Since 2014

Professor for Arabic language and literature, Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies, Freien Universität Berlin

2012-2013

Senior Research Fellow, International and Area Studies, Macmillan Center, Yale University

2010-2011

Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

2002-2014

Professor for Arabic language and literature, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University

2003-2004

2006

2008

Visiting Scholar, Department of Near Eastern Literaures and Civilizations, Harvard University

2002-2003

2004-2005

2006-2007

Fellow, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University

1996-2002

Assistant Professor for Arabic literature, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University

1995-1996

Visiting Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, Dartmouth College

1995

Ph.D. (“with Distinction”), Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University

1989

M.A. (“with Distinction”), Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University

1987-1995

Studies at Harvard University

1985-1987

Studies of Islamic Science (major), Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Semitics (minors), Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen

1983-1985

Studies at Université des Sciences Humaines II, Strasbourg

Principal Investigator, Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

2011-2012

2009-2010

Executive Board, Council on Middle East Studies, Yale University

2000-2002

1997-1999

2017

Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), project title “The Arabic Anonymous in a World Classic“, acronym “AnonymClassic“ (2,4 Mio.).

2017

Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Preis of the German Research Council (DFG) (2,5 Mio.)

2016-2019

The Poetics of Aristotle between Europe and Islam. A Multilingual Edition with Studies of the Cultural Contexts of the Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin Translations. Initiated and carried out jointly with Einstein Visiting Fellow Dimitri Gutas (Yale University) and located at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies  (448.000 Euro). [Link]

2015-2016

Kalīla wa-Dimna/Wisdom encoded. E-Learning/E-Research Grant, Freie Universität Berlin.
18 months-long project of a synoptic critical digital edition of Arabic manuscripts in collaboration with the Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS) (30.000 Euro). [Link]

2012

2006

2002

Research grant, Macmillan Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University

2006

2002

Faculty Research Grants (research of manuscripts in Iran), Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Yale University

2002

Paul Moore Memorial Grant for Instructional Innovation, Yale University

2001

2000

Hilles Publication Grant, Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University

1999-2000

Morse Fellowship (Humanities) for junior professors, Yale University

1994

Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University

1989

Scholarship, Hans-Krüger-Stiftung for Qur'anic studies at al-Azhar University, Kairo

1988-1991

PhD scholarship, Harvard University

1983-1988

Scholarship, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes

Collaboration with the Aliento-project, Universities of Paris (INALCO) and Nancy, Centre des Humanités

Editorial Board, Ägyptische und Orientalische Papyri und Handschriften des Ägyptischen Museums und Papyrussammlung Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Member, Centre de Recherche Moyen-Orient Méditerranée (CERMOM), INALCO, Paris

International Advisory Board, Library of Arabic Literature (LAL) of the NYU/Abu Dhabi Institute

Editorial Board, series “Literaturen im Kontext: Arabisch – Persisch – Türkisch”, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden

• The School of Abbasid Studies (SAS)
• The Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
• The American Oriental Society (AOS)
• Middle East Medievalists (MEM)
• American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)
• Columbia University Arabic Studies Seminar
• Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (DMG)
• Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI)
• Alumna der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes

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.

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 FellowDimtri Gutas, Yale University.

July 2016

School of Abbasid Studies meeting, Leiden. Discussant ofpanel.

May-June 2016

Organisation und Moderation der Vorlesungsreihe 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) [Link]

June 2011

Workshop: Arabic Science. Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin. Organisation.

April 2011

Colloquium: De Baghdad a Granada: Espejos de las Mil y una Noche, University of Granada and Fundaçion Euroárabe, Granada. Chair of a panel.

April/ Nov. 2010

Conceptualizing Literary History: Foundations of Arabic Literature 7th to 17th Centuries, Yale University (1. Teil, April); Paris-VIII St. Denis/INALCO/Sorbonne (2. Teil, November).Organisation in collaboration with Julia Bray.

Sept. 2010

Kalila wa-Dimna: The project of a critical edition, Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI) conference, Naples, Italy. Organisation and chair of a panel.

Sept. 2010

Section Arabic Studies, 31st Meeting, Deutsche Morganländische Gesellschaft, Marburg; Co-Leiterin des viertägigen Workshops, Co-chair of the panel: Arabische Buchkultur und Handschriftenbibliotheken.

März. 2010

Medieval Academy of America (MAA), New Haven.Organisation of a panel.

Sept. 2008

Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI), Leipzig. Chair of several panels.

Sept. 2007

Section Arabic Studies, 30th Meeting (DOT), Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Freiburg. Co-chair of a four-day workshop.

April 2007

Islamic Near East: al-Tawḥīdī, American Oriental Society conference, San Antonio. Chair of a panel.

Sept. 2004

Literatur Forum, 29th Meeting (DOT), Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Halle. Co-chair of a four-day workshop.

April 2001

Islamic Near East: Studies in Sources, American Oriental Society conference,Toronto. Chair of a panel.

April 2001

Theoretical Approaches to Near Eastern Literatures/Interculturality and Intertextuality: The Emergence of Genres through Transcultural Interaction, 28th Meeting (DOT), Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Bamberg. Co-chair of a four-day workshop.

April 1999

Literature and Rulership in Medieval Islam, Colloquiuman der Yale University, gefördertdurch das Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations und den Council on Middle East Studies (CMES). Organisation.

Sept. 1998

Theoretical Approaches to Near Eastern Literatures, 27th Meeting (DOT), Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Bonn. Co-chair of a three-day workshop.

Nov. 1993

Patterns of Persuasion: The Relationship to the Audience in Medieval Islamic Literature, Middle East Studies Association, Research Triangle Park, NC. Organisation.

Referee for endowed chairs: University of Exeter (2016), Edinburgh University (2015); Georgetown University (2013), University of Oxford (2011), University of Cambridge (2012).

Reviewer for promotions to tenured associate and full professorships for: World Cultures, Helsinki University (2016); Arabic Language and Literature, Haifa University (2014); Comparative Literature, Rutgers University (2011); History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2010); (W3) Arabic Studies, Marburg University (2007); Arabic Studies/Islamic Studies, Göttingen University (2007); Arabic Literature, American University of Beirut (2006); Comparative Literature, Cornell University (2005); History, Florida Atlantic University (2005); Islamic Studies, New York University (2004).

Reviewer for assistant and associate professorships: Arabic Literature, University of Chicago (2017); Arabic Studies, University of Helsinki (2016); Arabic and Islamic Studies, Universität Münster (2016); Comparative Literature, University of California, Davis (2010); (W1) Arabic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin (2007, 2010).

Referee for prizes, research projects, postdoctoral fellowships, Academy memberships: Caroline von Humboldt-Professorship and Prize (2017); Israel Science Foundation (2016); Dilthey Fellowship of the VolkswagenStiftung/Fritz Thyssen Stiftung (2017, 2016, 2010); Academy of Sciences of Saxony, Germany (2015); European Research Council (2017, 2015, 2013); American Academy of Berlin (2017, 2015); Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2015); Dahlem Research School (2015); Young Academy of the BBAW/Leopoldina (2015); Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (2014); Austrian Academy of Sciences (2017, 2014); German Research Foundation (DFG) incl. Leibniz Prize (2017, 2016, 2013, 2011); Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University (2012); Advanced Institute (Wissenschaftskolleg) of Berlin (since 2010); Gerda Henkel Stiftung (2011).

Member of the expert group of the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) for the Excellence Initiative to promote science and research at German Universities. Evaluations of Freiburg University (2007), Freie Universität Berlin (2007, 2006), and Tübingen University (2006).

Member of Candidate Selection Committees for: Center for Arabic Study Abroad Cairo
and Damascus (2010); Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University (2010); Fulbright Grants for research in the Near East (2008).

Reviewer of book proposals for: Brill (since 2012); the Library of Arabic Literature, New York Abu Dhabi Institute (2012, 2011); Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes (AKM) (2011); Scuola Normale, Pisa (2010); Syracuse University Press (2010); New York University Press (2010); Washington University Press (2007).

Reviewer of articles for: Arabica (2016), Asiatische Studien (2014), British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (2013), Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (2016, 2011), Cartography Journal (2011), Modern Language Studies (2010), Comparative Literature Studies (2010), Journal for Arabic Literature (since 2007), International Journal on Middle East Studies (IJMES) (2007).

External Reviewer of academic programs for: Bamberg University, graduate cluster [Graduiertenkolleg] (2016); Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Department of Arabic Language and Literature (2014); Haifa University, Department of Arabic Language and Literature (2014); University of Notre Dame, Department of Classics and Arabic (2008).

Outside Examiner for: Arabic program, University of Connecticut at Storrs (1999-2004).

Reviewer of international conference proposals for: European Science Foundation (since 2008).

The Arab Anonymous in a World Classic (AnonymClassic). ERC Advanced Grant research project. Investigation of a transcultural and transreligious work, Kalīla and Dimna (Arabic version ca. 757 C.E.) which was translated into ca. forty languages in Europe, the Near East, South and Southeast Asia from the Middle Ages to the 19^th century. A handbook for rulers and courtiers, its didactic content is conveyed in animal fables, reaching both courtly and popular audiences. Nearly two hundred versions of the work exist, and its translations were fundamental in the genesis of European literatures and political thought. The multilingual trajectory and complex Arabic textual history is addressed by a computer-aided approach. This project develops a synoptic critical digital edition for its Arabic versions, analyzing their variants (which include substantial anonymous rewriting) and their underlying motivations. This will show the role of Arabic as a cultural bridge and a crossroads of world literature.

Kalīla and Dimna: Wisdom coded. E-Learning / E-Research project supported by Freie Universität Berlin and the Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS).

This fabulous mirror for princes of the 8th century A.D. (based on Sanskrit sources via a non-preserved Middle-Persian version) is an important pioneer of Machiavelli's Il Principe. Nevertheless, it has so far received the attention of mediavists, who are exploring its later translations in about 50 languages up to La Fontaine's models. There is no scientific edition of the Arabic text, which served as a basis for all European translations. Major variants in text make a traditional critical edition impossible. Instead, a selection of the most representative copies of the various manuscript families (80 manuscripts are identified so far) is arranged electronically, commenting on the chapters, and identifying sociohistorical motivations for the metamorphosis of the text.

The Arabic Book Revolution. (Book under contract at Harvard University Press).

Online Bibliothek der frühesten arabischen Bücher aus dem 9, Jh. A.D.
Collection and investigation of the design of the two-dimensional "writing space" nd the manner in which it was applied during the time of the Arabic book revolution in order to structre and represent information.

The “Arabization” of Aristotles Poetics. Investigation of the use of Arabic poetry in Ibn Rushd’s Commentary.
Part of the multilingular critical edition of Aristotle's Poetics (Einstein foundation project)

‘Whom Enemies Loved’: Verses of al-Mutanabbī (d. 965) that became proverbs.
Book project in collaboration with Hatem Al-Zahrani.