Expertise

Modern Middle East, Political Economy, Egyptian History

Biography

My grad training began in European intellectual history and wound up in Arabic Studies. Living in Egypt for a number of years led me to social history and political economy. Much of my career has been occupied with trying to write and teach a kind of Middle Eastern history which would be free from the biases we  inherited from the colonial period. A more complicated discussion of these matters appears in an article which I am  able to attach in full here. 

Selected Publications

• Gran, Peter. Islamic Roots of Capitalism: Egypt, 1760-1840. Modern Middle East Series.  Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1979.
• Gran, Peter. Beyond Eurocentrism: A New View of Modern World History.  Syracuse N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1996.
• Gran, Peter. The Rise of the Rich: A New View of Modern World History. 1st ed.  Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2009.
• “Orientalism’s Contribution to World and Middle Eastern History 35 Years Later,” in Debating Orientalism. edited by Ziad Elmarsafy et al. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 18-37.
• “Al-Tahtawi’s Trip to Paris in Light of Recent Historical Analysis,”  in Mirror for the Muslim Prince. edited by Mehrzad Boroujerdi. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2013, 190-217.
• “Criticizing Hegel and Eurocentrism in a Middle Eastern Context: The Experiences of an American Specialist on Modern Egypt (1970-2011), in Getting the Question Right: Interdisciplinary Explorations at Makerere University. edited by Mahmood Mamdani. Kampala, Uganda: Makerere Institute of Social Research, 2013. 113-130.
• Syracuse University Press, Series: Middle East Studies Beyond Dominant Paradigms

Courses Taught

• Modern Middle East History
• Modern Islamic history
• Modern Egyptian History,
• Modern World Economic History
• US-Middle East Relations Since 1990