Heather Keaney, Ph.D.

Dr. Keaney graduated from Westmont and earned a master’s degree and doctorate at UC Santa Barbara. Her book “Medieval Islamic Historiography: Remembering Rebellion” analyzes Arab portrayals from the 9th to 14th centuries of the first Islamic civil war (fitna), focusing on ongoing religio-political debates about pursuing justice versus maintaining the unity of the community. She lived and worked in Cairo, Egypt, for 12 years and co-directed many study-abroad semesters in Istanbul and Cairo. She seeks to place events in the Middle East within their historical and cultural context to reveal their human dimension, and she shares her love and passion for the place and its people.