It's not gotten around very far. But I was told by authoritative sources on Morningside Heights that Joseph Massad,
an associate professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History
at Columbia University's Department of Middle East And Asian Languages
and Cultures, has been denied tenure. This is the first sign that
Edward Said's mortifying legacy at Columbia has exhausted itself, what
with its self-pity disguised as scholarship and analysis. Of course,
Massad has appealed the decision. Still, even Lee Bollinger won't be
dumb enough to reverse.
I've written about Massad, and Jamie Kirchick has written about his book Desiring Arabs, a study, such as it is, of the position of gays in the Arab orbit and -- if you can believe it -- whether there actually are gays in the Arab world.