Recent ARIC Faculty News and Publications
From new publications to global research contributions, faculty at the Sheikh Hassan Abbas Sharbatly Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations (ARIC) continue to advance scholarship across diverse fields, reinforcing AUC’s commitment to impactful, interdisciplinary research.
Dina Heshmat, Associate Professor of Arabic Literature, recently published two articles related to her on-going research about autobiographical narratives by women involved in the 1919 revolution in Egypt. The first, titled “Tracking Down Anti-Colonial Feminist Militants in the Archive” published in the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, guides readers through several archival collections in and outside Egypt, in the footsteps of a little-known feminist and nationalist leader, Fikriyya Husni. The second article, titled “An Archival Journey in the Footsteps of Fikriyya Husni”, published in Arabic in Gendering the Arab Archive (Arab Council for the Social Sciences), offers an in-depth analysis of the letters Husni sent to her friend and peer Huda Sharawi (kept at AUC’s Rare Books and Special Collection Library). Both articles include a reflection on archival research and how it can contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion shaping dominant narratives about Egypt’s anti-colonial and feminist movements.
Professor Nelly Hanna, Distinguished University Professor, recently published her recent monograph, her eighth to date: Empires in Friction: Egypt in the Sixteenth Century (Edinburgh University Press, 2025) and Egypt edition is also available from AUC Press. An Arabic edition, translated by Dr Magdi Guirguis, is also out from al-Dar al-Misriyya al-Libnaniyya:
ما بين امبراطوريتين: مصر في القرن السادس عشر
Noha Abou-Khatwa, Assistant Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, recently published the article, “Sanctifying Private Spaces: Quran Inscriptions on the Walls of Mamluk Houses”, in MIDEO - Melanges de l'Institut Dominicaine des Etudes Orientales du Caire 40(2025): 169-200. Available in open access here.
Bernard O’Kane, ARIC Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, recently published the following chapter “From Workshop to Monument: The Triumph of Islamic Crafts,” in the volume In Praise of the Artisan: The Enduring Legacy of Islamic Crafts, edited by Idries Trevathan and published in collaboration with Medina Publishing and the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), 2025. The chapter is available online here. Dr. O'Kane, also published a book chapter, "The Power of Six – Astral, Solomonic and Imami Imagery in Fatimid Art," in Fatimid Cosmopolitanism: History, Material Culture, Politics and Religion, Gregory Bilotto, Farhad Daftary and Shainool Jiwa eds, Bloomsbury and I.B. Tauris, 2025
ARIC Associate Professor of Arabic Literature, Adam Talib's translation of Fatma Qandil's raw and beautiful memoir-cum-novel Empty Cages (AUC Press, 2025) was named one of 2025's 75 Notable Translations by World Literature Today, availble here.