Teresa Pepe

Associate Professor - Middle East Studies
Image of Teresa Pepe
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Phone +47 22854126
Room 380
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Visiting address P. A. Munchs hus Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 0371 OSLO
Postal address Postboks 1010 Blindern 0315 Oslo

Academic Interests

Arabic Literature; Digital Cultures: Life/Writing: Arabic Modernity: Media History: Conceptual History; Ecocriticism. 

Teresa Pepe's research interests span across Arabic literature, media, popular culture, sociolinguistics, and the relation between aesthetics and politics. Her current research focuses on Arab Futurism and its connection to social, political, and environmental changes in the region. 

She is the author of the book Blogging From Egypt: Digital Literature (2005-2016 (Edinburgh University Press, 2019). The book explores blogs as new form of literature emerging in Egypt during the rise of political protest of the Arab Spring.  Such blogs are explored as forms of digital literature, combining literary analysis and interviews with the authors.

She is the co-editor of the volume Arabic Literature in the Posthuman Age (with S. Guth, Harassowitz Verlag 2019), that examines the use of dystopia, necropolitics, monsters and satire in Arabic literature today.

She is the co-founder of the research network Arab Media Transitions  (with Barbara Winckler, University of Muenster) which analyses the impact of media on Arabic literature and culture from a historical perspective.

In 2021, she received a MECAM  Fellowship (Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb) to join the  the Research Project "Imagining the Future: Dealing with Disparities" in the thematic cluster "Aesthetics and Politics". 

She has published several articles in the  Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Oriente Moderno, Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies and LEA- Lingue e Letterature d’Oriente e d’Occidente. She occasionally writes for the Egyptian online newspaper Mada Masr, Jadaliyya, Orient XXI and Strange Horizon. 

Teaching and Tutoring

Teresa Pepe teaches various courses on undergraduate and graduate level, including:

Higher education and employment history

Teresa Pepe obtained her PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and Literature from the University of Oslo in 2014  with a thesis entitled “Fictionalized Identities in the Egyptian Blogosphere” (2014).  She completed her M.A in Comparative Literature and Culture (with a focus on Arabic and English Literature) at the University “L’Orientale” in Napoli in 2008.

In 2009-2010 she worked as a Research fellow at the American University in Cairo, where she conducted research on contemporary Arabic literature and the impact of digital technologies on cultural production.

 Between 2015-2017 she worked as a Post-Doc fellow at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo, with a research project entitled "The adīb and adab —Demise, or metamorphosis, the project: of a key figure and of a key concept of the Arab modernist project?" . The project has explored how concepts of "intellectuals", "author" and " literature" have evolved during the 20th century in Arabic/Egyptian society.

In 2015 she was a guest researcher at the American University in Beirut and  at Orient Institute in Beirut to conduct research on the Arabic cultural press in the early 20th century.

In 2015-2016 she was affiliated to the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo as a guest researcher. In 2015 she was a guest lecturer at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo.

  

Tags: Arabic, Language, Literature, Media, History, Middle East, CIMS, Environmental Humanities, miljøhumaniora

Publications

  • Pepe, Teresa (2023). From Prison to the World. A Comparative Reading of Naji’s Hirz Mikamkim (Rotten Evidence, 2020) and Abd el-Fattah’s You Have Not Been Defeated (2021). . CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture. ISSN 1481-4374. 25(1).
  • Pepe, Teresa (2023). Le rivolte arabe e oltre. In Corrao, Francesca & Ruocco, Monica (Ed.), La letteratura araba. Mondadori Education. ISSN 978-88-00-86250-9. p. 353–382.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2023). Climate change and the future of the city: Arabic science fiction as climate fiction in Egypt and Iraq. Middle Eastern Literatures. ISSN 1475-262X. doi: 10.1080/1475262X.2023.2252774. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pepe, Teresa & Fathy, Tamer (2022). أزمة المناخ في أدب „الديستوبيا” العربي المعاصر. Mecam Papers (Al-tab 'at al- 'arabiyyat). ISSN 2751-6490. 2, p. 1–11. doi: 10.25673/92263.
  • Pepe, Teresa & Guizani, Amel (2022). Environnement et changement climatique dans la fiction dystopique arabe contemporaine. Mecam Papers (Ed. française). ISSN 2751-6482. 2, p. 1–11. doi: 10.25673/92262.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2022). Climate Change in Contemporary Arabic Dystopian Fiction. Mecam Papers (English ed.). ISSN 2751-6474. doi: 10.25673/92260.
  • Pepe, Teresa & Winckler, Barbara (2022). Media Transitions and Cultural Debates in Arab Societies. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. ISSN 1873-9857. 15(1-2), p. 5–11. doi: 10.1163/18739865-01501004.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2022). Public and Private Diaries: The Ancestral Genres of the Blog in Egypt. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. ISSN 1873-9857. 15(1-2), p. 152–172. doi: 10.1163/18739865-01501007.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2021). Uber [an array of "In 2016"]. Journal of Arabic and Islamic studies. ISSN 0806-198X. 21(Themed section "In 2016"), p. 259–264. doi: 10.5617/jais.9532. Full text in Research Archive
  • Lindbekk, Monika & Pepe, Teresa (2021). Court Trials [an array of "In 2016"]. Journal of Arabic and Islamic studies. ISSN 0806-198X. 21(Themed section "In 2016"), p. 51–57. doi: 10.5617/jais.9464. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pepe, Teresa (2020). Le retour de Dhāt : du roman au feuilleton télévisé. In Jacquemond, Richard & Lagrange, Frederic (Ed.), Culture pop en Egypte : Entre mainstream commercial et contestation . Riveneuve Editions. ISSN 2360135872. p. 87–130.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2020). La ricerca sul campo al tempo dei processi alla scrittura. Il caso di Ahmed Nàgi . In Casini, Lorenzo & Starkey, Paul (Ed.), Minnena. L'Egitto, l'Europa e la ricerca dopo l'assassinio di Giulio Regeni. Mesogea. ISSN 978-88-469-21871. p. 52–78.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2019). Critics, Moralists and Intellectuals: The Transformation of the Udabāʾ in the Arab Nahḍah: a Historical-Conceptual Approach. Oriente Moderno. ISSN 0030-5472. 99(1-2), p. 179–202. doi: 10.1163/22138617-12340213.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2019). Aḥmad Nājī’s Istikhdām al-ḥayāh (Using Life) as “Critical Dystopia”. In Guth, Stephan & Pepe, Teresa (Ed.), Arabic Literature in a Posthuman World [= Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the European Association for Modern Arabic Literature (EURAMAL), May 2016, Oslo]. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISSN 978-3-447-11261-1. p. 179–191. doi: 10.2307/j.ctvrnfqmh.15.
  • Pepe, Teresa & Guth, Stephan (2019). Foreword / Introduction. In Guth, Stephan & Pepe, Teresa (Ed.), Arabic Literature in a Posthuman World [= Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the European Association for Modern Arabic Literature (EURAMAL), May 2016, Oslo]. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISSN 978-3-447-11261-1. p. IX–XVIII. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pepe, Teresa (2017). Crowdfunding [an array of "In 2016"]. Journal of Arabic and Islamic studies. ISSN 0806-198X. 21(Themed section "In 2016"), p. 58–61. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pepe, Teresa (2017). “Mixed Arabic as a Subversive Literary Style (2005-2011)”. In: Sociolinguistics, Translation and Society in the Middle East, eds. Nora Eggen and Rana Issa, Oslo: Novus Forlag, pp. 363-394. In Eggen, Nora Sunniva & Issa, Rana (Ed.), Philologists in the World: A Festschrift in Honour of Gunvor Mejdell. Novus Forlag. ISSN 978-82-7099-904-0. p. 363–394. doi: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474433990.003.0004.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2017). Crowdfunding. Journal of Arabic and Islamic studies. ISSN 0806-198X. 17, p. 479–481. doi: 10.5617/jais.6136. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pepe, Teresa (2016). Cultivating the Self and Building Communities in Egyptian Autofictional Blogs. In Boustani, Sobhi; El-Enany, Rasheed & Hamarneh, Walid (Ed.), La littérature à l'heure du Printemps arabe. Karthala. ISSN 9782811116491. p. 333–348.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2015). ​When Writers Activate Readers. How the autofictional blog transforms Arabic Literature. Journal of Arabic and Islamic studies. ISSN 0806-198X. 15, p. 73–91. doi: 10.5617/jais.4652. Full text in Research Archive
  • Pepe, Teresa (2012). Autofiction on Screen: Self-representation of an Egyptian ‘Spinster’ in a Literary Blog. Journal of New Media Studies in MENA. ISSN 2162-6669.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2012). Improper Narratives: Egyptian Personal Blogs and the Arabic Notion of Adab. LEA - Lingue e letterature d’Oriente e d’Occidente. ISSN 1824-484X. 1(1), p. 547–562.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2011). From the Blogosphere to the Bookshop: Publishing Literary Blogs in Egypt. Oriente Moderno. ISSN 0030-5472. 91(1), p. 75–90. doi: 10.1163/22138617-09101008.

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  • Guth, Stephan & Pepe, Teresa (2019). Arabic Literature in a Posthuman World [= Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the European Association for Modern Arabic Literature (EURAMAL), May 2016, Oslo]. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-11261-1. 430 p.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2019). Blogging From Egypt: Digital Literature, 2005-2016. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9781474433990. 256 p.

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  • Pepe, Teresa (2023). A Poetics of Arabic Autobiography: Between Dissociation and Belonging, written by Ariel M. Sheetrit. . Journal of Arabic Literature. ISSN 0085-2376. doi: 10.1163/1570064x-12341482.
  • Zorgati, Ragnhild Johnsrud; Pepe, Teresa & Issa, Rana (2022). Islamic Literature in a Transnational Field: Examining Infrastructures and Patterns of Circulation.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2022). The Politics of the Visual in Contemporary Egyptian Literature.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2022). Bytes of Freedom : Literary Blogs in Egypt.
  • Grønbech, Turi & Pepe, Teresa (2021). Ti år etter siden folkeoppstanden i Egypt. . [Radio]. NRK Radio - Studio 2 - P2.
  • Pepe, Teresa; Vikør, Knut S.; Abou-Hodeib, Toufoul; Zorgati, Ragnhild Johnsrud & Utvik, Bjørn Olav (2021). Reflections on the 2011 Arab Uprisings from Norway: Ten Years After.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2021). I blog egiziani e la letteratura (araba) digitale (2005-2016).
  • Pepe, Teresa (2021). Ecological Approaches to Arabic Literature.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2021). Blogging in Egypt between Literature and Politics.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2021). Arabic Literature and the Web 2.0.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2021). Lesesirkel med Teresa Pepe med fokus om Naguib Mahfuz.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2021). “I Want to Write Freely” (“عايزة اكتب براحت”). Language Choice and Variation in the Egyptian Blogosphere (2005-2016).
  • Pepe, Teresa (2021). Environmental Imaginaries in Egyptian and Tunisian Fiction .
  • Rots, Aike Peter; Endresen, Cecilie; Gubrium, Erika; Tolgensbakk, Ida; Bell, Justyna & Tanyi, Attila [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2021). Et «fremmed» virus? – Covid-19, nasjonalisme og stengte grenser. Utrop.no.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2020). Language and Schizophrenia in Youssef Rakha’s novel Paulo (2016).
  • Pepe, Teresa (2020). Blogging from Egypt: Digital Literature.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2020). The Autofictional Blog as a Form in Arabic Literature.
  • Pepe, Teresa; Parslow, Joakim & Chattopadhyay, Bodhisattva (2019). Workshop: Future Histories of the Middle East and South Asia.
  • Guth, Stephan; Pepe, Teresa & Kukkonen, Karin (2019). Book launch "Literary Visions of the Middle East" (compl./comm./ed. by S. Guth).
  • Pepe, Teresa (2019). NEWTON Interview on Jadaliyya, "Blogging From Egypt" (New Texts Out). [Journal]. Jadaliyya.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2017). Modernità Arabe. Nazione, narrazione e nuovi soggetti nel romanzo egiziano. Middle Eastern Literatures. ISSN 1475-262X. 20(3), p. 303–304. doi: 10.1080/1475262X.2017.1385697.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2012). Narratives of the Egyptian revolution in Egyptian Personal Blogs.
  • Guth, Stephan & Pepe, Teresa (2012). The Arab Spring and the Individual: Literary aspects from before and after the Revolution.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2011). Autofiction on Screen: Self-representation of Egyptian women in Literary Blogs.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2011). Self-writing in Egyptian Literary Blogs.
  • Pepe, Teresa (2010). Turning blogs into books in Egypt.

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Published Sep. 30, 2010 12:55 PM - Last modified Feb. 6, 2023 9:20 PM