Middle East Studies Association

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Middle East Studies Association (often referred to as MESA) is a learned society, and according to its website, "a non-profit association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom".^[2]

Critics have accused MESA of politicization and being dominated by academics critical of Israel and the United States. In 2007, the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa was founded as an ideological counterweight to MESA.