Local Scholar Talks to Students in Syria

by Ivan Arg?elles

On March 12, Oakland native Sean Foley delivered a talk on "The Influence of Muslims on American History Before 1800" to a packed room of students at the University of Damascus, Syria. The chairman of the university's History Department, who had invited Foley to speak to his class, strongly supported the dialogue, noting that while contemporary Islam offers much to be proud of, neither Syrians nor Americans should be afraid to criticize Islam. Foley's talk emphasized the positive contributions of Muslims throughout the early history of the United States and was enthusiastically received. Four days after his talk, Foley was evacuated from the country. A Fulbright scholar, he had been doing doctoral research on 19th-century Syrian social history. The US Embassy suspended the Fulbright program in Syria because of military operations in the neighboring country of Iraq and the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East. Born in Oakland's Kaiser Hospital in 1974, Sean grew up in the Maxwell Park neighborhood. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a BA in History in 1996, he enrolled in Georgetown University for a joint M.A. in Arab Studies and Ph.D. in History. A Fulbright and then a Fulbright-Hayes fellowship followed in 2001 and 2002. Foley hopes one day to return to Syria to complete his research but thinks of Oakland as his home base. He is an avid A's fan and followed local baseball even during his time in the Middle East.