Alexander D. M. Henley

Contact Details:

a.d.m.henley@dunelm.org.uk or
alexander.henley@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

Web Profiles:

http://manchester.academia.edu/AlexanderHenley

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/henley-alexander

Current Activities:

Thesis title: ‘The politics of clerical leadership in the Lebanese civil war, 1975-1990’

Supervisors: Dr Andreas Christmann, Dr Morgan Clarke, and Dr Youssef Choueiri

Currently affiliated to the Center for Arab and Middle East Studies (CAMES) at the American University of Beirut, while undertaking fieldwork on the Mufti of the Lebanese Republic Hasan Khalid and the Maronite Patriarchs Antonios Khuraysh and Nasrallah Sfeir.

Available for collaboration or comment on Lebanese religious affairs, particularly regarding the Sunni and Maronite communities from 1920 to the present.

Editor-at-Large of New Middle Eastern Studies, a peer-review journal for young researchers published under the auspices of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES).

I contribute news features and comment on Lebanese current affairs for publications including The Guardian, Religious Intelligence, The Tablet, Middle East Times, Edinburgh Middle East Report. Clips available on request.

Professional Memberships:

• British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), U.K.
• Christians in the Middle East (CME) Network, Scotland
• Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC), Lebanon
• Middle East Studies Association (MESA), U.S.

Qualifications:

• St Chad’s College, University of Durham:
  • MA Hons (Distinction) Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies (2007)
  • BA Hons (2:1) Theology & Religion (2006)

Training Courses

• Orient-Institut Beirut, Lebanon: Official Religion Summer School (Sept 2010)
• Damascus University, Syria: Intermediate & Advanced Arabic (May-Aug 2009)
• CASAW, Edinburgh: Intensive Arabic (Sept 2008 - April 2009)
• IMISCOE Intensive Training, Lebanon: Migration & Development (April 2008)
• Institut Français, London: Intensive French language (February 2008)
• UN Institute for Training & Research: Global Terrorism (December 2007)

Publications/Papers:

• ‘Maronite Diaspora and the “Promised Land”’, Research report, CBRL Bulletin, vol. 4 (2009), pp.82-84 (download here)
• ‘Politics of a Church at War: Maronite Catholicism in the Lebanese Civil War’, Mediterranean Politics 13/3, Nov 2008, pp.353-369 (download here)
• ‘Militating Against Integration: the Maronites, their Church, and Lebanon’, paper presented to the Middle East Studies Association, Washington DC, 25 Nov 2008 (abstract here)

Academic Awards:

• Travel Grant ($200): Middle East Studies Association (North America), Nov 2008
  4-year PhD Scholarship (£60k): CASAW, 2008-12
• Travel Grant (£800): Council for British Research in the Levant, March 2008