Conference Organisation

Oct. 2022	ʿAjam Session: Premodern Exchange between Persian and Arabic. Freie Universität Berlin, 27.-28.10.2022, co-organized with postdoc Theodore S. Beers.
Oct. 2022	Third International Workshop on Manuscript Studies and Editing (al-Warsha al-duwaliyya al-thālitha fī ʿilm al-makhṭūṭ wa-l-nashr al-naqdī lil-nuṣūṣ), Rawafid Center, Fez, Morocco, 14.-16.10.2022
Sept. 2022	Deutscher Orientalistentag der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Berlin, 12.-17.09.2022. Organisational committee, section chair of Arabistik, section co-chair of Digital Humanities
Nov. 2020	Framing Narratives: New Perspectives on Premodern Textual Production in Arabic, 25.-27.11.2022. Freie Universität Berlin, co-organized with postdoc Johannes Stephan
July 2020	Wisdom Encoded: The Digital Kalīla and Dimna. On Online Series of Conversations and Workshops, July 6, 13, 20 & 27, Columbia Global Centers, Amman, Jordan, co-organized with postdoc Matthew L. Keegan
July 2019	Philological Practices A Comparative Historical Lexicon. Workshop, Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, co-organized with the editors Glenn W. Most, Anne Eusterschulte, and Martin Kern
May 2019	AnonymClassic Project Workshop: Animals, Adab, and Fictivity, Freie Universität Berlin, co-organized with postdoc Matthew L. Keegan
Feb. 2018	Documents and Manuscripts in the Arab-Islamic World, The Seventh International Society of Arabic Papyrology (ISAP) conference, co-organized with the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Humboldt Universität, Papyrus Collection of the Egyptian Museum, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
November 2016	Why we (Should) Translate Science/Philosophy. International conference funded by the Einstein Foundation and hosted at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies. Co-organized with Einstein Fellow Dimitri Gutas, Yale University
July 2016	School of Abbasid Studies meeting, Leiden. Discussant of panel
May-June 2016	Lecture series, organizer and moderator, The Long Ninth Century in Arabic-Islamic Knowledge and Culture in der Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies (26.4.16, 31.5.16, 28.6.16) http://www.bgsmcs.fu-berlin.de/en/events/lecture_series/lecture_series_2016/index.html
June 2011	Arabic Science, workshop at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), Berlin, Organizer
April 2011	De Baghdad a Granada: Espejos de las Mil y una Noche, colloquium, University of Granada and Fundaçion Euroárabe, Granada. Chair of panel
April/Nov. 2010	Conceptualizing Literary History: Foundations of Arabic Literature 7th to 17th Centuries, Yale University (1st meeting); Paris-VIII St. Denis/INALCO/ Sorbonne (2nd meeting). Organizer in collaboration with Julia Bray, University of Oxford
Sept. 2010	Kalīla wa-Dimna: The project of a critical edition, Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI) conference, Naples, Italy. Organizer and chair of panel
Sept. 2010	Arabic Studies Section, 31st Meeting (DOT), German Oriental Society (DMG), Marburg. Co-chair of four-day workshop, co-chair of panel: Arabic Book Culture and Manuscript Libraries
Mar. 2010	Medieval Academy of America (MAA), New Haven. Organizer of session
Sept. 2008	Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI), Leipzig. Chair of several panels
Sept. 2007	Arabic Studies Section, 30th Meeting (DOT), German Oriental Society (DMG), Freiburg. Co-chair of four-day workshop
April 2007	al-Tawḥīdī, Islamic Near East section, AOS conference, San Antonio. Chair of panel
Sept. 2004	Forum Literatur, 29th Meeting (DOT), German Oriental Society (DMG), Halle. Co-chair of four-day workshop
April 2001	Studies in Sources, Islamic Near East section, AOS conference, Toronto. Chair of panel
April 2001	Theoretical Approaches to Near Eastern Literatures/Interculturality and Intertextuality: The Emergence of Genres through Transcultural Interaction, 28th Meeting (DOT), German Oriental Society (DMG), Bamberg. Co-chair of four-day workshop
April 1999	Literature and Rulership in Medieval Islam, colloquium held at Yale University, sponsored by the Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the Council on Middle East Studies (CMES). Organizer of the colloquium (publ. 2004b)
Sept. 1998	Theoretical Approaches to Near Eastern Literatures, 27th Meeting (DOT), German Oriental Society (DMG), Bonn. Co-chair of three-day workshop (publ. 2000a)
Nov. 1993	Patterns of Persuasion: The Relationship to the Audience in Medieval Islamic Literature, Middle East Studies Association, Research Triangle Park, NC. Organizer of the panel

 

Lectures by Invitation

2023

“Miscarriage of Justice and Dissenting Re(d)actions in Kalīla wa-Dimna". Monday Majlis of the Centre for the Study of Islam, Exeter University, 2/13/2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CKk-oiLBjE

“The Anonymous Anthologist,” Wisdom literature in the Islamicate Middle Ages: Workshop on the occasion of the bestowing of an honorary doctorate in Oriental Manuscript Studies on Beatrice Gruendler, Leiden University, 2/9/2023

“Wisdom between Practice and philosophy in ‘Kalīla and Dimna’” Research Group Experience in the Premodern Sciences of Soul and Body, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, 1/27/2023

2022

„Forschungsqualität und Standards in den Kultur- und Geisteswissenschaften,“ Lecture series: Promoting Open Science and Quality in Research. Examples of Good Practice and their Theoretical Background, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 11/7/2022

with Khouloud Kalfallah, translation and interpretation by Oualid El Khattabi
“A Textual Tradition that Has Become Anonymous”
“Manuscripts of Kalīla wa-Dimna: Their Layout, Script and Manuscript Notes”
“The creativity of Unknown Copyists and Redactors — Rivals to Ibn al-Muqaffa’
Lecture series, Rawafed Center, Fez, 10/14-16/2022

“Arabic Book Culture” (Thaqāfat al-kitāb al-ʿarabī), King Saud University Riyadh 10/4/2022

“Is Arabic Literature a World Literature? (Hal al-adab al-ʿarabī adab ʿālamī?) in podium discussion convened by Saad al-Bazie with Jukha Al-Harithy and Said Yaqtine, Riyadh, International Book Fair, 10/3/2022

“The Incipits in Manuscripts of Kalīla wa-Dimna (13th – 19t Centuries),” Princeton University (online), Medieval (and Premodern) Scholars at Work: A Symposium in Honor of Etan Kohlberg, 9/19/2022

“Miscarriage of Justice and Dissenting Re(d)actions in Kalīla and Dimna,” Variants in Classical Textual Traditions: Errors, Innovations, Proliferation, Reception? An Interdisciplinary Conference, 7/7/2022

Invited respondent in “Legal texts and scholarly communities as reflected in the Raqqada collection,”
The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC), Hamburg, 6/16-18/2022

“Arabic Philology in Cosmopolitan Context” with Isabel Toral and Islam Dayeh, Global Philology:
An International Lecture Series, Renmin University of China, 5/18/2022

2021

“Kalīla und Dimna und seine Koautoren (13.-19. Jh.),“ Universität Tübingen 12/23/2021

“A King’s Quest for a Book of Marvelous Knowledge: Anūshirwān and Kalīla wa-Dimna,” interdisciplinary workshop “Wonder and Imagination in Medieval and Early Modern Literature, Philosophy, and Art: Transcultural Perspectives: SFB 980 "Episteme in Bewegung. Wissenstransfer von der Alten Welt bis in die Frühe Neuzeit," Freie Universität Berlin, 10/21/2021

"Taking A Comprehensive View at a Massive Textual Tradition," Islamicate Classics: From manuscript to the Digital Age, KU Leuven & Netherlands Interuniversity School for Islamic Studies (NISIS) 11/9/2021

“Closed Open Endings: Subtale and Follow Up in Kalīla wa-Dimna,” “How to End Things in Arabic Literature” American University Beirut (online), 65/2021

“Arabische Buchkultur im 9. Jahrhundert,” Gotha Manuscript Talks, Forschungsbibliothek Gotha, 4/28/2021. https://www.uni-erfurt.de/universitaet/aktuelles/news/news-detail/online-vortrag-zur-arabischen-buchkultur-im-9-jahrhundert

“Arabic Script: A Playing Field for the Mind,” Riyadh, Year of Arabic Calligraphy, 4/21/2021

“Catching a Text on the Move: Digital Philology in Kalīla wa-Dimna, A Multilingual Work of Wisdom,”
with postdocs Theodore S. Beers and Johannes Stephan. Digital Humanities im Gespräch, Freie Universität Berlin, 1/28/2021

“Touching the Manuscript in Materiality & Digitality” in: What is the Digital Doing? A Workshop in the Interface,” Excellency Cluster Temporal Communities, 11/ 5/2020 https://www.temporal-communities.de/events/workshop-digital.html

2020

“The Islamic Age of Communication,” Princeton University (online), 11/16/2020

“Von Hafis zu Goethe,”conversation with poet and translator Ali Abdollahi. Freies Deutsches Hochschulstift, Frankfurt, 9/24/2020

“Editing an Unruly Classic,”Keynote of “Wisdom Encoded: The Digital Kalīla and Dimna. On Online Series of Conversations and Workshops.” Columbia Global Centers, Amman, Jordan, 7/6/2020

“The Arabic Version of Kalīla wa-Dimna,”Workshop 3 of “Wisdom Encoded: The Digital Kalīla and Dimna. An Online Series of Conversations and Workshops.” Columbia Global Centers, Amman, Jordan, 7/27/2020

2019

"Anonymity, Obscurity and Silent Co-Authorship in Kalīla wa-Dīmna." Conference"Anonymity and Temporality," jointly convened by EXC 2020 "Temporal Communities" and King's College London. Freie Universität Berlin, 12/5/2019

 "Introduction to the Data of AnonymClassic", Aktionstag Forschungsdaten, Freie Universität Berlin, 10/30/2019

"Versions of Versions: Competing Factors in the Kalīla wa-Dīmna Manuscript Tradition. "Colloquium “Textual Criticism of Medieval Arabic Geographic Texts. The ‘Islam Atlas’ of al-Istakhri and Ibn Hawqal: Manuscripts, Versions, and Editions.” École Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations, Paris, 10/11/2019

"The AnonymClassic Project” Workshop “Arabic Manuscripts and Collaboration in Digital Environment”, convened by Boris Liebrenz. Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Leipzig, 9/4/2019

"Kalīla wa-Dīmna. Ein einzigartiges Werk." In conjunction with the Exhibition Cinderella, Sindbad & Sinuhe – Arabisch-deutsche Erzähltraditionen. Neues Museum, Berlin, 7/19/2019

AnonymClassic @ Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, 6/15/2019

"Kalīla wa-Dimna Indian Wisdom in Arabic Literature," Keynote Lecture, in "Ad fontes. Celebrating Historical Philology." The Norwegian Institute of Philology, Oslo, 5/6/2019

"Kalīla wa-Dimna Edition," Berlin ediert! Berliner Editionsprojekte stellen sich vor, convened by Glenn W. Most and Anne Eusterschulte, Freie Universität Berlin (with AnonymClassic-Team), 4/26/2019

"The Arabic Alphabet", in panel “From Zed to Omega”, The New Alphabet, Opening Days, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 1/10/2019

2018

“Variations of Difference, or, A Misbehaving Classic,”Visiting Speaker in Research Afternoon, Moving Words and Moving Meanings: Story-telling in Islamic Literatures

Centre for the Study of Islam, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, 11/29/2018

"How a Mirror of Princes became a Handbook of Popular Philosophy and Practical Ethics," Past and Future: Medieval Studies Today, 6^th European Congress of Medieval Studies/ Fédération Internationale des Instituts d’Études Médiévales (FIDEM), 9/2/2018

“La poésie arabe comme tradition du Divan occidental-oriental,” Goethe: l’actualité d’un inactuel, Centre Culturel International de Cerisy-La-Salle, 8/24/2018

“A Rat and Its Redactors: Silent Co-Authorship in Kalīla wa-Dimna.” Making the Impossible Possible: On the Methodology for Editing Medieval Works with Massive Manuscript Tradition, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa and Institute of Advanced Studies IMT, Lucca, 6/28/2018

(with Marcus Pöckelmann, Universität Halle-Wittenberg), “Adjusting LERA for the Comparison of Arabic Manuscripts of Kalīla wa-Dimna.” 29^th Digital Humanities Conference (DH2018), Mexico City, June 2018.

“Indian Wisdom in Kalīla wa-Dimna.” Honorary Guest Speech, Approaches to the Study of Pre-modern Arabic Anthologies, American University of Beirut, 6/12/2018.

“Ehekrach transkulturell. Ein Kapitel aus dem Fabelwerk Kalīla und Dimna.” Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, 6/9/2018

“Variations of Difference: Challenges in Editing Kalīla wa-Dimna.”Edition Practices, Anneliese-Maier-Project of Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, 6/1/2018

“Goethe und Ta‘abbata Sharran: Seine dichterische Fassung des arabischen Klassikers.” Master Class, Institut für Germanistik, Universität Osnabrück, 5/15/2018

“Der Koran als Literatur.” Ringvorlesung: Offenbarung und Sprache, Institut für islamische Theologie, Institut für katholische Theologie, Universität Osnabrück, 5/15/2018

“Indian Wisdom in Kalīla and Dimna.” The Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures in Asia, Africa and Europe, Universität Hamburg, 4/5/2018

“Three Copyists and a Rat: Anonymous redaction in manuscripts of Kalīla wa-Dimna.” Distinguished Leibniz-Lecture, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 2/15/2018

“Indian Wisdom in Kalīla wa-Dimna,.” Distinguished Leibniz-Lecture, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 2/13/2018

2017

“Arabic — My Inexhaustible Source.” Keynote, Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the German-Egyptian Year of Science and Technology, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), organized by the DAAD in cooperation with the STDF, Cairo 11/26/2017

“Inconveniences of Book usage and possession in the Ninth century.” Media Transition and Cultural Debates in Arab Societies, Arab-German Young Academy (AGYA), Tunis, 11/24/2017

“The Arabic Anonymous in Kalīla and Dimna.” Anonymity in Premodernity, Kings College London, 11/17/2017

“Kalīla und Dimna: Standstill and New Solutions in a Complex Textual History”, Research Cluster 1167 Power and Rule: Premodern Configurations in Transcultural Perspective, Universität Bonn, 7/7/2017

“Union beyond the Grave in the Arabic Literary Tradition,” Opening Lecture, Islamic Eschatology New Perspectives, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, 5/9/2017

“Kalīla and Dimna and Its Eastern-Western Literary Continuum,” Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, 2/22/2017

“Sources on the Arabic Book revolution (9th century CE),” Universität Bonn, Internationales Forschungscolloquium, 1/27/2017

2016

“Der Mond im Judentum, Christentum und Islam – Kalendarisch und Ikonographisch,” with Margit
Kern and Hannna Liss, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Zeiss-Grossplanetarium, Berlin, 11/24/2016

“An Ottoman Manuscript Map of the Mediterranean as an Intersection of Theoretical and Practical Geographic Knowledge,” conference Knowledge is Power, University of Cyprus and Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, Nicosia, 11/4/2016

“On the Two-Dimensional Page: The book in Abbasid times,” keynote lecture, Books in Motion
conference, American University of Beirut, 5/5/2016

“Modernity in the Ninth Century. The controversy around Abu Tammam ,” Leiden-Aramco Lecture
on Arabic Language and Culture, LUCIS Institute, Leiden University, 2/4/2016

2015

“Des Dichters letztes Wort: (Pseudo?)-al-Shanfarā vs. Ibn al-Rūmī [The Poet’s Last Word: (Pseudo?)-al-Shanfarā vs. Ibn al- Rūmī],” Arabistisches Kolloquium über das Ende von Texten [Arabic Studies Colloquium on How Texts End], Bamberg University 2/6/2015

“Abbasid Libraries,” international conference: Histories of Books in the Islamicate World: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, 3/9/2015

“More than a Sugar Box (Sukkardān),” international conference: The Sultan’s Anthologist: Ibn Abī Ḥajala and His Work, Universität Münster, 4/2/2015

“On the Making of al-Ṣūlī’s Life and Times of Abū Tammām,” A Corpus not a Canon: The Library of Arabic Literature, Workshop, All Souls College, Oxford University, 4/25/2015 (on book published 2015a)

“Arabic—From the World, to the World,” keynote lecture, Five Years of Freie Universität Berlin Cairo Office, German Science Center (DWZ), Kairo, 5/15/2015

“Of Rats and Wise Men—Versions of a Chapter in Kalīla wa-Dimna,” workshop: Translation and Transmission in the Eastern Mediterranean 500 B.C. – 1500 A.D., Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, Rome, 9/25/2015

“Challenges and Changes in the Arabic Book Revolution,” international workshop: Media Transition in the Arab World: Actual and Historical Perspectives on Literature and Culture, Universität Münster, 10/30/2015

“Die arabische Moderne im 9. Jahrhundert: Zur Kontroverse um Abū Tammām [Modernity in the Ninth Century: The Controversy around Abū Tammām],” Germanistisches Kolloquium [German Studies Colloquium], Osnabrück University, 12/9/2015

“Kalīla wa-Dimna—Wisdom Encoded,” Digital Arabic & Persian, Research Workshop, Digital Humanities, Universität Leipzig, 12/18/2015

2014

“How To Do Things with Arabic Poetry. Part I: A Survey of Its Genres, Themes and Social Context” and “Part II: The Modus Vivendi of Abbasid Poetry (8^th – 10^th Centuries) and the Birth of Arabic Poetics,” Master classes, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 2014

"The Information Age in the Ninth Century,” keynote lecture, Union Européenne des Islamisants et Arabisants, Helsinki, 2014

“Establishing a Critical Edition: The example of Kalīla wa-Dimna,” international colloquium: Les Sept Sages et les Sept Viziers: vers une histoire comparée des textes, Université de Geneve, 11/7/2014

2013

“Leaving Home: Al-ḥanīn ila l-awṭān and its alternatives in classical Arabic literature,” Princeton University, 2013 (publ. 2016c)

“Baghdad: Crossroads of literary conversations,” Baghdad — Space of Knowledge, TOPOI, Freie Universität Berlin, 8/21/2013 (in press)

“Wisdom from India in Pieces,” conference Transcultural Entanglements and Global Perspectives in the Pre-Modern World (Research Cluster 980 Episteme in Motion), Freie Universität Berlin, 7/12/2013;

Projet “Kalīla wa Dimna” rencontre mi-parcours, Bibliothèque nationale de France – Université Paris-Sorbonne, 11/28/2013

2012

“Buchkultur vor dem Buchdruck: Eine Fallstudie zum medialen Wandel im frühen 9. Jahrhundert [Book Culture before Book Print: A case study on the media change in the ninth century]” Freie Universität Berlin, 2012

“Diʿbil, Abū Tammām, and the Authority of the Notebook: Concepts of Authorship in Premodern Arabic Texts” Universität Bamberg in cooperation with University of Helsinki, 2012

“Abbasid Poets and the Qurʾān,” The Qur’ān and Adab Traditions, The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS), London, 2012

“Arabische Schrift als Chiffre und Spielfeld (Arabic Script as Code and Playing Field),” Symposium Götter und Schriften rund ums Mittelmeer [Symposium on Gods and Scripts around the Mediterranean], Center for Art and Media (ZKM), Karlsruhe, 2012 (publ. 2016b)

“Warrāqūn: The unnamed agents of the Arabic book revolution,” The Globalization of Knowledge in the Mediterranean World of Post-Antiquity, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, 2012 (publ. 2016d)

“On Islamic Books”, Harvard University, History of the Book and Medieval Studies, 2012

2011

“Papyrus — Pergament —Papier: Über den medialen Wandel der arabischen Buchkultur [Papyrus – Parchment – Paper: On the media change of the Arabic book culture],” with Michael Marx, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, 2011 https://www.wiko-berlin.de/wikothek/lectures-on-film/2011-beatrice-gruendler-michael-marx/ https://www.wiko-berlin.de/wikothek/lectures-on-film/2011-beatrice-gruendler-michael-marx/

“What Arabic Studies Can Contribute to Comparative Literature and Media History: Creative Poetics and Literary Debate in the Risāla Ḥātimiyya,” Comparative Philologies: Perspectives of Arabic Studies in the 21^st Century, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, Junge Akademie, and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), 2011

“Intellectual Property, Entrepreneurship, and the Free Sharing of Knowledge in Early Arabic Book Culture”, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, 2011

“Book Culture before Book Print: The Early History of Arabic Media”, American University of Beirut, The Margaret Weyerhaeuser Jewett Chair, Distinguished Lecturer Series, 2011 (publ. 2012b)

“Communicative Choices in Early Arabic-Islamic Book Culture,” Zukunftsphilologie (Revisiting Canons of Textual Practice), Friedrich Schegel Graduate School, Freie Universität Berlin, 2011

“Pour une culture des médias arabes: la culture du livre à l’époque des Abbasides”, INALCO, Le Centre de Recherche Moyen-Orient Méditerranée (CERMOM), Paris, 2011

“Divided Attitudes on the Homeland: Classical Arabic Precedents of the Motif,” Workshop Visions and Representations of Homeland in Modern Arabic Literature and Poetry, Lichtenberg Kolleg (Institute of Advanced Studies), Göttingen University, 2011 (publ. 2016c)

“Les versions de Kalīla wa-Dimna: und transmission et une circulation mouvantes,” 3e Colloque International Aliento: Enoncés sapientiels et littérature exemplaire, Center of Humanities, Nancy/INALCO, Paris, 2011 (publ. 2013a)

“Das arabische Buch als ‘Writing Space’ einer komplementären Kommunikation und Verteiler kosmopoliten Wissens [The Arabic Book as ‘Writing Space’ in a Complementary Communication and Dissemination of Cosmopolitan Knowledge],” Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, 2011

Discussant, Methods of Digital Philology for the Study of Early and Classical Arabic Language, Berlin, European Science Foundation (ESF) Exploratory Workshop, 2011

2010

“Les concepts du livre et du savoir dans les préfaces de Kalīla wa-Dimna,” D’Orient en Occident: les recueils des fables enchassées avant les “Mille et une nuits” University of Geneva, 2010

“Frühe islamische Buchkultur,” Forschungszentrum Gotha für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien [Research Center Gotha for cultural and social studies], Erfurt University, 2010

“Pardon Those Who Love Passionately: A Theologian’s Endorsement of shahādat al-ʿishq,” Posthumous Love, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin/Dahlem Humanities Center, Freie Universität Berlin, 2010 (publ. 2014a)

“Communicative Choices in Early Islamic Book Culture,” Institute of Advanced Study of Berlin [Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin], 2010

“Survey of Papers and Discussion of the First Meeting” and “Early Arabic-Islamic Book Culture,” Conceptualizing Literary History: Foundations of Arabic Literature 7^th to 17^th Centuries, Second meeting, University of Paris VIII-St. Denis, INALCO and Sorbonne, 2010

2009

“Communicative Choices on the Eve of Arabic-Islamic Book-Culture (3^rd/9^th Century),” Convivencia Conference, Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 2009; German Oriental Institute, Beirut, 2009; Sabra Seminar on the History of Science and Culture in the Middle East, Harvard University, 2009

2008

“Farewell to Ghazal. Convention and Danger of the Arabic Love Lyric,” Poetry and History: The Value of Poetry in Reconstructing Arab History, The Americal University of Beirut, 2008; Colloquium lecture, The Major in the Humanities. Yale University, 2008 (publ. 2011a)

“Die Figur des Jesus in der arabischen Dichtung [The Figure of Jesus in Arabic Poetry],” Nachdenken über Epochengrenzen [Reflections on Boundaries of Periods], Symposium of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, 2008

“Arabic-Islamic Book Culture: An Information Revolution in the 9^th Century,” Boghazici University, Istanbul, 2008

2007

“Dem Ghazal Lebewohl! Konvention und Gefahr der Abbasidischen Liebeslyrik [Farewell to Ghazal. Convention and Danger of the Arabic Love Lyric],” Freie Universität Berlin, 2007                                              

“Baghdad: Metropolis of the Pre-modern Near East,” PIER Outreach Program, Yale University, 2007

“Pre-Modern Arabic Philologists: The Poet’s Friends of Foes?” Princeton University, History of Science Workshop, “Images of Philology,” 2007 (publ. 2011b)

“Having It Three Ways: The Vagaries of Short Vowels in the Arabic Alphabet,” Harvard University, Workshop on Semitic Philology, 2007

“Creative Discontinuities between Pre-Modern Arabic Speech and Writing The Shape of Script: How and Why Writing Systems Change”, Colloquium, School of Advanced Research, Santa Fe, 2007 (publ. 2012c)

2006

“Why are Stories Told?” conference: The Arabian Nights — Eastern and Western Vantage Points, Harvard University, 2006

“Objectivity and Fiction in Early Arabic Narrative”, Conference on The Sources and Art of the Arabic Novel, Yale University, 2006

2005

“Vowel vs. Consonant in the Arabic Script”, American Oriental Society, Plenary lecture, Philadelphia, 2005

2004

“Martyrs of Love in the Malady of Hearts (Iʿtilāl al-qulūb) by al-Kharāʾiṭī (d. 938)”, The Anis Makdisi Program in Literature, The American University in Beirut, 2004; The Arabic Poetry Group, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, 2006

“Bashshar’s Anti-Ghazals in Context: Two Poems by Bashshār b. Burd (713-83),” The Arabic Poetry Group, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 2004

“How Arabic is the Arabic Language?” Opening Address, PIER Outreach Program, Yale University, 2004

“Poetry in Action in Medieval Baghdad,” Council on Middle East Studies, Yale University, 2004

“How to Do Things with Arabic Poetry”, Whitney Fellows Talk, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, 2004

“A Taste for the Abstract: Did Abbasid Audiences Appreciate Takhyīl?” The Arabic Poetry Group, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, 2004

“Abstract Aesthetics and Practical Criticism in 9^th Century Baghdad,” Center for Medieval and Byzantine Studies, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, 2004

2003

“The Story of the Stories of the Thousand and One Nights“, guest lecture in “World Literatures,” Dept. of Comparative Literature, Yale University, 2003

“The Early Islamic Love Lyric and the Koran”, Faculty Seminar on Cultural Esthetics, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, 2003

“Sunnites, Shiites, and Institutions of Learning Panel: Iraq beyond the Headlines”, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University, 2003

“Burning Libraries”, Panel: Iraq after the War, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University, 2003

“Before Love Martyrdom: A Survey of Its Elements in al- Kharāʾiṭī’s Malady of the Hearts”, Colloquium: Martyrdom and Modernity, Working Group Modernity and Islam: Cultural Mobility in Near Eastern Literatures, Institute of Advanced Studies of Berlin [Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin], 2003 (publ. 2004d)

“Takhyīl in Practical Criticsm of 9^th Century Audiences”, workshop: Imagining and Imagination in Arabic Poetry, St. Johns College, University of Oxford, 2003 (publ. 2008d)

2002

Respondent to “Beautiful Monsters — Lessing’s Critique of Martyrdom” by Rainer Meyer-Kalkus, Colloquium on Martyrdom and Modernity, Working Group Modernity and Islam: Cultural Mobility in
Near Eastern Literatures, Institute of Advanced Studies of Berlin [Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin], 2002

2000

“Verse and Taxes: The Function of Poetry in Literary Akhbār”, workshop Medieval Arabic Literature: Defining Fiction and Adab, New York University, 2000 (publ. 2005d)

“The Ghazal: Reflections and an Example of Its Curious Power of Survival,” Colloquium: The Middle East and The World — Literary Encounters, Washington University, St. Louis, 2000                                

1999

“Motif vs. Genre: Reflections on the Dīwān al-Maʿānī of Abū Hilāl al-ʿAskarī”, International Symposium: Ghazal as a Genre of World Literature, Orient Institute of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Beirut, 1999; Yale University, Yale Arabic Colloquium, 1999 (publ. 2005b)

1998

“The Binary World of innamā: Practice and Theory of the Use of the Particle” with Dimitri Gutas and David Reisman, inaugural meeting, Yale Arabic Colloquium, Yale University, 1998“The Concept of Canon in Ancient Near Eastern, Arabic and Chinese Literature” with Beatrice Bartlett (Chinese Studies) and William Hallo (Assyriology), Yale University, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in conjunction with the New Haven Oriental Club, 1998

“Emulation and Plagiarism in the Poetry of Ibn Darrāj al-Qasṭallī”, workshop Medieval Arabic Literature, New York University, 1998 (publ. 2008c)

1997

“Andalusian Voices: A Sampling of Praise Poetry from the Late Umayyads to the Almohads”, Columbia University, University Seminar in Arabic Studies, 1997 (publ. 2000c)

“Aṣwāt min al-gharb: mukhtārāt min al-madīḥ al-andalusī [Voices from the West: Selections of Andalusian Verse],” Princeton University, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Arabic Lecture Series, 1997 (publ. 2001b)          

“The Motif of Marriage in Some Abbasid Panegyrics”, New York University Workshop in Medieval Arabic Literature, 1997 (publ. 1999)     

1996

“Taṭawwur al-khaṭṭ al-ʿarabī [The Development of the Arabic Script]” Michigan University, Ann Arbor, 1996

1992

"‘Intercession’ as Indicator for the Changing Status of ‘Abbāsid Professional Poetry”, Center of Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, 1992

“Shifting Poet and Changing Voices. An Analysis of Ibn al-Rūmī's Panegyric Poetry”, Center of Literary and Cultural Studies, Harvard University, 1992

 

 

Conference Lectures

“Royal Injustice and Its Echoes in Kalīla and Dimna,”Deutscher Orientalistentag der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Berlin, 9/13/2022

“Quotable Mutanabbī,”American Oriental Society, Boston, 3/20/2022

“A Virtuous Transcultural Jackal,” cross-sectional panel “India and the Islamic Near East,” American Oriental Society, online, 3/13/2021 (rescheduled from 2020)

“Narration by Redaction,” The Society for the Study of Narrative, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, 6/1/2019

“Variations of Difference, or A Misbehaving Classic,” American Oriental Society, Chicago, 2008, 3/18/2019

“Functions of the Book in Kalīla wa-Dimna,” Union Européenne des Islamisants et Arabisants (UEAI), Münster, 11/9/2018

“Two Kinds of Friends: Opinions of a Rat in Kalīla wa-Dimna”, Deutscher Orientalistentag (DOT) of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG), Jena, 9/20/2017

“Variations of a Chapter in Kalīla wa-Dimna”, Union Européenne des Islamisants et Arabisants (UEAI), Palermo, 2016

“The Dialogical Nature of Arabic Rhetoric”, International Society for the History of Rhetoric (ISHR), Tübingen, 2015

“Book Culture before Book Print: A case study in media change”, School of Abbasid Studies,” Exeter University, 2012

“Performing Majnūn: From Ibn Qutayba’s (d. 899) narrative to Helen Picket’s choreography”, World Literature and Translation,The New York University Abu Dhabi Institute, Abu Dhabi, 2011

“Difference of Differences: The roles of the prefaces vs. the tales of Kalīla wa-Dimna in the project of a critical tradition”, Union Européenne des Islamisants et Arabisants (UEAI), Naples, 2010

“Attitudes to Abbasid Poetry in Its Written Form”, American Oriental Society, Albuquerque, 2009

“The Messiah in Classical Arabic Poetry”, Symposium: Roads to Paradise, Göttingen University, 2009; The American Comparative Literature Association, Boston, 2009

“Poets’ Communicative Choices on the Eve of Arabic-Islamic Book Culture (3rd century AH/9th century CE)”, Middle East Studies of America, Boston, 2009

“Royal Brevity in the Early Islamic Appeals Court (Maẓālim)”, Union Européenne des Islamisants et Arabisants (UEAI), Leipzig, 2008; The School of Abbasid Studies (SAS), Cambridge University, 2008; American Oriental Society, Chicago, 2008 (publ. 2009a)

“The Reconstruction of the Abbasid Qaṣīda in Performance and Reception” The American Oriental Society, Seattle, 2006 (publ. 2007b)

“Convention and Danger of the Abbasid Ghazal”, University of St. Andrews, The School of Abbasid Studies, 2006; Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI) Sassari, Sardinia, 2006

“Martyrs of Love in the Malady of Hearts (Iʿtilāl al-qulūb) by al-Kharāʾiṭī (d. 938)”, American Oriental Society, San Diego, 2004

“The Qaṣīda in Action: The Prose Dramaturgy of a Poetic Form”, Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI), Palermo, Italy, 2002

“Spoken and Written Verse in Early Literary Akhbār”, American Oriental Society, Toronto, 2001 (supported by the ILEX Foundation)

“The Social Context of Poetry in the Late 3rd/9th Century”, Writing the Middle East, British Society of Middle East Studies, University of Cambridge, UK, 2000 (publ. 2005c)

“Emulation and Plagiarism in the Poetry of Ibn Darrāj al-Qasṭallī”, American Oriental Society, New Orleans, 1998                                      

“Dramatic Discourse and Speech Act Theory”, Workshop: Modern Literary Theory and Its Application to Classical Arabic Literature, Harvard University, 1995

“The Image of the Ruler in Medieval Arabic Madīḥ,” Middle East Studies of America, Washington, DC, 1995

“Analyseansatz zum Madīḥ des Ibn ar-Rūmī [An Analytic Approach to the Madīḥ of Ibn ar-Rūmī]” Panel: Theoretische Wege zur arabischen Literatur: Neue Perspektiven und Projekte [Theoretical Approaches to Arabic Literature: New Perspectives and Projects], 26th Meeting, German Oriental Society (DMG), Leipzig, 1995 (publ. 2000b)

“Forms of Address in Abbasid Praise Poetry”, Middle East Studies of America, Research Triangle Park, NC, 1993