Nejla Abu-Izzedin Explained

Nejla Abu-Izzedin
Native Name:نجلاء أبو عزِّ الدين
Birth Date:May 22, 1907
Birth Place:Abadiyeh, Greater Syria (now Lebanon)
Native Name Lang:ar
Other Names:Nejla Izzedin, Najla Abou Ezzedine, Najla Abu Izzeddin, Naglaa Abu Ezz el-Din
Occupation:Writer, anthropologist, diplomat, educator, historian

Nejla Mustafa Abu-Izzedin (; May 22, 1907[1] – 2008), also known as Najla Abu Izzeddin, was a Lebanese anthropologist, educator, historian, and diplomat. She was a lecturer on Arab topics in North America in the 1940s and 1950s, and author of several histories of the Arab world. She co-founded the Institute for Palestinian Studies in Beirut in 1963.

Early life and education

Izzedin was born in Abadiyeh, the daughter of and Halineh Izzedin. Her family were Druze; her father was a military physician and public health official. Her uncles were journalist and judge . She attended the American School for Girls in Beirut, the Lycée Racine in Paris, and graduated from Vassar College in 1930.[2] [3] In 1934, she became the first Arab woman to earn a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Her master's thesis was titled "Taha Husain and the dawn of Islam", and her doctoral dissertation was titled "The racial origins of the Druzes" (1934).

Career

Izzedin taught anthropology at a teachers' college in Baghdad after graduate school, and was the first woman to teach male students there. She also taught at the American College in Beirut,[4] and was principal of a girls' school in Damascus.[5] During World War II she lived in London, where she did research for her book on Arab history, and worked on establishing the Arab League.

Beginning in 1945, Izzedin was on the staff of the Washington, D.C., office of the Arab League.[6] [7] She was a delegate to the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held in San Francisco in 1945. She lectured in the United States and Canada in the 1940s,[8] and after the publication of her book, The Arab World, Past, Present, and Future (1953), with sponsorship from the American Friends of the Middle East.[9] She often addressed women's organizations, including the YWCA, the Daughters of the American Revolution,[10] the League of Women Voters,[11] and the American Association of University Women (AAUW).[12] [13] Some Jewish organizations opposed her public appearances.[14] She corresponded with scholar Alphonse Mingana.[15]

Izzedin became a member of the American Oriental Society in 1931.[16] She was a founder of the Institute for Palestinian Studies in Beirut in 1963.[17]

Publications

Notes and References

  1. Birthdate, parents' names, and identitification photo from Najla Abou Ezzeddine's 1947 consular pass, in the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965, via Ancestry.
  2. News: March 11, 1939 . V.C. Seniors and Grads Receive Honor Awards . 1, 2 . Vassar Miscellany News .
  3. News: June 9, 1945 . Izzeddin Presents Picture Of Syria . 2 . Vassar Chronicle .
  4. News: 1947-01-11 . Dr. Nejla Izzedin to Speak Here Wednesday Night; IRC to Sponsor Foremost Arabian Scholar . 1 . The Daily Tar Heel . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  5. News: 1946-10-17 . Arab woman lecturer on tour across Canada . 6 . The Leader-Post . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  6. Web site: Report on the Activities of the Arab Office, Washington, for the First Six Months Beginning Nov.1.1945 (Excerpts) . 2023-08-17 . Wilson Center Digital Archive.
  7. Rickenbacher . Daniel . Spring 2020 . The Arab League's Propaganda Campaign in the US Against the Establishment of a Jewish State (1944–1947) . Israel Studies . 25 . 1 . 1 . 10.2979/israelstudies.25.1.01.
  8. News: 1947-01-16 . Flynn Talk Cancelled; IRC Presents Izzedin Tonight; IRC Introduces World Authority on Arab Nations . 1 . The Daily Tar Heel . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  9. https://newspaperarchives.vassar.edu/?a=d&d=miscellany19540428-01.2.5&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------- "Arab Anthropologist Nejla Izzedin Speaks About Arabia Today"
  10. News: 1946-01-15 . Lebanese Speaks . 18 . Evening Star . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1946-03-17 . Politics Charged in Zionist Efforts to Gain Jews a Home . 8 . Kingsport Times-News . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  12. News: 1946-05-08 . Palestinian Arab Situation Told by Y. W. Speaker . 3 . The Herald-Palladium . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  13. News: Nelson . Ray . 1947-03-27 . Lebanese Scholar Describes Arab Reaction to Jew Issue . 1 . The Herald-Journal . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  14. News: 1954-06-18 . Traveling Arab Propagandists Menace Israel . 7 . The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  15. https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XDA66/1/3/2/8 Papers of Alphonse Mingana
  16. 1931 . Notes of the Society . Journal of the American Oriental Society . 51 . 3 . 290 . 593458 . 0003-0279.
  17. Web site: Najla Abu Izzeddin . 2023-08-17 . Institute for Palestine Studies . en.
  18. News: Wood . Percy . 1953-11-01 . Interpreting the Views of 70 Million Arabs/Percy Wood . 209 . Chicago Tribune . 2023-08-17 . Newspapers.com.
  19. Al-Husry . Khaldun S. . 1975 . Izzeddin . Nejla M. Abu . Nasser's Egypt . Journal of Palestine Studies . 5 . 1/2 . 158–159 . 10.2307/2535689 . 2535689 . 0377-919X.
  20. Betts . Robert Brenton . February 1989 . Nejla M. Abu-Izzedin, The Druzes: A New Study of Their History, Faith, and Society (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1984). Pp. 259. . International Journal of Middle East Studies . en . 21 . 1 . 148–150 . 10.1017/S0020743800032232 . 163652 . 1471-6380.
  21. Book: Izzeddin, Nejla M. Abu . The Druzes: A New Study of Their History, Faith, and Society . 1993-01-01 . BRILL . 978-90-04-09705-6 . en.

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