DUMPER, Michael (Ricardo Thomas) 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born November 26, 1956, in Malaysia; son of Anthony and Sibylle Dumper; married, September 7, 2002; children: Rowan, Declan. Ethnicity: "British." Education: Lancaster University, B.A., 1979, M.Phil., 1981; Exeter University, Ph.D., 1993. Hobbies and other interests: Cooking, gardening, music, hiking.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon EX4 4RJ, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Educator and author. Quaker Peace and Service, London, England, Middle East coordinator, 1983-85. Beech Hill Community Cooperative, Devon, England, director.

AWARDS, HONORS:

British Academy senior research fellowship.

WRITINGS:

Islam and Israel: Muslim Religious Endowments and the Jewish State, Institute for Palestine Studies, 1994.

The Politics of Jerusalem since 1967, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

The Politics of Sacred Space: The Old City of Jerusalem in the Middle East Conflict, Lynne Rienner (Boulder, CO), 2002.

Contributor to journals.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Encyclopaedia of Cities of the Middle East and North Africa, for American Bibliographical Center-Clio (Santa Barbara, CA); comparative studies in refugee repatriation.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Dumper is the author of several books that attempt to illuminate the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people by examining the cultural heritage of that region of the Middle East. The Politics of Sacred Space: The Old City of Jerusalem in the Middle East Conflict, published in 2002, drew praise from Library Journal contributor Gary Gillum, who maintained that Dumper's "unbiased" text and "engaging style" help draw readers into his portrait of the city that lies at the heart of an ancient antagonism and also increases understanding of the region in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Politics of Jerusalem since 1967, published by Dumper in 2000, also focuses on the historic city, this time arguing that a need exists to "address the complex lives of the city's inhabitants, along with the vested and evolving interest of Israel and Palestinian nationalism [and] Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious sensibilities," noted Shaul Cohen in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Calling Dumper's book a "useful addition" to the growing body of literature on the region, Cohen praised the author's use of "restraint and wisdom" in focusing on a perennially volatile topic.

In Islam and Israel: Muslim Religious Endowments and the Jewish State, Dumper considers the conflict over land rights in lieu of the Islamic practice of waqf, a form of inheritance by which blocks of land have been handed down through generations of rulers and elites. Tracing the history of the waqf system under Ottoman and British rule, he then looks at the role waqfs play in mediating disputes and contributing to political harmony. Praising Islam and Israel as a "thorough and accessible account" of an important facet of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Ahmad S. Dallal also praised Dumper for his "meticulous scholarship," adding in his Journal of Palestine Studies review that Islam and Israel "is carefully researched and cogently argued and should be read both for its scholarly merits and for its contemporary relevance."

Dumper told CA: "My primary motivation in writing is to clarify complex issues for readers who do not have the time or the access to the material I have. I have been influenced by historian and author Simon Schama, literary critic Edward Said, and political scientist Iain Lustick. My writing process is evolving, but it always begins with thorough research so I am on top of the material. I write on the subjects I do because I feel a great injustice has been done to the Palestinian people and that there are many misunderstandings concerning the Middle East and North Africa."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, July, 1998, Shaul Cohen, review of The Politics of Jerusalem since 1967, p. 227.

Foreign Affairs, July-August, 1997, William B. Quandt, review of The Politics of Jerusalem since 1967, p. 165.

Journal of Palestine Studies, summer, 1995, Ahmad S. Dallal, review of Islam and Israel: Muslim Religious Endowments and the Jewish State, p. 105; autumn, 2000, Thomas Abowd, review of The Politics of Jerusalem since 1967, p. 101.

Library Journal, January, 2002, Gary Gillum, review of The Politics of Sacred Space: The Old City of Jerusalem in the Middle East Conflict, p. 110.

Middle Eastern Studies, Roza I.M. el-Eini, review of The Politics of Jerusalem since 1967, p. 168.

Urban Studies, April, 1998, Ira Sharkansky, review of The Politics of Jerusalem since 1967, p. 778.