The Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize

The Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize was established jointly in 1986 by the Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund and BRISMES in memory of Dr Leigh Douglas who was killed in Beirut in 1986. It is awarded annually to the writer of the best PhD dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic in the Social Sciences or Humanities.

The deadline for submission of entries for the 2011 award is 31st January 2012.

The current value of the prize is £500. We believe this to be a very worthwhile award and would encourage all supervisors to bring it to the attention of their students. Anyone wishing to submit his/her dissertation for consideration should send a copy, together with an accompanying letter or recommendation from their supervisor, before 31st January 2012 to:

Winners of the Prize in Previous Years:

2011 Winners

Elvire Corboz (University of Oxford)

Negotiating Loyalty Across the Shi'i World: the transnational authority of the al-Hakim and al-Khu'i families

and

Abdel Razzaq Takriti (University of Oxford)

Revolution and Absolutism: Oman 1965-1976

Honourable Mention [£ 50 book token]

Laetitia Nanquette (SOAS, University of London)

The Eye Sees Not Itself? Mutual Images of France and Iran Through Their Literatures (1979-2009)

2010 Winner (awarded £500)

Winner

Dr Daniel Neep, SOAS, University of London

Colonising Violence:  Space, insurgency and subjectivity in French Mandate Syria

The dissertation pursues the idea that practices of violence produce modernity….No-one has taken this approach very far with regard to Syria, or with regard to French colonialism in the Middle East, or with such a particular and developed focus on violence itself. The way in which Neep formulates his question and pursues his theme is therefore seriously distinctive….this is a thesis of striking, first class originality. …The research is meticulous, the evidence rich, well-tied to the arguments, and well-organized. …The thesis is remarkably lucid [and] clearly outstanding.

Honourable Mention

Dr Avi Raz, Wolfson College, Oxford University

The Palestinian Option:  Israel and the West Bank Leadership, 1967-1969

This affords the reader a detailed and scrupulously researched account of negotiations between Israel and various Palestinian interlocutors, as well as the King of Jordan in the eighteen months or so following the war of 1967….It provides an unparalleled insight into the ways in which the Israeli government effectively resisted external pressure to relinquish the territories occupied during the war…based on exhaustive and well organised use of a variety of archives, as well as on a wide-ranging set of interviews...It is an exceptional piece of research 

2009 Winner (awarded £500)

Mark Dickens (University of Cambridge)
Turkâyé:  Turkic Peoples in Syriac Literature Prior to the Seljüks

 

This is an outstanding piece of work in a field which is grossly under-researched, the perception of the Turks as seen by the Syriac-speaking Christians of the areas they entered. It displays an extraordinary grasp of sources not only in Syriac but in several other relevant languages, combined with a historical analysis of a high order and an intimate knowledge of the Eastern Turkic/Central Asian regions involved. This is really serious scholarship of a kind which will stand for many decades, if not longer.

  

Honourable mention (£50 book token)

 

Abeer Abdullah A. al-Abbasi (University of Leeds)
Astrology in Literature:  How the Prohibited became Permissible in the Arabic Poetry of the Mediaeval Period

 

This is an original and substantial work of scholarship that uses literary evidence effectively to illuminate social and philosophical attitudes during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods.  Taking the theme of astrology, and changing views of the acceptability of its various forms, the dissertation convincingly demonstrates the enduring power of astrology in shaping beliefs about destiny, despite condemnation by orthodox religious scholars...An impressive range of primary sources adds to the authority of the dissertation. 

2008 Joint Prize Winners (awarded £250 each)

Joint Winners

W. Judson Dorman (SOAS, London University)
The Politics of Neglect: the Egyptian State in Cairo, 1974-98 This is an original and theoretically engaged work which looks at the modes of governance in Egypt from a fresh perspective...The thesis develops a plausible and interesting argument about the nature of the power exercised by the Egyptian state, setting this within important current debates in the discipline....It supports this with detailed and meticulous empirical research which adds considerable credence to the thesis, investigating aspects of urban power in Cairo that have rarely been examined in this way and thereby making an original contribution to our understanding of the workings of politics in Egypt, with significant implications for understandings of the state elsewhere...It is a highly accomplished work.

Maria Petsani (University of Durham)
The Dhabih Allah as Metaphor for Self-Submission: a critical reassessment of the sacrifice narrative in Q. 37:99-113 A remarkable thesis which approaches the topic both with specialist textual knowledge and with an interpretative imagination informed by a range of different disciplines...this multidisciplinary approach results in a rich and stimulating interpretation, showing considerable innovation and originality...It sets the sacrifice narrative in a comparative setting, bringing out historical parallels, but also the symbolic and metaphorical aspects which provide a semiotic key of some power.

Honourable mention (£50 book token)

Shahira S. Samy (University of Exeter)
The Politics of Reparations in the Case of Palestinian Refugees - a comparative approach A well-constructed synthetic and comparative analysis of the question of reparations, with particular focus on the case of the Palestinian refugees...Historical and comparative material has been used to good effect to bring out the various legal and political issues surrounding the question of reparations to civilian populations....The thesis brings together in a clearly structured way a diverse set of readings on these topics and adds interpretative value to the phenomenon and to the cases explored.

2007

The prize was not awarded in 2007.

2006 Joint Prize Winners (awarded £250 each)

Joint Winners

Fabio Caiani
"Innovation in the novels of Muhammad Barrada, Idwar al-Kharrat, Ilyas Khuri and Fu'ad al-Takarli - 1979-1999", PhD 2005, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of St Andrews

Jennifer Dueck
"Competing for Culture in a Levantine Mosaic: oeuvres de propagande in Syria and Lebanon, 1936-1946", PhD 2005, Faculty of History, University of Oxford

2005

Winner

Konrad Hirschler (Department of History, SOAS)
Narrating the Past: Social Contexts and Literary Structures of Arabic Historical Writing in teh Seventh/Thirteenth Century

Honorable Mention

Simon O'Meara (Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Leeds)
An Architectural Investigation of Marinid and Wattasid Fes Medina (674-961/1276-1554) in terms of Genda, Legend and Law.

2004

No prize was awarded in 2004.

2003 Joint Winners (awarded £250 each)

Joint Winners

Newson, Paul G.
'Settlement, Land Use and Water Management Systems in Roman Arabia: an integrated archaeological approach' - PhD 2002, University of Leicester

Pratt, Nicola
'Globalization and the Post-Colonial State: human rights NGOs and the prospects for democratic governance in Egypt'
PhD 2002, University of Exeter

Honourable Mentions (£50 book token each)

McDougall, James
'Colonial Words: Nationalism, Islam and Languages of History in Algeria'
PhD 2002, St Antony's College, University of Oxford

Whittingham, Martin
'Al-Ghazali and Qur'anic Hermeneutics', PhD 2002, University of Edinburgh

2002

Winner

James Onley (University of Oxford)
The Infrastructure of Informal Empire: a study of Britain's Native Agency in Bahrain, c. 1816-1900

This is a detailed and original study of the British Political Residency in the Persian Gulf during the 19th century. In particular, it studies the role and activities of the 'native agents' employed by the British in Bahrain during this period to protect and further British interests. The Native Agency was headed during these years by a succession of affluent men from Arab, Persian and Indian merchant families who acted as agents for Great Britain in their dealings with local society, both political and commercial. Through the meticulous use of family archives and local, as well as British sources, the dissertation succeeds in rescuing from obscurity these key actors in the British imperial system. As such it also engages with larger questions concerning the historiography of British India and of the British Empire. It presents a persuasive and well-grounded study which leads the way for a re-examination of the nature of British imperial power in the Persian Gulf during the 19th century. The clarity of exposition and the detailed use of sources were particularly commended.

Honourable Mention

Recep Cigdem (University of Manchester)
The Register of the Law Court of Istanbul 1612-1613: a legal analysis

This thesis analyses in impressive detail the records of the Law Court of Istanbul - the most important court in the Ottoman Empire - during the years 1612-1613. It sheds light on the application of Hanafi law through close examination of the sicils of the court, revealing a wealth of information not only on the application of the law, but also on aspects of Ottoman society in the capital at this time.

2001

Joint Winners

Ahmed Abdul-Kareem Saif (University of Exeter)
"A Legislature in Transition: the Parliament of the Republic of Yemen 1990-1999"
and
Anthony B. Toth (University of Oxford)
"The Transformation of a Pastoral Economy: Bedouin and States in Northern Arabia 1850-1950"

Honourable Mention

Francine Stone (University of Manchester)
"Tihamah Gazetteer - the Southern Red Sea Coast of Arabia to 923/1517"

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