Saree Makdisi

Saree Makdisi (born 1964) is an American literary critic and professor; specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century British literature.

He is of Palestinian and Lebanese descent.

He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture.

Makdisi currently holds the title of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Makdisi was born in the United States (Washington).

His father, Samir Makdisi, is a Lebanese-Palestinian professor of economics at the American University of Beirut and his mother, Jean Said Makdisi, is a Palestinian independent scholar (formerly of Beirut University College).

He is also the grandson of Anis K. Makdisi, a professor of Arabic at American University of Beirut and the nephew of the late literary scholar, Edward Said.

He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1987, Ph.D. from Duke University in 1993, and taught for a decade as an assistant professor, then as an associate professor, of English and comparative literature at the University of Chicago before joining UCLA in 2003.

His work has been commended for his application of psychoanalytic theory, including theories of Freud and Lacan, to MENA societies.

On November 26, 2023 Makdisi with his two brothers, Karim, and Ussama began hosting a podcast entitled Makdisi Street.

In 2009, Makdisi gave the Edward Said Memorial lecture at Adelaide University.

He spent his early childhood in the United States, moving to Lebanon at the age of eight.

While he grew up in a Christian family, they lived in a "largely Muslim neighborhood in Beirut."

Makdisi returned to the United States for his final year in high school and also attended college there.