Pascal Menoret

Renée and Lester Crown Professor of Modern Middle East Studies

Departments/Programs

Anthropology

Degrees

University of Paris 1 - Pantheon-Sorbonne, Ph.D.

Expertise

Urban anthropology
Infrastructure
Postcolonial studies
Protest politics
Islamic movements
Arabian Peninsula
Middle East

Profile

Pascal Menoret's new book, Graveyard of Clerics: Everyday Activism in Saudi Suburbia, came out in 2020 at Stanford University Press. He is also the author of Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism, and Road Revolt (Cambridge University Press 2014), of Arabia, from the Incense Road to the Oil Era (Gallimard 2010, in French) and of The Saudi Enigma: A History (Zed Books 2005). An ethnographer and historian, he conducted four years of fieldwork in Saudi Arabia and has also lived in France, Yemen, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. His new book project is an ethnographic novel about pipeline construction.

Menoret translated Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States into French (Editions Wildproject, 2016) and is interested in literary translation from Arabic into French and English. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Paris 1 and was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and Harvard University. He previously taught Middle East Studies at New York University Abu Dhabi and philosophy in three French high schools.

Courses Taught

ANTH	55a	Anthropology of Development
ANTH	80a	Anthropology of Religion
ANTH	81a	Conducting Ethnographic Fieldwork: Methods and Practice of Anthropological Research
ANTH	118b	Culture and Power in the Middle East
ANTH	141a	Islamic Movements
ANTH	158a	Urban Worlds
ANTH	161a	Infrastructure

Awards and Honors

The 2017 SUNTA Best paper prize was awarded to "The Suburbanization of Islamic Activism in Saudi Arabia" (City & Society, 29-1, 2017) (2017)

The 2015 British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book Prize was awarded to "Joyriding in Riyadh" (Cambridge University Press 2014) (2015)

Scholarship

Menoret, Pascal. Graveyard of Clerics: Everyday Activism in Saudi Arabia. first ed. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2020.

Menoret, Pascal. "Learning from Riyadh: Automobility, Joyriding, and Politics." Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 39. 1 (2019): 131-142.

Menoret, Pascal. "“Urban Sprawl and Politics in Saudi Arabia.” In (ed.), . Barcelona: CIDOB Edicions, 2018.." “Wise Cities” in the Mediterranean? Challenges of Urban Sustainability. Ed. Eckart Woertz. Barcelona: CIDOB Edicions, 2018. 201-209.

Menoret, Pascal. "Review." Rev. of Muted Modernists: The Struggle Over Divine Politics in Saudi Arabia, by Madawi Al-Rasheed. Global Discourse vol. n/a February 20, 2017: n/a.

Menoret, Pascal. "The Suburbanization of Islamic Activism in Saudi Arabia." City and Society 29. 1 (2017): 162-186.

Menoret, Pascal. Royaume d'Asphalte: Jeunesse saoudienne en révolte. First ed. Paris/Marseille: La Découverte/Wildproject, 2016.

Menoret, Pascal. "Les Centres d'été en Arabie Saoudite." Une Histoire du Proche-Orient au temps présent: Etudes en hommage à Nadine Picaudou. First ed. vol. n/a Ed. Pierre Vermeren and Philippe Pétriat. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2015. 179-214.

Menoret, Pascal. "Review." Rev. of Historiography in Saudi Arabia: The Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies, by Jörg Matthias Determann. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies vol. 47 2015: n/a.

Menoret, Pascal, ed. The Abu Dhabi Guide: Modern Architecture, 1968-1992. First ed. Abu Dhabi: NYUAD/Find, 2014.

Menoret, Pascal. "Review." Rev. of After the Sheikhs: The Coming Collapse of the Gulf Monarchies, by Christopher Davidson. Middle East Journal vol. 68-1 2014: n/a.

Menoret, Pascal. "Review." Rev. of The Superlative City: Dubai and the Urban Condition in the Early 21st Century; Dubai Amplified: The Engineering of a Port Geography, by Ahmed Kanna; Stephen Ramos. Middle East Journal vol. 68-4 2014: n/a.

Menoret, Pascal. "Treading on Naples' Contact Zone: Anthropological Encounters with the Camorra." Rev. of The Art of Making Do in Naples, by Jason Pine. City vol. 18-1 2014: n/a.

Menoret, Pascal. Arabian Peninsula Cities. Proc. of Boom Cities: Urban Development in the Arabian Peninsula. New York University Abu Dhabi: City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 2014.

Menoret, Pascal. Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism, and Road Revolt. First ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Menoret, Pascal and Samin, Nadav. "The Bleak Romance of Tahliya Street." Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 6. n/a (2013): 213-228.

Menoret, Pascal. ""Fonce, brûle tes pneus!" La fureur de vivre des joyriders saoudiens." Jeunesses arabes, du Maroc au Yémen: Loisirs, culture et politique. vol. n/a Ed. Laurent Bonnefoy and Myriam Catusse. Paris: La Découverte, 2013. 31-41.

Menoret, Pascal. "Review." Rev. of Islam and Political Reform in Saudi Arabia: The Quest for Political Change and Reform, by Mansoor Jassem Alshamsi. Journal of Arabian Studies vol. 3 2013: n/a.

Menoret, Pascal. "Development, Planning, and Urban Unrest in Saudi Arabia." The Muslim World 101. 2 (2011): 269-285.

Menoret, Pascal. "Leaving Islamic Activism Behind: Ambiguous Disengagement in Saudi Arabia." Social Movements, Mobilization and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa. First ed. vol. n/a Ed. Joel Beinin and Frédéric Vairel. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2011. 43-60.

Menoret, Pascal; Burgat, François; Bonnefoy, Laurent, ed. From Structural Violence to Violent Activism Around the Persian Gulf. First ed. Hartford: The Muslim World, 2011.

Menoret, Pascal and al-Otaibi, Abdullah. "Rebels without a Cause? A Politics of Deviance in Saudi Arabia." Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural Politics in the Global South and North. First ed. vol. n/a Ed. Linda Herrera and Asef Bayat. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. 77-94.

Menoret, Pascal. L'Arabie, des routes de l'encens à l'ère du pétrole. First ed. Paris: Gallimard, 2010.

Menoret, Pascal. "Apprendre à voter? Le cas des élections saoudiennes de 2005." Genèses 77. 4 (2009): 51-75.

Menoret, Pascal. "Urban Unrest and Non-Religious Radicalization in Saudi Arabia." Dying for Faith: Religiously Motivated Violence in the Contemporary World. First ed. vol. n/a Ed. Madawi Al-Rasheed and Marat Shterin. London: IB Tauris, 2009. 123-138.

Menoret, Pascal. "Fighting for the Holy Mosque: The 1979 Mecca Insurgency." Treading on Hallowed Ground: Counterinsurgency Operations in Sacred Spaces. First ed. vol. n/a Ed. Christine Fair and Sumit Ganguly. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. 117-139.

Menoret, Pascal. The Saudi Enigma: A History. First ed. London: ZedBooks, 2005.

Menoret, Pascal. L'Enigme saoudienne: Les Saoudiens et le monde, 1744-2003. First ed. Paris: La Découverte, 2003.