Talking about institutionalization of the area: Dumani, who has been working at Brown University since 2012, received a new diploma in July from Mahmoud Darwish, Professor of Palestinian Studies, who may become the first subsidized chair of Palestinian Studies at an American university. At Brown University, Dumani leads the research initiative “New Directions in Palestinian Studies”, which organizes a series of books and an annual thematic workshop to promote scholarships on a specific topic. The new Chair in Palestinian Studies is the third Chair of Middle East Studies to be established at Brown University in recent years. However, Mr. Dumani stated that the number and quality of fellowships for Palestinian studies is increasing, attracting scholars from a wide range of fields, including anthropology, environment, history, literature, political science, public health and sociology. Brown notes that this is the first department of Palestinian studies at an American research institute. According to Kevin McLaughlin, dean of the faculty and George Hazard Cooker, professor of English and comparative literature at Brown University, in addition to raising funds for study in the Middle East, Brown has also raised funds for study in Latin America and East and South Asia. Columbia University has a center for Palestinian studies, but Dumani said “he” does not know any such centers in the United States. The United Kingdom has at least two centres for Palestinian studies, at the University of Exeter and SOAS at the University of London. This means that this president deals with the Palestinians, regardless of their geographic location. The first book in the “New Directions in Palestinian Studies” series focuses on Palestinians in Chicago. Brown also has a scholarship for higher education in Palestinian studies. We have set ourselves the goal of establishing a chair in this area because we believe that the Middle East is an important part of the world and that it is important for Brown to conduct research and teach in various fields in this vast region, the Middle East. “The focus here is on Palestinian studies, not just Palestine,” says Dumani. “I don’t understand how a school can teach in the Middle East without studying Palestine,” Doumani says. Named after Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, the president was funded by a coalition of nine different donors. “My first book was on the social history of Palestinians during the Ottoman period, and my last book was on the history of family life in the Ottoman Mediterranean, especially the issue of gender and property,” Doumani says. Brown raised money for more than 75 gifted chairs as part of a fundraising campaign launched in 2015.