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]

In 2007, the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa was founded by critics of MESA as an alternative academic grouping to provide a less critical viewpoint on Israel and American foreign policy.