Michael E. Bonine

Professor, Geography & Regional Development and Professor/Department Head, Near East Studies

Affiliated faculty, Arid Lands Resource Sciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

1975: Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin
1966: M.A., University of Texas, Austin
1964: B.A. (special honors), University of Texas, Austin

Phone: (520) 621-2943, NES (520) 621-8013
E-mail: bonine@email.arizona.edu

414 Harvill Building, Box #2
Tucson, AZ 85721-0076
USA

Research

I am a human geographer with special interests in the Middle East and issues related to arid lands. In the early 1970s I did field work for two years in central Iran, examining urban structure and city-hinterland relationships in the city of Yazd. I also have studied ganat irrigation, agriculture systems and urban morphology in central Iran. Since 1979, research has expanded to Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Turkey (and I have traveled in most of the Middle East). My research interests have focused especially on urban issues in the region. I have dealt with the ideas of the Islamic City and Islamic urbanism in general, as well as urbanization and its consequences in the 20th century. On Islamic urbanism, for instance, I did field research in Morocco and Tunisia examining the morphology of traditional city centers or medinas, showing their relationship to the gibla or direction to Mecca for their foundation and hence orientation. With German colleagues I compiled a major bibliography on Islamic Urbanism, with over 7,600 entries (1994). I did field research in the United Arab Emirates where I examined "Petroleum Urbanization", and several years ago I organized a major international conference here at the University of Arizona on urban issues (Bonine (ed.) 1997).

Aside from publishing a major overview of Iranian geography and geopolitics (2003), I am completing a research project in Istanbul, Turkey, on urban sustainability and illegal settlements (SSRC funded, 1997-99). I am also collecting data on ostrich farming, a fascinating, intercontinental dryland activity, and working on a book, The Geography of Islam.

Teaching

I teach courses in both Geography & Near East Studies, some of which are cross-listed in both departments (however at present I am Department Head of Near East Studies and teaching less). In NES I teach an introductory course on Islamic Civilization, which introduces students to the history and culture of the Middle East. 'Geography of the Middle East' and 'Geography of Arid Lands' are two of my principal courses, while I also teach a course on 'Islamic Urbanism and the Middle Eastern City'. I teach an occasional graduate seminar, usually on 'the city in the Middle East', or oriented toward comparative urbanism, and I usually lead summer field schools, most recently in northern Europe and Morocco.

Recent Publications

Books

Bonine, M.E. (ed.). 1997. Population, poverty, and politics in Middle East cities. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Bonine, M.E. with E.Ehlers, T.Krafft & G. Stober. 1994. The Middle Eastern city and Islamic urbanism: an annotated bibliography in western languages. Bonn: Ferd. Dummlers Verlag.
Beaumont P., Bonine M., & K. McLachlan (eds.) 1989. Quanat, Kariz and Khattara: traditional water systems in the Middle East and North Africa. Wisbech, UK: Middle East and North African Studies Press.
Bonine, M.E & N.R.Keddie (eds.) 1981. Modern Iran: dialectics of continuity and change. Albany: State University of New York Press. (paperback: Continuity and change in modern Iran, 1981)
Bonine, M.E. 1980. Yazd and its hinterland: a central place system of dominance in the central Iranian Plateau. Marburg/Lahn: Marburger Geographische Schriften, 83.

Other

Bonine, M.E. 2003. Iran: the pivotal state of southwest Asia. Eurasian Geography and Economics 44 (1): 1-39.
Bonine, M.E. 2002. The Kurds and Kurdistan: a commentary. Eurasian Geography and Economics 43 (4): 300-304.
Bonine, M.E. 2001. Agricultural development or sustainable agriculture: the case of the Middle East. In Kurt E Englemann & Vjeran Pavlakovic (eds.) Rural development in Eurasia and the Middle East: land reform, demographic change, and environmental constraints. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 210-238.
Bonine, M.E. 2001. Sustainable desert housing: from the dwelling to the desert community. In UNDP (ed.) Sustainable Development of Desert Communities: a regional symposium. Tehran: United Nations Development Programme, pp. 49-56.