction of a Palestinian Entity) (1996) two editions: Cairo, Dar al-Mostaqbal al-arabi, & Ramallah: Muwatin (Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy), January (Arabic).
• La Syrie des ingénieurs. Perspective comparée avec l'Egypte (1997) Paris : Karthala.
• Entre Deux Mondes. Les hommes d’affaires palestiniens et la construction de l’entité palestinienne (1997) Cairo : CEDEJ.
• Business Directory of Palestinian in the Diaspora (1998) Jerusalem: Biladi (In English, French and Arabic).
• Hona wa honaq : nahwa tahlil lil ‘alaqa bin al-shatat al-falastini wa al markaz (Here and There: Towards an Analysis of the Relationship between the Palestinian Diaspora and the Center) (2001) Ramallah : Muwatin, Jerusalem : Institute of Jerusalem Studies (distribution Beirut : Institute of Palestine Studies)
• (Ed.) Crossing borders, shifting boundaries: Palestinian Dilemmas (2008) American University in Cairo Press.
• Adi Ophir and Michal Giovanni and S. Hanafi (Ed.) The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (2009) New York: Zone Books. This book caused some troubles in AUB since he broke with it the red lines of boycotting-Israel policy adopted by the Lebanese state.
• Are Knudsen and S. Hanafi (Eds.) Palestinian Refugees: Identity, Space and Place in the Levant (2010) Routledge
• Is the morning coming soon? (Kuwait: Nohood Center)
• Knowledge Production in the Arab World: The Impossible Promise. (with R. Arvanitis) (in Arabic, Beirut:CAUS and in English, Routledge -2016)
• From Relief and Works to Human Development: UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees after 60 Years. (Edited with L Takkenberg and L Hilal) (Routledge- 2014).
• The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in The Occupied Palestinian Territories (Edited with A. Ophir & M. Givoni, 2009) (English and Arabic) (NY:Zone Book; Beirut:CAUS), The Emergence of A Palestinian Globalized Elite: Donors, International Organizations and Local NGOs (with L. Taber, 2005) (Arabic and English); Pouvoir et associations dans le monde arabe (Edited with S. Bennéfissa, 2002) (Paris:CNRS).

Selected journal articles

• Hanafi, Sari (March 2013). "Explaining spacio-cide in Palestinian territory: Colonization, separation, and state of exception". Current Sociology. 61 (2): 190–205. doi:10.1177/0011392112456505. S2CID 145321717.

Position and membership in professional associations

• 2018— 2023: (President) International Sociological Association
• 2017— : (Member, International Advisory Council) World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES)
• 2017— : (Member) French Sociological Association
• 2016— : (Founding member and vice-president) Syrian Sociological Association.
• 2016— : (Board member) Palestinian Sociological and Anthropological Association.
• 2015—2017: (Vice president) Arab Council for the Social Sciences.
• 2014— (Vice president) International Sociological Association (ISA)
• 2013— (Advisory committee member) The Arab Social Science Monitor (ASSM), ACSS
• 2013— (Board member) Arab Council for the Social Sciences.
• 2011— (Member of the International Board of Consulting Editors) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences.
• 2010—2014: (Member of the executive committee) International Sociological Association (ISA)
• 2010—2012 : (Member of Comité de suivi) l' Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO)
• 2008—2016: (Member of the Executive Bureau) Arab Association of Sociology.
• 2005—: (Member) Lebanese Association of Sociology.
• 1994— : (Member) International Sociological Association.

External links & References

• Sari Hanafi official website at the American University of Beirut