Nicholas E. Roberts

 
Professor of History and Director of QEP

B.A., Carleton College; M.A., University of Chicago; Ph.D. New York University

nerobert@sewanee.edu

Nicholas E. Roberts teaches classes on the Middle East, Islam, and imperialism in the History Department and the International and Global Studies Program. He also serves as the Director of the University's Quality Enhncement Plan (QEP), which is to develop "A First-Year Experience for All"

Nicholas E. Roberts received his B.A. in Religion from Carleton College, a M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies/History from New York University. His scholarly interests include the history of European imperialism in the Middle East, the history of Israel/Palestine, modern Islamic movements, and Arab nationalism in the Middle East, and the place of the “Holy Land” in Christian Evangelical culture. He has received several awards including a James D. Kennedy III fellowship from Sewanee and a Fulbright fellowship to conduct research in Israel.

At Sewanee, he offers the following courses about the Middle East: Middle East History I (until 1800), Middle East History II (post-1800), Jerusalem: Histories of the Real and Imagined City, The History of Islam, The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Modern Iraq and the US-Iraq Conflict, From Barbary to Iraq: Britain and America in the Middle East, Revolutions and Revolutionaries in the Middle East, and Political Islam. He also teaches courses on the history of European imperialism and the history of religious nationalism.

Roberts’ book Islam Under the Palestine Mandate: Colonialism and the Supreme Muslim Council (London: I.B.Tauris, 2016), analyzes the controversial establishment of the Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) in British Palestine and considers the politicization of the council under its infamous president, Hajj Amin al-Husayni. Based on research conducted in Israel and Britain, the book uses the fascinating history of the SMC as a lens for understanding how Islamic politics, Palestinian nationalism, and colonialism intersected in mandate Palestine. Arguing against the conventional belief that British experiences in Palestine were sui generis, the book shows how British policies in the mandate were informed by approaches towards Islam developed elsewhere in the empire.

He is currently working on a manuscript on the place of the Holy Land in Christian Evangelical culture, which will  focus on the Holy Land is presented in Christian museums, theme parks, and religious tours to Israel.

Publications

Books

Articles & Book chapters

• “Building Communalism in Palestine: Muslim-Christian Relations Under
  British Rule.” In Palestine Christians and the Nationalist Cause: The Late Ottoman and Mandatory Periods. Ed. Erik Freas. London: Routledge, 2024.
• - “Jerusalem at the Center of the Muslim World: Pan-Islam and Nationalism at the World Islamic Congress of 1931.” Contemporary Levant. Vol. 4, Issue 1 (2019): 52-63.
• - “Dividing Jerusalem: British Urban Planning in the Holy City,” Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Summer 2013): 7-26.
• - “Re-remembering the Mandate: Historiographical Debate and Revisionist History in the Study of British Palestine,” History Compass, Vol. 9, Issue 3 (March 2011): 215-230.
• - "Palestine on Display: The Palestine Pavilion at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924,"Arab Studies Journal, Vol. XV, No. 1 (Spring 2007): 70-89.

Book Reviews

• - “Review of The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine, by Salim Tamari,” in International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 51, Issue 1 (Feb. 2019): 166-168.
• -“Review of Laura Robson, Colonialism and Christianity in Mandate Palestine,”International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 45, Issue 1 (February 2013): 87-89.
• - “Review of The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Ed. Eugene L. Rogan and Avi Shlaim,” Arab Studies Journal (Fall 2002/Spring 2003): 151-153.