This edition of the journal appears under my name and that of the new managing editor, Sara Pursley, but the articles ran the gauntlet of the review process under the watchful eyes of Judith E. Tucker and her able managing editor, Sylvia Whitman. I am enormously indebted to them for handing off the journal in such excellent shape, leaving us with detailed instructions and supplying a backlog of accepted articles to help cushion the landing of the journal at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The transition of the editorial office could not have been accomplished without the support of our provost, Chase Robinson, whom many of you know as a specialist in early Islamic history. Colleagues affiliated with the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center and the Programs in History at the Graduate Center and City College have welcomed the journal to its new home across the street from the Empire State Building.
As my predecessors have noted, IJMES is a collaborative enterprise. The journal simply could not exist without scholars submitting their best work, referees and board members reviewing articles in a timely manner, and the editorial office moving the process along. I thank the MESA Board of Directors for giving me the opportunity to lead this team effort. As the journal of record for our field, IJMES will continue to evolve. Keep an eye on the editorial office website (http://web.gc.cuny.edu/ijmes) for updates about our move to online submission, which should facilitate and speed the review process and streamline production for our partners at Cambridge University Press. Look, too, for a list of books received by the editorial office, an endeavor coordinated by Jeffrey Culang, the new assistant editor for book reviews.
As part of her editorship, Judith Tucker introduced Pensées, and in handing off the journal, she graciously agreed to share her thoughts on how the field of Middle East studies has changed during the five years of her tenure. She is joined by two of her board members, Fatma Müge Göçek and F. Gregory Gause III. Representing the fields of history, sociology, and political science, they have collectively read hundreds of submitted manuscripts and share a unique vantage point from which to assess transformations in the field. They, along with the rest of the outgoing IJMES editorial board and book review editors, have given outstanding service, for which they should be applauded.
The articles in this issue reflect one or more of the “changes in the field” that Tucker and Göçek discuss in their Pensées: more attention to the Gulf states (Drysdale, Ghazal); increased interest in time (Uluengin) and space (Fields); more attempts to utilize popular culture, nonstate, and/or nontextual sources (Uluengin, Schayegh, Fahmy); and more transnational studies (Ghazal). The selection of articles also points to an absence that Gause notes, of articles from political science as practiced at North American universities, which emphasize quantitative and formal methods.
The mandate of IJMES is expansive: to cover a broad region over a long period of time across multiple disciplines. Yet some fields have been better represented than others. In looking ahead, the editorial office is eager to receive articles that fill historical gaps (early Islam through the early modern period), come from underrepresented disciplines (especially anthropology and literature), and expand the boundaries of the Middle East (North Africa, border regions, and diasporas). We would like to see greater dialogue within the field and with scholarship in other fields. In addition, we welcome theoretically informed works in such areas as social history and social politics as well as pieces that take the art of narrative seriously. In short, we are eager to read your most interesting work. Surprise us!
