Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, Ph.D.
Professor
Location
Professor Ali Abdullatif Ahmida was born in Waddan, Libya and educated at Cairo University in Egypt and the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the founding Chair (2000 鈥 2014) of the Department of Political Science at the 51品茶, Biddeford, Maine, USA. His areas of expertise are political theory, comparative politics, and historical sociology. His scholarship is cross-cultural and focuses on power, agency, genocide, and anti-colonial resistance in North Africa, especially in modern Libya.
Dr. Ahmida has published major articles in Italian Studies, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Arab Future, Third World Quarterly, and the Arab Journal of International Studies. He is also the author of The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonialization and Resistance, a book published by SUNY Press, 1994, 2009. This book was translated into Arabic and has been published in a second edition by the Center of Arab Unity Studies, 1998, Beirut, Lebanon. A third edition was published in 2013. He is the editor of Beyond Colonialism and Nationalism in the Maghrib: History, Culture and Politics, published by Palgrave Press in 2000. An Arabic translation of the book was published by The Centre of Arab Unity Studies in 2014.
Routledge Press published Dr. Ahmida鈥檚 book, Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya, 2005; an Arabic edition was published in 2009, and an Italian edition will be published in 2013. Cambridge Scholars Press published his edited book, Bridges Across the Sahara, September 2009, and The Center of Arab Unity Studies, Beirut, Lebanon published his book Post-Orientalism: Critical Reviews of North African Social and Cultural History in August 2009. His book The Libya We Do Not Know (in Arabic) was published by The Libyan Ministry of Culture in 2014. Dr. Ahmida's most recent book is Genocide in Libya, published by Routledge, 2021. This book was awarded the 2022 L. Carl Brown Book Prize from the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS). He is currently working on two books, one about after the genocide in colonial Libya, and a biography of Libyan freedom fighter Omar al-Mukhtar.
Credentials
Education
Post-Doctoral Training
Harvard University (Boston, Massachusetts)
Research
Current research
Dr. Ahmida is currently working on a new book on genocide that links the Middle East with Europe. This book examines the genocidal machinery of the Italian colonial state, internment of 100,000 people in Libya and the silence that followed. The policies of Italy鈥檚 Fascist government were unprecedented in the history of African colonialism but it was not until recently that Western scholarship acknowledged forceful deportation of the rural population of Cyrenaica and their confinement in concentration camps between 1929 and 1934. Dr. Ahmida has spent 10 years researching and interviewing some of the survivors in Eastern Libya. The book will be published by Stanford University Press.
Selected publications
Books
The Libya We Don鈥檛 Know: History , Culture and Civil Society 1835-2012. Cairo, Egypt: Dar al Hilal, 2014. (Arabic)
The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonization, and Resistance 1830-1932. Beirut, Lebanon.: The Center for Arab Unity Studies, 1995. A revised and updated 3rd edition, 2013. (Arabic)
Post-Orientalism: Critical Reviews. Beirut, Lebanon.: Center of Arab Unity Studies, 2009. (Arabic)
Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya. New York.: Routledge, 2005. An Arabic translation was published by The Center for Arabic Studies, 2009.
Editor. Beyond Colonialism and Nationalism in North Africa: History, Culture and Politics. New York.: Palgrave Press, 2000. An Arabic translation was published by Center of Arab Unity Studies and Libyan Ministry of Culture, 2014.
The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonization, and Resistance 1830-1932. Beirut, Lebanon: The Center for Arab Unity Studies, 1995. A second edition, 1998.
The Making of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonization, and Resistance 1830-1932. State University of New York Press, 1994. A second revised and updated edition, 2009.
Editor. Bridges Across the Sahara: Social, Economic and Cultural Impact of the Trans Sahara Trade During the 19th and 20th Centuries. London.: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009.
Other scholarly activity
Scholarly Articles in refereed Journals
鈥淭he Post Colonial State and Social Transformation in Libya鈥. Tabayyan. 2012
鈥淭he Post Colonial State and Social Transformation in Libya鈥. The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies Online. 2012
鈥淟ibya, Social Origin of Dictatorship and the Challenge for Democracy鈥. Journal of the Middle East and Africa. 2012
鈥淭he Libyan National Transnational Council: Social Bases, Membership and Political Trends鈥. Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. 2011
鈥淏eyond Orientalist, Colonial and Nationalist Models: a critical mapping of Maghribi studies (1951鈥2000)鈥. Third World Quarterly. 30:6 (July 23, 2009)
鈥淲hen the Subaltern Speak: Memory of Genocide in Colonial Libya, 1929 to1933鈥 Italian Studies, 61:2 (Autumn, 2006)
Guest Editor, 鈥淏eyond Colonialism and Nationalism in North Africa,鈥 Arab Studies Quarterly, (Spring, 1998)
鈥淚nventing or Recovering Civil society in the Middle East,鈥 Critique, (Spring, 1997)
"Colonialism, State Formation and Civil Society in North Africa: Theoretical and Analytical Problems,鈥 International Journal of Islamic and Arabic Studies, XI:I (1994). A French translation of this article will be published in 2003.
Invited plenary presentation
Public Lectures
鈥淭he Libyan Situation Now鈥. The World Affairs Council of Maine. November 6 2012.
鈥淭heories of Social Revolutions in the 20th Century and the Arab Spring鈥. University of Akron. March 20 2012.
鈥淟ibya from Dictatorship to Revolution: A Historical and Comparative View鈥. 14th Annual Sally A. Miller Humanities Lecture. University of Akron. March 20 2012.
鈥淭he Struggle over National Symbols in the Libyan Revolution鈥 Revolution in MENA, Oberlin College. March 17 2012.
Obstacles and Challenges Facing Libyan Society After the February 17 Revolution. Ministry of Culture, Tripoli. December 31 2011
How to Think 51品茶 National Reconciliation in Libya. University of Tripoli, December 24-26, 2011
鈥淟ibya: From Dictatorship to Revolution鈥. New York University, October 28 2011
鈥淧opular Protests, Governance and Political Transitions in the Maghreb: Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia鈥. Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies. October 20-21 2011
Assessing Libya. Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies. September 1 2011
鈥淎fter Qaddafi: The Challenges of Building a Civil Democratic System鈥. United Nations Department of Political Affairs and the Department of Peace Keeping Missions, New York, June 9 2011.
鈥淭he Ghosts of Libya鈥檚 Colonial Past & Why Qaddafi鈥檚 Regime Failed?鈥 Brecht Forum, New York, June 8 2011
鈥淎l-Koni鈥檚 Saharan Imagination: Engaging Modernity, History, and the Nation-State鈥 Georgetown University, April 28 2011
鈥淲hy Qaddafi Already Lost and the Ghosts of Libya鈥檚 Colonial Past鈥. Georgetown University, April 27 2011
鈥淭he Politics of Identity and Alienation in North Africa鈥 Arab Festival, Arab-American Cultural Center of Washington, Seattle, WA, October 19, 2003.
鈥淩esearching State-Society Relations in Libya During the 1940's: Sources and Problems鈥 Center for Libyan Studies, Tripoli, Libya, June, 2002.
鈥淟ibya: A Terrorist or Revolutionary State?鈥 51品茶Faculty Colloquium, Biddeford, ME, April, 2001.
鈥淭he Sahara as a Contexted Space,鈥 African Studies Distinguished Lecture Series, 1999 - 2000, Africa at the End of the Millennium, Center for International Studies, Washington University and University of Missouri - St. Louis, October 2000.
鈥淭heories and Models of Citizenship鈥, 51品茶, Biddeford, Maine, May 1999.
鈥淐olonialism and its impact on Racism Today鈥 51品茶, Biddeford, Maine, February, 1999.
鈥淐olonialism and State Formation in North Africa in Comparative Perspective,鈥 University of Tunis, Summer, 1997.
鈥淭eaching Exploration Courses at 51品茶,鈥 Faculty Development, UNE, Biddeford, ME, Spring, 1997.
鈥淭eaching Roots of Contemporary Cultures at 51品茶,鈥 Faculty Develop颅ment, UNE, Biddeford, ME, Spring 1996.
鈥淭he Crisis of Governance in North Africa,鈥 Presenta颅tion, 28th annual meeting of the Association of Arab-American University Graduates, Washington, DC, 1995.
鈥淭he Politics of Islamic Fundamentalism,鈥 Faculty Forum, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washing颅ton, December 5, 1993.
鈥淎merican Libyan Relations,鈥 Voice of America Radio, Washington, D.C. February 5, 1993.
鈥淎n Islamic State? Reflections on the Crisis of the Nationalist State in Algeria,鈥 Faculty Forum, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, June 20, 1992.
鈥淐ulture, Resistance, and the Recovery of History,鈥 Faculty Cultural Legacy group, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, June 4, 1991.
鈥淭he Aftermath of the Gulf War: What is Next?鈥 Canton Presbyterian Church, Canton, NY, April 5, 1991.
鈥淐hances for Peace in the Aftermath of the Gulf War,鈥 North County Public Radio, Canton, NY, March 20, 1991.
鈥淭he Making of the Gulf Crisis,鈥 Brown University, Providence, RI, March 4, 1991.
鈥淎lternative State Formation: The Case of the Sanusiyya [North Africa],鈥 Southwest Asia/North Africa Program, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY, January 31, 1991.
鈥淭he Origins of the Gulf Crisis,鈥 North Country Public Radio, Canton, NY, January 30, 1991.
Consulting
2008 United Nations: Commissioned to assess UN role in Arab countries
2005 United Nations Security Council: Conflict resolution in Africa
Research interests
Dr. Ali Ahmida's research interest has been centered on the historical roots of civil society and how ordinary citizens react to state pressure. He addressed this theoretical issue in his PhD dissertation and his first book on the Making of Modern Libya. He spent 20 years engaged in original research collecting the data in the U.S, Libya, Egypt and Italy, using the national archives, and pursing an innovative methodology of collecting oral history which is becoming a recognized source of research in scholarship today. He examines the dynamics of power, agency and anti-colonial resistance in North Africa, especially modern Libya and the Sahara.