Background
Jwaideh was born in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, into an Arabic-speaking Christian family that later moved to Baghdad.
Jwaideh was born in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, into an Arabic-speaking Christian family that later moved to Baghdad.
In 1942 he received a Licentiate in Law from the University of Baghdad and in 1960 a Doctor of Philosophy from Syracuse University"s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
During this time, he also held a lecturer position in Arabic at Johns Hopkins University. After graduating he joined the faculty of Indiana University as a history professor, where he founded the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literature. He retired in 1985 and moved to San Diego where he was an adjunct professor of history at the University of California, San Diego until 1990.
His book “The Kurdish National Movement” has been selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2006.
The book was published after 46 years of its first appearance as a Doctor of Philosophy thesis and it has been a significant source over the last half century. Scholars of Kurdish and Middle East history were aware of its significance and they had a great benefit of Jwaideh’s thesis for the next 46 years.
Much thanks to Jwaideh’s work, and the increasing importance of Kurdish national movements in the Middle East, studies of the Kurds have advanced and Jwaideh’s work is still a very valuable reference.