The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) announced April 5 that a Georgetown University graduate and CCAS visiting professor received faculty fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).

Visiting professor Adey Almohsen, who teaches “Arab Intellectuals,” and master’s graduate Xiaoyue Yasin Li (GRD ’14) received fellowships for their humanities and qualitative research proposals. ACLS, which aims to encourage professors early in their careers to bolster humanities and social science, presented 60 fellowships in 2024 — worth up to $60,000 for a stipend — intended for untenured professors wanting to pursue six months to a year of full-time research. 

From 1,100 applicants nationwide, the ACLS recognized Almohsen and Li in part because of their projects’ potential to push the boundaries of humanities-based research. 

Almohsen said that he primarily applied for the ACLS fellowship to work on his book, “Minds in Exile: An Intellectual History of Palestinians 1945-70,” full-time and pursue research abroad.

“I was pretty excited about getting it, and hopefully I’ll be able to use the money to finish writing my book,” Almohsen told The Hoya. “It will give me the time off necessary to write without teaching and do some research overseas and probably going to Egypt, to Jordan and to Lebanon.” 

Li said that this fellowship will mark a period of academic growth for him, as he will have the opportunity to invest in his first book manuscript, “Taming an Iron Horse: Capital, Politics, and Rail Infrastructure in Egypt.”

“This project expands upon my doctoral dissertation defended at the University of Michigan and examines Egyptian railways’ development from its inception as the first Afro-Asia rail line in 1854 to Egypt’s hosting of the International Railway Congress in 1933,” Li wrote to The Hoya. 

Almohsen said he received abundant support for his book from the CCAS, which helped him immensely with the application process.

“They invited me to come to the center because they were interested in my project in the first place,” Almohsen said. “I’ve just received a lot of support and interest, and I’ve also gotten some advice on how and where to take my work.”

Li said that he received profound support from CCAS chair and associate professor Fida Adely, who enabled him to expand his critical and intellectual thinking. 

“I vividly recall my first semester in Professor Fida Adely’s classroom as a period marked by unprecedented challenge yet profoundly rewarding in its outcome,” Li wrote to The Hoya. “The rigorous demands of critical thinking, coupled with the necessity to adapt quickly to the North American academic style, felt like an intellectual nirvana.”

Adely said that the goals of ACLS are similar to those of the CCAS, aiming to engage in fruitful research within the humanities. 

“The goals of ACLS, which supports knowledge production aimed at better understanding our world and the human experience in it, closely align with those of CCAS to promote informed and ethical engagement with the Middle East and North Africa through our scholarship, research, and teaching on the histories, cultures, politics, languages, and cultures of the region,” Adely wrote to The Hoya. 

Li said that he aims to use the ACLS fellowship to engage deeper in the topic of Middle Eastern studies and history alongside mastering his writing skills. 

“The ACLS Fellowship presents a unique opportunity to fully immerse myself in the writing and editing processes, allowing me to refine my arguments and seriously engage with critical debates in History, Middle Eastern Studies and Infrastructure Studies,” Li wrote to The Hoya.

Li said that CCAS prepared him to delve into his studies and was a remarkable milestone in his educational journey, eventually leading him to the ACLS fellowship. 

“The education I received at CCAS was transformative. It prepared me to explore and contribute to my field with rigor, confidence, and insight,” Li wrote to The Hoya.