Brinkley Messick

Brinkley Messick is a Professor of Anthropology and of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University, and currently serves as Director of the Middle East Institute. Previously, he was Chair of the Department of Anthropology (2004–2011) and Co-Director of the Center for Palestine Studies (2010–2015). His research focuses on Islamic legal interpretation, historical anthropology, and the study of sharīʿa, with a particular emphasis on textual analysis, evidence, and the intersection of law and culture.

He has received notable awards including the Outstanding Senior Scholar Award (2009) from the American Anthropological Association’s Middle East Section and the Albert Hourani Prize (1993) for his seminal work The Calligraphic State. His recent book Sharīʿa Scripts: A Historical Anthropology (2018) explores the material and textual dimensions of Islamic law. Current research examines the role of witnesses in sharīʿa litigation, integrating juridical doctrine with court transcripts to analyze truth, evidence, and interpretive practices.

Publications span articles on topics such as Islamic legal texts, Yemeni marriage cases, and the evolution of legal evidence, reflecting a broad engagement with Middle Eastern studies, anthropology, and religious scholarship.