Dr. Dana Sajdi
Employment | Qualifications
| Education | Research
CURRICULUM VITAE
Employment
| 2005-2006 |
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu
Berlin
Arbeitskreis Moderne und Islam
Theme: “Circulating Genres: Literature, History and
the Politics of Translation.”
Project: “The Barber of Damascus: Nouveau Literacy in
the 18th Century Middle East” |
| 2004-2005 |
Visiting Research Associate, Department of Near Eastern
Studies, Princeton University, Princeton. |
| 2002- 2005 |
Assistant Professor of Middle East History,
History Department, Concordia University, Montreal. (On leave
of absence, 2004-2005). |
| 1992-1998 |
Teaching Assistant, Columbia University, New
York City. |
| 1991-1992 |
Assistant Director and Artistic Director, Department
of English and Comparative Literature and Theatre, American
University in Cairo, Cairo. |
Qualifications
| Ph.D. 2002 |
Department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages
and Cultures, Columbia University
Dissertation Title: “Peripheral Visions: The Worlds
and Worldviews of Commoner
Chroniclers in the 18th Century Ottoman Levant”
Adviser: Richard W. Bulliet
Ph.D. awarded with Distinction |
| M.Phil. 1997 |
Department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures,
Columbia University
Major: History of the Middle East 1000-1500
Minor: Islamic Law
Language requirements: Arabic, Persian, French, German. |
| M.A. 1994 |
Department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages
and Cultures, Columbia University.
Major: Islamic History 550-800
M.A. Dissertation Title: “The Role of Inter-School Polemics
in the Formation of Early
Islamic Law: A Comparative Study of a Case in the
Mudawwana of Sahnun and the Kitab al-hujja `ala
ahl al-
Madina of al-Shaybani.” (Adviser: Jeanette Wakin). |
| B.A. (Honours). 1991 |
American University in Cairo.
Majors: Sociology and Theatre.
The first student to graduate from the American University
in Cairo with a double major, and the first student to major
in Theatre. |
Educational Institutions Attended
| 1994-2002 |
Ph.D. program, Dept of Middle Eastern and Asian
Languages and Cultures, Columbia University (on leave of absence
in 1999). |
| 1992-1994 |
M.A. program, Dept of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages
and Cultures, Columbia University. |
| 1986-1991 |
B.A. program, Department of Anthropology and
Sociology, and Department of English and Comparative Literature
and Theatre, American University in Cairo. |
| 1988-1989 |
Year Abroad program, University of California,
Berkeley. |
| 1987 |
Summer program, Faculty of Arts, University
of Jordan, Amman. |
| 1984-1986 |
General Certificate of Education (Cambridge
Board, United Kingdom), “O” and “A”
Levels, National Orthodox School, Amman. |
| 1976-1984 |
Primary and secondary schooling, Akram Zu`aytar
School, Nablus. |
Research
Publications
Articles and Encyclopedia Entries:
- “Re-visiting Layla’s Trespass,” in Marle
Hammond and Dana Sajdi, eds. Transforming Loss into Beauty”:
Essays on Arabic Literature and Culture in Memory of Magda Al-Nowaihi.
(forthcoming, publisher to be determined) [Examines the historical
and cultural context surrounding the poetry and career of the
transgressive 8th century female poet, Layla al-Akhyaliyyah].
- “A Room of His Own: the ‘History’ of the
Barber of Damascus (fl. 1762),” The MIT Electronic
Journal of Middle East Studies 4 (2004), 19-35. [Awarded
the Syrian Studies Association Prize for Best Published Article
in 2004].
- “Halal-o-Haram,” entry in the Encyclopaedia
Iranica, Ed. Ehsan Yarshater, London: Routledge Kegan Paul,
1982-. [On the categories of the “permissible” and
the “prohibited” in Islamic law].
- “Trespassing the Male Domain: The qasidah of
Layla al-Akhyaliyyah,” Journal of Arabic Literature
31.2 (2000), 121-146 [On an 8th century female poet who is the
only woman known to have composed a poem in the pre-eminent
literary form of the tri-partite ode].
Book Reviews:
- Review of Heghnar Zeitlian-Watenpaugh, The Image of the
City: Imperial Architecture and the Urban Experience in Aleppo
in the 16th and 17th Centuries (Leiden and Boston: Brill,
2004), (forthcoming in International Journal of Middle East
Studies)
- Review of Muhammed A. Al-Da`mi, Arabian Mirrors and Western
Soothsayers: Nineteenth-Century Literary Approaches to Arab-Islamic
History (New York: Peter Lang, 2002), Journal of Islamic
Studies 16.3 (2005), 371-374.
- Review of Philip K. Hitti, trans. An Arab-Syrian Gentleman
and Warrior in the Period of the Crusades: Memoirs of Usamah
Ibn-Munqidh (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000),
Arab Studies Journal 51.2/52.1 (2003-2004), 189-191.
Article Reviews:
- External reviewer for Journal of Urban History,
2005.
Current Research Projects
- Writing a monograph entitled The Barber of Damascus: Nouveau
Literacy in the Early Modern Middle East. A social, cultural,
and literary exploration of the phenomenon of commoner authorship
in the 18th century Middle East through the “life and
work” of the 18th century Damascene barber, Ahmad Ibn
Budayr al-Hallaq (fl. 1762). (Part of the project is under a
grant from the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur
la Société et la Culture – see below).
- Preparing, from a unique and hitherto unknown manuscript,
a critical edition of the original text of the chronicle of
Ahmad Ibn Budayr al-Hallaq, an 18th century barber from Damascus.
- Editing a volume entitled Re-thinking Culture in Ottoman
Early Modernity (papers presented at the Mellon-funded
conference entitled “Re-thinking Culture in the Ottoman
18th century” held at Princeton University, 15-16 January,
2005.
- Researching an articled entitled “Possessing the City:
Narrations of Damascus in the Ottoman Period.” [On the
topographical and historical literature about Damascus in the
Ottoman period]
- Co-editing (with Marle Hammond, Oxford University), “Transforming
Loss into Beauty”: Essays on Arabic Literature and Culture
in Memory of Magda Al-Nowaihi.
Presentations
Papers presented at academic meetings:
2005. “Nouveau Literacy in 18th Century Damascus: A Barber
among the Scholars,” Berliner Seminar, “Cultural Mobility
in Near Eastern Literatures: Circulating Genres/Traveling Traditions,”
Working Group Modernity and Islam, 2 November 2005.
2005. “Nouveau Literacy in 18th Century Damascus: A Barber
among the Scholars,” panel on “Circulating Genres:
Literature, History, and the Politics of Translation,” 12th
Annual Congress of die Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Voderer Orient,
Hamburg, 27-29 October 2005.
2005. “In Other Worlds: The Geographies of Chroniclers
in the 18th Century Levant,” Representations of Ottoman
Imperial Space: Maps, Texts, Historiographies, Center for International
and Comparative Studies and Department of History, Northwestern
University, 4-5 March 2005.
2000. “Struggling for Tenure in the 18th century Academy:
Autobiography in the Chronicle of Muhammad Ibn Kannan of Damascus,”
Seminar on “Control, Mobility and Self-Fulfillment: Learning
and Culture in the Islamic World since the Middle Ages,”
Department of Arabic Studies and the School of Humanities and
Social Sciences, American University in Cairo, 13-15 April 2000.
1995. “Inter-School Polemics in the Formation of Early
Islamic Law,” panel on “Initiatives and Reformulations
in Islamic Law and Theology,” 30th Annual Meeting of the
Middle East Studies Association, Washington, DC, 6-10 December
1995.
Invited Lectures:
2004. “An Introduction to the History of the Arab-Israeli
Conflict,” Dawson College, Montreal, April 13, 2004. (For
course “Twentieth Century History”)
2004. “An Introduction to the History of the Arab-Israeli
Conflict,” Dawson College, Montreal, April 21, 2004. (For
course “Twentieth Century History” – Continuing
Education Program)
2004. Respondent to Samuel D. Albert, “And was Jerusalem
builded here…,” Centre for Canadian Architecture,
Study Centre Seminar Series, Montreal, March 19, 2004.
2004. “A Room of His Own: The ‘History’ of
the Barber of Damascus (fl. 1762),” The Montreal Scholars’
Circle, January 30, 2004.
2003. “A Room of His Own: The ‘History’ of
the Barber of Damascus (fl. 1762),” Faculty of Arts and
Sciences, Koç University, Istanbul, November 6, 2003.
2002. “A Room of His Own: The ‘History’ of
the Barber of Damascus (fl. 1762),” Department of Near and
Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, November
8, 2002.
1997. “Tajawuz al-maydan al-dhukuri: qasidat Layla
al-Akhyaliyyah,” (“Trespassing the Male Domain:
the qasida of Layla al-Akhyaliyyah”), Arabic Language
Seminar, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University,
March 18, 1997.
1993. “An Introduction to Islam”, delivered to senior
officers of the New York City Police Department, April 1993.
Conferences Organized
| 2005 |
Organized a Mellon-funded conference on “Rethinking
Culture in the Ottoman Eighteenth Century”, Princeton
University, 15-16 January, 2005. |
Workshops Organized
| 2006 |
Organizing a workshop “To Print or Not
to Print? Knowledge Diffusion in the 18th and 19th Century
Arabic, Turkish, and Persian-Speaking Worlds,” Wissenschaftskolleg
zu Berlin, 5-6 May, 2006 |
Lectures Organized
| 2004 |
Organized an endowed lecture series “The
Saleh Sassoon Mahlab Lecture Series on the History of Jewish-Muslim
Relations.” One lecture annually, starting Fall, 2004.
Inaugural Lecture by Professor Mark Cohen, Princeton University,
“Jews and Muslims in the Middle Ages,” October
5, 2004. |
Research Grants
| 2004-2005 |
Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Near
Eastern Studies, Princeton University, 2004-2005. |
| 2003-2006 |
Jeune Chercheur, Fonds Québécois de Recherche
sur la Société et la Culture (FQRSC). Awarded
for proposal on “Public Space and Cultural Production
in the Early Modern Levant.” |
| 2002-2003 |
Concordia University Start-Up Research Grant. |
Academic Awards
| 2004 |
Syrian Studies Association Best Published Article
for 2004. |
| 1992-2001 |
President’s Fellow, Columbia University, (on leave
of absence 1999). |
| Summer 1997 |
Mellon Summer Language Study Grant, Middle
East Institute, Columbia University (attended an intensive
course in Turkish at Ankara University TOMER Language Teaching
Center, Istanbul). |
| 1990-1991 |
Cultural Scholarship, American University in
Cairo. |
Research Languages
Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Ottoman, English, French, German.
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