In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ssociate professor of modern arab politics and intellectual history in the department of middle east”. Today it says “jordanian academic specializing in middle eastern studies”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ssociate professor of modern arab politics and intellectual history in the department of middle east”. Today it says “jordanian academic specializing in middle eastern studies”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Joseph Andoni Massad ( Arabic : جوزيف مسعد ; born 1963) is a Jordanian academic specializing in Middle Eastern studies , who serves as Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University . His academic work has focused on Palestine , Zionism , Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis , and nationalism , identity , culture , and sexuality in the Arab world . Massad was born in Jordan in 1963 and is of Palestinian Christian descent. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 1998. He is known for his books The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism and the Palestinians and Desiring Arabs , about representations of sexual desire in the Arab world .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1295969142.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Joseph Andoni Massad (born 1963) is Associate Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History in the Department of Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University , whose academic work has focused on Palestinian , Jordanian , and Israeli nationalism . He is also known for his book Desiring Arabs , about representations of sexual desire in the Arab world . Massad, of Palestinian Arab descent, was born in Jordan in 1963. He received his PhD in Political Science from Columbia in 1998.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 367636181.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Joseph Andoni Massad ( ) (born 1963) is Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University , whose academic work has focused on Palestinian , Jordanian , and Israeli nationalism . He is also known for his book Desiring Arabs , about representations of sexual desire in the Arab world . Massad, a Palestinian Christian , was born in Jordan in 1963.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660135316.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Joseph Andoni Massad ( ; born 1963) is Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University , whose academic work has focused on Palestinian , Jordanian , and Israeli nationalism . He is also known for his book Desiring Arabs , about representations of sexual desire in the Arab world . Massad was born in Jordan in 1963, and is of Palestinian Christian descent, .He received his PhD in Political Science from Columbia in 1998.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 939797821.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jordanian academic and professor (born 1963) Joseph Andoni Massad ( ; born 1963) is a Jordanian academic specializing in Middle Eastern studies , who serves as Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University . His academic work has focused on Palestinian , Jordanian , and Israeli nationalism . Massad was born in Jordan in 1963 and is of Palestinian Christian descent. He received his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University in 1998. He is known for his book Desiring Arabs , about representations of sexual desire in the Arab world .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1148013827.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “ssociate professor of modern arab politics and intellectual history in the department of middle east”. Today it says “jordanian academic specializing in middle eastern studies”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 2025.
Then
ssociate professor of modern arab politics and intellectual history in the department of middle east
Now
jordanian academic specializing in middle eastern studies
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
