Public Lecture Explores History of U.S.-Arab Relations

The shared history of modernization between Arabs and Americans was expounded at a recent lecture at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q), where Professor Nathan J. Citino shared insights from his recent book Envisioning the Arab Future: Modernization in US-Arab Relations, 1945-1967.

Citino is a professor at Rice University who specializes in the history of U.S. and the world with a focus on the Middle East. His talk focused on modernization as a key theme of U.S.-Arab relations during the Cold War and included case studies of global Arab travel and conflicts over the development of post-revolutionary Iraq.

“The study of past Arab-American relations can help us to see contemporary issues in new ways,” explained Citino. “Not so long ago, the dominant political discourse in the Arab world concerned secular economic development, and Arabs and Americans spoke a common language of modernization.”

The lecture was based on findings from Citino’s book, which includes new research in both Arabic and English. The book assesses the regional implications of U.S. power while examining a range of topics that transcend Arab-Israeli conflict, such as travel, community, gender, oil, and agriculture in both the United States and the Middle East.

The historian, who holds a Ph.D. from Ohio State University, is also the author of From Arab Nationalism to OPEC: Eisenhower, King Sa‘ud, and the Making of U.S. – Saudi Relations. He has published widely, including articles in titles such as Diplomacy & Statecraft, the International Journal of Middle East Studies, the Business History Review, the Arab Studies Journal, and Cold War History.