Richard T. "Dick" Antoun (March 31, 1932,[citation needed] in Worcester, Massachusetts – December 4, 2009, in Vestal, New York) was a professor of anthropology at Binghamton University who specialized in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies.
He was stabbed to death in his office at Binghamton University in December 2009; a Saudi graduate student pleaded guilty to killing him, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
[2] He received his BA from Williams College (1953; History), his MA from Johns Hopkins University (1955; International Relations), and his Ph.D. from Harvard University (1963; Anthropology and Middle Eastern studies; thesis on "Kufr al-Ma: A Village in Jordan, A Study of Social Structure and Social Control").
[9][10] After his arraignment, al-Zahrani was charged with second-degree murder, and held without bail at the Broome County Sheriff's Correctional Facility.
"[15] On January 22, 2010, al-Zahrani was indicted by a grand jury in Broome County Court for intentionally stabbing and killing Antoun, and charged with second degree murder.
[18] On February 4, 2010, al-Zahrani pleaded not guilty to one felony count of second-degree murder, and declined a bail hearing before Broome County Judge Martin E.
[19] Al-Zahrani's attorney wrote in a notice of intent to use psychiatric evidence that she filed in Broome County Court on July 21, 2010, that psychiatric evidence would show he lacked substantial capacity to know or appreciate the nature and consequences of his conduct, and was "psychotic and suffering from a longstanding major mental illness, schizoaffective disorder.
On February 22, 2011, Broome County Judge Joseph F. Cawley Jr. ordered Al-Zahrani be placed in the custody of a state psychiatric facility for treatment, until he was deemed mentally competent to be tried.
Sally K. Gallagher reviewed it for Sociology of Religion, writing that the book: "is a readable overview and introduction to how conservative elites and communities in three monotheistic religious traditions orient themselves to modernity.
"[23] Peter A. Huff, reviewing it, said that Antoun wrote about how: his presence [in the village] became increasingly problematic as the climate of the cultural environment dramatically changed.
[25] Antoun later wrote Documenting Transnational Migration: Jordanian Men Working and Studying in Europe, Asia and North America, published in 2005.
Ronald R. Stockton, writing in The Middle East Journal, described Antoun's examination of the sons of a Jordanian village who had been sent abroad and returned: He found a range of experiences, many different from what one might expect ...
Jordanians share language and culture with the Gulf but were "encapsulated in residence, work, and leisure activities" and saw "surprisingly little of the indigenous inhabitants"...