Brinkley Morris Messick, a distinguished scholar and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University, died on August 15, 2025, at the age of 76.
Brinkley Messick specialized in the anthropology of law, legal history, written culture, and the circulation and interpretation of Islamic law. He is the author of The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society (1993), which was awarded the Albert Hourani Prize of the Middle Eastern Studies Association, and co-editor of Islamic Legal Interpretation (1996).
The Calligraphic State explored the interplay of writing, authority, and Islamic law, offering a nuanced perspective on textual practices in Muslim societies.
His scholarly articles include “Indexing the Self: Expression and Intent in Islamic Legal Acts,” Islamic Law & Society (2001); “Written Identities: Legal Subjects in an Islamic State,” History of Religions (1998); “Genealogies of Reading and the Scholarly Cultures of Islam,” in S. Humphreys, ed. Cultures of Scholarship (1997); and “Textual Properties: Writing and Wealth in a Yemeni Shariʿa Case,” Anthropology Quarterly (1995).
Messick, a leading scholar in the anthropology of law and Islamic legal texts, leaves behind a legacy of groundbreaking research and influential contributions to academia.
Messick, who served as director of Columbia’s Middle East Institute and co-founded the Center for Palestine Studies, was renowned for his work on the cultural and historical dimensions of Islamic societies, particularly in Yemen and North Africa.
He taught courses on Islamic law, Islam and theory, and Muslim society. In 2009, he received the Outstanding Senior Scholar Award from the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association.
Born in 1949, Messick earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969, followed by a master’s and Ph.D. in anthropology from Princeton University in 1974 and 1978, respectively. He joined Columbia’s faculty in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS), where he served as department chair from 2004 to 2011. In 2009, he received the Outstanding Senior Scholar Award from the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association.
Messick’s research focused on the production, circulation, and interpretation of Arabic texts, including legal documents, court records, and regional histories.
His 2018 book, Shariʿa Scripts: A Historical Anthropology, examined Yemen’s legal and ethical traditions in the early 20th century, drawing on court records to explore questions of truth, evidence, and interpretation.
He also co-edited Islamic Legal Interpretation: Muftis and Their Fatwas (1996), a foundational text in the study of Islamic jurisprudence.
Beyond his academic contributions, Messick was a vocal advocate for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement at Columbia. He supported divestment campaigns targeting companies involved in Israeli activities in the West Bank and signed petitions promoting academic boycotts of Israeli institutions. His activism sparked debate, with supporters praising his commitment to Palestinian rights and critics arguing it fueled campus tensions.
In 2012, Messick publicly criticized former Columbia administrator Nicholas Dirks for comments suggesting divestment campaigns created a challenging environment for Jewish students.
“A phenomenal scholar, devoted teacher and institution-builder, who knew how to navigate the Columbia labyrinth. Brink saved many graduate students from dropping out, and kept several Columbia institutes from imploding. An inveterate defender of Palestine and founder of the Center for Palestine Studies,” said Hisham Aidi, a Columbia University faculty in a Facebook post.
“I’m in shock and heartbroken at the passing of my mentor, Brinkley Messick. He led with kindness, and his influence on my work and on the field as a whole will endure. My interest in Islamic law began in his course & my dissertation was shaped by his guidance on my PhD committee,” read an X post by Salwa Hoque, a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University.
