Fouad Ajami Prize

Professor Fouad Ajami was a leading figure in Middle Eastern Studies and along with Professor Bernard Lewis a founder of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA). Since Ajami’s untimely passing in 2014 ASMEA has continued to grow in strength and reputation as a unique association dedicated to the Middle East and Africa, free of the cant and bias that characterizes so much of American academia today.

Ajami’s voice is sorely missed today, as is Lewis’s. As a measure of their importance both to academia and to ASMEA, the organization has established prizes to honor practitioners who exemplify their spirit of inquiry and public engagement. 

The inaugural Fouad Ajami Prize was awarded at the Eighteenth Annual ASMEA Conference to Mr. Peter Theroux and Ms. Masih Alinejad.