Karl's Homepage

 

E-Mail: Barbir@Siena.edu

This web page does not necessarily represent the views of Siena College.

 

Address: Department of History
             Siena College
             515 Loudon Road
             Loudonville, N.Y. 12211-1462

Work: (518) 783-2355

Home: (518) 220-9413

E-mail: "Barbir@Siena.edu"

Education:

Princeton University: M.A., 1973, Ph.D., 1977 (Near Eastern Studies, discipline of history)
American University of Beirut (AUB), Beirut, Lebanon: B.A., 1970 (modern European history); M.A., 1971 (modern Middle Eastern history)

 

 

Employment:

Siena College, Assistant Professor of History, 1977-1983; Associate Professor, 1983-1987; Professor, 1987- ; Director of Academic Advising, 1986-1989; Chair, Department of History, May 1993-May 1999; Chair, Faculty Committee (Faculty Senate), 1995-1997

State University of New York at Albany, Lecturer, since Spring 1992

Fordham University, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Spring 1983

University of Pennsylvania, Visiting Associate Professor, Spring 1982

Princeton University, Assistant in Instruction (Preceptor), Department of Near Eastern Studies, Fall 1972 and Fall 1974

AUB, Graduate Assistant, Department of History, 1970-1971

 

Select Publications:

Ottoman Rule in Damascus, 1708-1758. Princeton University Press, 1980. In the series, "Princeton Studies on the Near East."

"From Pasha to Efendi: the Assimilation of Ottomans into Damascene Society, 1516-1783," International Journal of Turkish Studies 1 (1980): 68-83.

"The Ottomans and the Muslim Pilgrimage, 1516-1783." Türk-Arap Iliskileri: Geçmiste, Bugün ve Gelecekte; I. Uluslararasi Konferansi Bildirileri. [International Conference on Turkish-Arab Relations, Past, Present, and Future]. Ankara, Turkey: Hacettepe University Press, 1980, pp. 76-81. Published version of paper presented in Ankara in 1979.

"Scholarship and Opportunity in Eighteenth-Century Jerusalem: Hasan al-Qudsi's Notables." The Third International Conference on Bilad al-Sham: Palestine, 19-24 April 1980. Amman: Royal Scientific Society, 1983, vol. 1, pp. 11-25. Published version of paper presented in Amman in 1980.

"Lebanon." Academic American Encyclopedia (Grolier, Inc., 1986), XII, 264-267 (with Leila S. al-Imad). Reprinted in 1989 and 1994 editions.

"Kubra, Najm al-Din." Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade et al (New York: Macmillan, 1986), VIII, 393-394.

"Suhrawardi, Shihab al-Din Yahya." Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade et al (New York: Macmillan, 1986), XIV, 124-125.

"Wali Allah, Shah." Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Mircea Eliade et al (New York: Macmillan, 1986), XV, 328-329.

"Getting and Spending in Eighteenth-Century Damascus: Wealth at Three Social Levels." La vie sociale dans les provinces arabes à l'époque ottomane, ed. Abdeljelil Temimi (Zaghouan, Tunisia: CEROMDI, 1988), III, 63-76. Published version of paper presented in Tunis in 1986.

"All in the Family: the Muradis of Damascus." IIIrd Congress on the Social and Economic History of Turkey (Princeton University, 24-26 August 1983), ed. Heath W. Lowry and Ralph S. Hattox (Istanbul, Washington, and Paris: Isis Press, 1990), pp. 327-355.

"The Formation of an Eighteenth Century Sufi: Taha al-Kurdi (1723-1800)." Revue d'histoire maghrébine 17/59-60 (1990): 41-47. Published version of paper presented in 1988 in Tunis.

"Wealth, Privilege, and Family Structure: the `Askaris of 18th Century Damascus According to the Qassam `Askari Inheritance Records." The Syrian Land in the 18th and 19th Century, ed. Thomas Philipp. Berliner Islamstudien, Volume 5. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1992, pp. 179-195. Originally presented to a conference in Erlangen, West Germany, in 1989.

"The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire." Touchstone: the Magazine of the Tennessee Humanities Council, No. 20 (1992): 6-9. Intended to accompany an exhibit, "The Age of Suleiman the Magnificent," Memphis, Tennessee.

"Social Interdependence, 1800-1914." Modernization in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire and Its Afro-Asian Successors, ed. Cyril E. Black and L. Carl Brown. Princeton: Darwin Press, 1992, pp. 101-119.

"Memory, Heritage, and History: the Ottoman Legacy in the Arab World," in Imperial Legacy: the Ottoman Imprint on the Balkans and the Middle East, ed. L. Carl Brown. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996, pp. 100-114.

"From Ernest Renan to André Raymond: Changing French Approaches to the Modern History of the Arab World, Maghrib and Mashriq," in Franco-Arab Encounters: Studies in Memory of David C. Gordon, ed. L. Carl Brown and Matthew Gordon (Beirut: American University of Beirut Press, 1996), pp. 449-459.

"The Changing Face of the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth Century: Past and Future Scholarship," Oriente Moderno 18/1 (1999): 253-267.

 

Projects in Progress:

[1] Muradi of Damascus, 1760-1791: Historian and Notable. Book-length biography.

[2] The Diary of a Damascene Barber: Ahmad al-Budayri al-Hallaq's Hawadith Dimashq al-Yawmiyya, 1741-1762. Translation, annotation, and introduction.

[3] The Arab Lands Under Ottoman Rule: 1516-1800, with Jane Hathaway as principal author. Contract Signed with Longman Publishers. Delivery date: December 2001.

Istanbul: Suleymaniye Mosque Complex (16th century)

 

Damascus: View of the Grand Mosque (Umayyad Mosque)