I am a Professor of Arabic Studies in the Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oslo. I hold a PhD in Literature and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oslo (2014) and an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Naples “L’Orientale” (2008).
Before this appointment, I held a postdoctoral position in Oslo from 2015 to 2017. I have also been a Visiting Professor at the University of Catania in Italy (2021) and a Visiting Scholar at the American University in Cairo (2015-2016) in Egypt and the American University of Beirut (2015) in Lebanon.
My research focuses on modern and contemporary Arabic literature and culture, with particular interests in the relation between aesthetics and politics; I explore different genres such as climate fiction, digital literature, TV-serials (musalsalāt), prison literature and dystopian and speculative fiction. I am interested in media historical transformation, periodicals and the cultural politics of everyday life in the Middle East and North Africa.
I am the PI of the research group al-ARD: The Land We Care For at the Oslo at the Oslo Center of Environmental Humanities (OCEH), founder of the research collective Yalla: The Politics and Aesthetics of Everyday Life in the Middle East and North Africa, and core member of the group Eco-Emotions Affective Response to Environmental Change in and through Literature.
I am the author of Blogging From Egypt: Digital Literature (2005-2016 (Edinburgh University Press, 2019); co-editor of Arabic Literature in the Posthuman World (with S. Guth, Harassowitz Verlag 2019). My work appears also in peer-reviewed journals and book series such as: The Cambridge Companion of Modern Arabic Literatures, Routdlege Environmental book Series, Middle Eastern Literatures, Journal of Arabic Literature, the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Oriente Moderno, Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Routdlege Book Series. I write and lecture in English, Italian, Arabic and Norwegian. Some of my work has been translated into French.
I have received awards and fellowships from MECAM (Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb); the University of Naples L'Orientale, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Erasmus Global.
I am committed to sharing my research beyond academia through public lectures, literary events, book-clubs and collaborations with cultural practitioners such as the House of Literature in Oslo, Masahat, Arab news outlet such as Mada Masr, Jadaliyya, Orient XX or platforms such as Strange Horizon, or TRAFO blog. I welcome opportunities for collaboration as I strongly believe that Arabic literature and culture should be made accessible to wider audiences and relevant to contemporary public debates.
Teaching and Tutoring
I teach various courses on undergraduate and graduate level, including:
- MØNA1300 - Litteraturhistorie og språkforhold i Midtøsten og Nord-Afrika (History of Literature in the Middle East)
- MØNA 2506 - Mass Media in the Middle East
- MES4030 - Themes and Theories in Middle Eastern Studies;
- MES4035 - Methods in Middle Eastern Studies
- MES4010 - Readings in Middle East Studies
- MES4290: Topics in Middle Eastern Literatures and Cultures. The focus in 2025 was "Imagining the Future in the Middle East: Historical, Cultural and Ecological Perspectives"
MES4210 og MES4220 - Topics in Arabic Studies I & II. The focus of these courses may vary every year. For example, in Spring 2018 the courses focused on: Arabic Cultural Production and the Arab Spring and Finding, Reading and Interpreting Arabic Sources for Your Master’s Thesis
I am keen to supervise MA and PhD projects on Arabic literature, culture, media, and aesthetic practices; ethnographic researches in Egypt and the wider Arab region; studies dealing with everyday approaches to politics in the Middle East and North Africa; and practices of solidarity. I particularly welcome projects grounded in Arabic-language primary sources, including literary texts, interviews, digital media, visual culture, and archival materials.
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