Liah Greenfeld’s death genuinely saddened me. While I did not know her well, we spoke every year at the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa conference in Washington, DC. We often ended up sitting together at breakfast before the conference sessions started, talking about politics, religion, nationalism, Islam, and whatever else happened to come up. What always struck me about her was how approachable and intellectually curious she was. Here was a world-renowned scholar and distinguished professor at Boston University, yet she never carried herself with the kind of arrogance that sometimes exists in academic circles.

I always thought that was a breath of fresh air because it’s so easy for the academic world to get wrapped up in showing off who’s more accomplished, instead of being about learning, listening, and figuring out what’s true. It wasn’t like that with Greenfeld. She had a way of being genuinely interested when she talked to people, even with someone like me who was far less accomplished academically. That really stuck with me. There was a humility about her that made conversations with her feel relaxed and natural. And maybe, looking back, it also was something that made her scholarly work so innovative and influential. People who remain open continue to see things that others do not.

Her influence on the study of nationalism was enormous. Her book........

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