Comparative Studies and German Studies
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210-1340
(614) 688-3324
berman.58@osu.edu
EDUCATION
1989-1994: Ph.D., Department of German, University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: Orientalismus, Kolonialismus und Moderne: Zum Bild des Orients in der deutschen Kultur um 1900. Committee: Anton Kaes (director), W. Daniel Wilson, David Lloyd.
1987-89: M.A., Department of German, San Francisco State University, San Francisco
1980-83: B.A. (Zwischenprüfung in German, Arabic and History) Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany
EMPLOYMENT
2004 --: Associate Professor, joint position in Department of Comparative Studies and Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University, Columbus; associated with Middle East Studies Center and Center for African Studies
2001–04: Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University, Columbus; associated with Comparative Studies, Middle East Studies Center, Center for African Studies
2000-01: Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Studies, University of Texas, Austin
1994-2000: Assistant Professor, Department of Germanic Studies, University of Texas, Austin; affiliated with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Comparative Literature, Islamic Studies, and Women’s Studies, University of Texas, Austin
Impossible Missions? German Economic, Military, and Humanitarian Efforts in Africa. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. 271 pp.
Orientalismus, Kolonialismus und Moderne: Zum Bild des Orients in der deutschsprachigen Kultur um 1900. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1997. 378 pp.
BOOK MANUSCRIPT IN PREPARATION
Beyond Orientalism: Germany and the Middle East, 900-2000.
"Translation and Inter/Multi/Transcultural German Studies." Forthcoming with Jahrbuch für internationale Germanistik.
“Ottoman Shock-and-Awe and the Rise of Protestantism: Luther’s Reactions to the Ottoman Invasions of the Early Sixteenth Century.” Spec. issue on Edward Said, ed. by Friederike Eigler. Seminar 41:3 (Summer 2005): 226-45.
“Thoughts on Zionism in the Context of German-Middle Eastern Relations.” Jennifer Jenkins, ed., German Orientalism. Spec. issue, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 24.2 (2004): 133-46.
“Multikulturalität, Reintegration und darüber hinaus: Die Afrikanisch-Asiatische Studentenförderung in Göttingen. Bildung, Ausbildung und Weiterbildung in Afrika und Asien. Jahrbuch der Afrikanisch-Asiatischen-Studentenförderung (1999): 141-67.
“Albert Schweitzer: Germany’s Alibi and Exculpation.” Marcia Klotz, ed., German Colonialism: Another Sonderweg? Spec. issue of The European Studies Journal 16.2 (Fall 1999): 69-94.
“Multiculturalism, Reintegration, and Beyond: The Afrikanisch-Asiatische Studentenförderung in Göttingen.” South Central Review 16.2-3 (Summer 1999): 34-53.
“K.u.K. Colonialism: Hofmannsthal in Northern Africa.” New German Critique 75 (Fall 1998): 3-27.
“German and Middle Eastern Literary Traditions in a Novel by Salim Alafenisch: Thoughts on a Germanophone Beduin Author from the Negev.” The German Quarterly 71.3 (Summer 1998): 271-83.
CHAPTERS
Negotiating Local Knowledge: Networking Disability on the Community Level." Disability, Culture and Human Rights. Ed. Kimani Njogu. Nairobi: Twaweza Communications. Forthcoming.
"Historische Phasen orientalisierender Diskurse in Deutschland." Orient- und IslamBilder. Ed. Iman Attia. Münster: Unrast, 2007. 71-84. Article will be translated into Arabic by Professor Abdo Abboud and published in al-Turath al-Arabi, issued by the Arab Writers Union in Damascus.
"Karl May im Kontext von Kolonialismus und Auswanderung." Orient- und IslamBilder. Ed. Iman Attia. Münster: Unrast, 2007. 199-209. Article will be translated into Arabic by Professor Abdo Abboud and published in al-Turath al-Arabi, issued by the Arab Writers Union in Damascus.
“Against Miscegenation? Contemporary German and French Reality Literature about Interracial Relationships.” In Mediating Germany and Austria: Popular Culture between Traditions and Corporations. Ed. Gerd Bayer. London: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006. 1-17.
“Deutsche Orientalen: Identifikationsmuster in der deutschen Literatur.” 'Istanbul' - Geistige Migrationen aus der ‘'Welt in Scherben.’ Eds. Georg Stauth and Faruk Birtek. Bielefeld: transcript, April 2007.
“Autobiographical Accounts of Kenyan-German Marriages: Reception and Context.” In Germany’s Colonial Pasts. Eds. Eric Ames, Marcia Klotz, and Lora Wildenthal. Lincoln, NE: U of Nebraska P., 2005. pp 205-26.
“Colonization or Globalization? Ernst Udet’s Account of East Africa from 1932.” Africanizing Knowledge: African Studies Across the Disciplines Eds. Toyin Falola and Christian Jennings. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers Rutgers, 2002. pp 297-313.
“Defining Religious Identity in Modern Germany: Two Case Studies.” Islam and the West: Judgements, Prejudices, Political Perspectives. Ed. Werner Ruf. Münster: agenda-Verlag, 2002. pp 95-109.
“The Appeal of Karl May in the Wilhelmine Empire: Emigration, Modernization, and the Need for Heroes.” A Companion to Realism. Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture. Ed. Todd Kontje. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2002. pp 283-305.
“Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Political Vision––An Analysis of Selected Early Prose Writings.” A Companion to the Works of Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture. Ed. Thomas A. Kovach. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2002. pp 201-220.
“Orientalism, Imperialism, and Nationalism: Karl May's Orientzyklus.” The Imperialist Imagination. Eds. Sara Friedrichsmeyer, Sara Lennox, Susanne Zantop. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1998. pp 51-67.
“Die Bundeswehr in Somalia und die Frage humanitärer Intervention: Bodo Kirchhoffs Herrenmenschlichkeit.” Schriftsteller und “Dritte Welt.” Ed. Paul Michael Lützeler. Tübingen: Stauffenburg, 1998. pp 221-42.
“Questions of Context: Ibn Battuta and E.W. Bovill on Africa.” Research in African Literatures 34.2 (Summer 2003): 199-205. 3,243 words.
ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRIES
“German Orientalism.” A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures: Continental Europe and its Empires. Eds. Prem Poddar, Rajeev Patke, and Lars Jensen. Edinburgh: U of Edinburgh P. 701 words. Forthcoming.
“Impact of German Colonialism on African and Afro-German Writing.” A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures: Continental Europe and its Empires. Eds. Prem Poddar, Rajeev Patke, and Lars Jensen. Edinburgh: U of Edinburgh P. 807 words. Forthcoming.
“Postcolonial German Literature.” The Literary Encyclopedia. Ed. Robert Clark. <http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1429>. 2308 words.
“Lasker-Schüler, Else. (1869 - 1945).” The Literary Encyclopedia. Ed. Robert Clark. <http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5758>. 2233 words.
“May, Karl. (1842-1912).” The Literary Encyclopedia. Ed. Robert Clark. <http://www.litencyc.com/LitEncycFrame.htm>. 2252 words.
“Karl May.” Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture, 1871-1990. Eds. Dieter K. Buse and Juergen C. Doerr. Hamden: Garland, 1998. p 643.
NEWSPAPER AND OTHER ARTICLES
“Transnationalism and German Studies.” H-NET List on German History <H-GERMAN@H-NET.MSU.EDU. January 2006. 1532 words.
“On the Relevance of Comparative Cultural Knowledge for German Literary Studies.” The German Quarterly 78.2 (Spring 2005): 243-45.
“With Good Intentions.” Humanities Exchange 18 (Autumn 2002): 8-9.
“Urlauber als Entwicklungshelfer.” Frankfurter Rundschau 12 Sept. 1998: M 2.
“The 30th anniversary of the Afro-Asiatisches Studentenheim, Göttingen, June 1997,” in Mahatma-Gandhi-House: Hostel and Centre for the African, German and Asian Students and Mahatma-Gandhi-Haus: Wohnhaus und Zentrum für afrikanische, deutsche und asiatische Studierende (Göttingen: pachnicke, 1998) 37-39.
Manfred Loimeier. Die Macht des Wortes: Das journalistische Interview als Rezeptionsform afrikanischer Literaturen in der frankophonen, anglophonen und deutschsprachigen Presse––am Beispiel von Ousmane Sembène (Senegal) und Wole Soyinka (Nigeria). Bayreuth African Studies 79. Bayreuth: Pia Thielmann and Eckhard Breitinger, Bayreuth University, 2006. Research in African Literatures. Forthcoming.
Birgit Tautz, ed. Colors 1800/1900/2000: Signs of Ethnic Difference. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2004. 283 pages. Monatshefte 99.1 (2007): 114-16.
Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, ed. Germany and the Middle East, 1871–1945. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2004. German Studies Review 29.1 (2006): 189-90.
Sylvère Mondobari. Archäologie eines modernen Mythos: Albert Schweitzers Nachruhm in europäischen und afrikanischen Text- und Bildmedien. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2003. Research in African Literatures 36.2 (Summer 2005): 162-63.
Judith Caesar, Writing Off the Beaten Track: Reflections on the Meaning of Travel and Culture in the Middle East. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2002. International Journal of Middle East Studies 37.1 (February 2005): 131-33.
Diallo, M. Moustapha; Göttsche, Dirk; eds. Interkulturelle Texturen: Afrika und Deutschland im Reflexionsmedium der Literatur. Bielefeld: Aisthesis Verlag, 2003. Gegenwartsliteratur 3 (2004): 311-12.
Flora Veit-Wild, ed. Nicht nur Mythen und Märchen: Afrika-Literaturwissenschaft als Herausfordung. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2003. Research in African Literatures 35.4 (Winter 2004): 179-80.
Miehe, Gudrun et al. Kala Shairi: German East Africa in Swahili Poems. Archiv Afrikanistischer Manuskripte, vol. 6. Köln: Köppe, 2002. Research in African Literatures 35.1 (Spring 2004): 191-92.
N’guessan, Béchié Paul. Primitivismus und Afrikanismus: Kunst und Kultur Afrikas in der deutschen Avantgarde. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2002. Research in African Literatures 35.1 (Spring 2004): 192-93.
Koshar, Rudy. German Travel Cultures. German Studies Review 26.1 (February 2003): 130-31.
Turk, Horst, Brigitte Schultze and Roberto Simanowski, eds. Kulturelle Grenzziehungen im Spiegelder Literaturen. Nationalismus, Regionalismus, Fundamentalismus. Göttingen: Wallstein, 1998. Monatshefte 93.4 (Winter 2001) 510-11.
Gelbin, Cathy S., Kader Konuk and Peggy Piesche, eds. AufBrüche: Kulturelle Produktionen von Migratinnen, Schwarzen und jüdischen Frauen in Deutschland. Königstein/Taunus: Ulrike Helmer, 1999. The German Quarterly 74.3 (Summer 2001): 326.
Shaswati Mazumdar. Feuchtwanger / Brecht: Der Umgang mit der indischen Kolonialgeschichte. Eine Studie zur Konstruktion des Anderen. German Studies Review 24.1 (February 2001): 195-96.
Sylke Helbing,“Vergessne Weiten zu wandern auserlesen”: Anglo-arabische Begegnungen im Reisebericht von Freya Stark and Wilfred Thesiger. Journal of English and Germanic Philology (January 2001): 68-70.
Klaus J. Milich and Jeffrey M. Peck, eds. Multiculturalism in Transit: A German-American Exchange. German Studies Review 23.2 (May 2000): 404-05.
Herbert Uerlings, Poetiken der Interkulturalität. The German Quarterly 73.1 (Winter 2000): 118-19.
Gisela Brude-Firnau. Die literarische Deutung Kaiser Wilhelms II. zwischen 1889 und 1989. Monatshefte 92.1 (2000): 94-95.
Hans-Liudger Dienel, Der Optimismus der Ingenieure: Triumph der Technik in der Krise der Moderne um 1900. German Studies Review XXIII.1 (Feb. 2000): 145-46.
Rolf J. Goebel, Constructing China: Kafka’s Orientalist Discourse. Seminar XXXV.3 (Sept. 1999): 264-66.
Zhuang Ying Chen, Asiatisches Gedankengut im Werke Hermann Hesses. German Studies Review XXII.2 (May 1999): 331.
Donna R. Heizer, Jewish-German Identity in the Orientalist Literature of Else Lasker- Schüler, Friedrich Wolf, and Franz Werfel, Rolf J. Goebel, Constructing China: Kafka’s Orientalist Discourse. International Review of Modernism 2.1 (Fall/Winter 1998): 29-31.
John K. Noyes, Colonial Space: Spatiality in the Discourse of German South West Africa 1884-1915. TheGerman Quarterly 67.3 (Summer 1994): 435-36.
HONORS AND AWARDS
Autumn 2006: Special Research Assignment (one quarter leave), Ohio State University
Research Enhancement Grant, College of Humanities, Ohio State University
Small Grant, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Ohio State University (with Steve Kuusisto, Brenda Brueggemann, Dorry Noyes, Brian Stone, Philip Armstrong)
Arts and Humanities Seed Grant, Ohio State University (with Steve Kuusisto, Brenda Brueggemann, Brian Stone, Philip Armstrong)
June 2006: Participated in faculty exchange with Damascus University, Syria; "Educational Partnerships Program," US Department of State
Summer 2005: Grant-in-aid, to give a talk at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, and in support of research in Kenya; College of Humanities and Departments of Comparative Studies and Germanic Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University
Summer 2004: Grant-in-aid for research in Germany, College of Humanities
Summer 2003 and 2004: Support for research in Germany, Mershon Center, Ohio State University
Fall 2001: Special Research Assignment (one quarter leave), OSU
Grant-In-Aid, OSU
Funding for course development, Middle East Studies Center, OSU
Summer 1999: President’s Associates Teaching Award, UT Austin
Summer Research Assignment from UT Austin
Travel grant, Kittredge Foundation
1998-99: Funding for a part-time graduate assistant and supplies for course development, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UT Austin
1997-98: Special Research Grant, UT Austin
Fall 1997: Dean’s Fellow, UT Austin )
1996-97: Special Research Grant, UT Austin
May-August 1996: German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Summer Research Grant for research in Germany
1996-97: Funding for a part-time graduate assistant and supplies for course development, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UT Austin
1995-96: Special Research Grant, UT Austin
Summer 1995:URI Summer Research Award from UT Austin
1994-95: Special Research Grant, UT Austin
INVITED LECTURES
With Kennedy Waliaula: “Kipofu hasahau mkongojo wake: Negotiating Local Knowledge.” Workshop on “Disability, Culture and Human Rights.” Lenana House Conference Center, Nairobi, June 15, 2007.
“'Ei! wie schmeckt der Coffee süsse': German Turcomania in the 17th and 18th centuries.” Symposium on “Islam and Europe,” SUNY Stony Brook, April 27, 2007.
"Zero Degrees: Introductory talk to the performance by Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui." Wexner Center, Columbus, October 10, 2006.
“Kaisari Wilhelmu ni Sultani Azimu: Swahili Historiographic Poetry about the German Colonization of East Africa.” University of Texas at Austin, April 20, 2006.
"Unveiling and Veiling Women: Orientalism in the Visual Arts Past and Present." Otterbein College, March 2, 2006.
“Whose Islam is it? Thoughts on Lalla Essaydi’s images of women and children.” Columbus Museum of Art, November 17, 2005.
"Anajekuja pasi na hodi, huondoka pasi kuaga": On the Study of Germans in Africa.” Kenyatta University, Nairobi, July 19, 2005.“He who comes without ‘may I come in’ leaves without ‘goodbye’”: On the Study of Germans in Africa. Department of African American and African Studies, Ohio State University, May 19, 2005.
"Commemorating Bandung: Postcolonial Studies in Historical Perspective.” Department of Literature, Institute for International, Comparative and Area Studies, and German Studies Program, University of California at San Diego, April 15, 2005.
“Postcolonial German Literature: History, Concepts, Archive.” Conference on the "Black Atlantic," Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, November 13, 2004.
"Luther and the Turks." Conference on "Visions of the East: Orientalism and German National Culture," Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto, October 22, 2004.
“German Jews as Orientals.” “Converts, Orientalists, Remainers in Istanbul - Crossmarks between Europe, Islam and the Orient.” Workshop at the Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut, Essen, June 21-23, 2004.
"König von Jerusalem: German Claims to Sovereignty over the Holy Land." Mershon Center, Ohio State University, April 27, 2004.
“Autobiographical Accounts of Kenyan-German Marriages: Reception and Context.” Case Western Reserve University, March 30, 2004.
“Imperial Narratives: Medieval Islamic Concepts of Inclusion and Exclusion.” The Center for Critical Theory and Transnational Studies, University of Oregon, January 23, 2004.
“Deutschland und der Nahe Osten: Kulturgeschichtliche Überlegungen.” Seminar für deutsche Philologie, Universität Göttingen, July 8, 2003.“Buber versus Herzl: Thoughts on German Zionism.” Colloquium Series, Comparative Studies, Ohio State University, May 16, 2003.
"Modernizing Egypt: A Turkish-German Development Project." University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, September 12, 2002.
“Autobiographies about Kenyan-German Marriages: Questions of Reception and Context.” Conference in Honor of Susanne Zantop, Dartmouth College, June 20-22, 2002.
“Is the ‘civilizing mission’ a racist concept? Thoughts on German agents of development in Africa.” “The German Invention of Race,” Harvard University, May 4-6, 2001.
“Colonization or Modernization: Max Eyth's Autobiographical Writings about Egypt.” Rutgers University and Ohio State University, January 2001.
"Islam as Discourse: Thoughts on the anti-religious bias in contemporary Western scholarship.” Symposium on “Islam and the West,” Haydauer Hochschulgespräche, Kloster Haydau, September 15-17, 2000.
“Else Lasker--Schüler’s Orient: Thoughts on the function of ethnic identity discourses.” Panel on “Travelers,” symposium on “Judaism and Islam: Cross-Currents,” University of Texas at Austin, March 8, 2000.
“Toward an Interdisciplinary and Intercultural German Studies: Problems of Methodology,” Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., February 12, 2000.
“Repeat Visitors in Kenya: Tourists or Colonizers?" Georgetown University, Washington D.C., February 11, 2000.
“Goethe's ‘Noten und Abhandlungen zu besserem Verständnis des West-östlichen Divans’: A Critique of Goethe's Image of Arabic Culture." Goethe Lecture Series, Germanic Studies, University of Texas at Austin, May 5, 1999.
“Apocalypse, 1913: Why Albert Schweitzer went to Africa.” Reading Turn of the Century Culture At the Turn of the Century,” Seventh Annual interdisciplinary German Studies Conference, University of California at Berkeley, March 13-14, 1999.
“Orientalismus in der deutschen Literatur.” Universität Gesamthochschule Kassel, July 1997.
“Bodo Kirchhoff in Somalia.” “The Third World Through European Eyes: Postcolonial German Literature (1970-1990),” symposium sponsored by the European Studies Program, Washington University at St. Louis, March 1997.
Commentator for panel on “Imagining Empire” at the symposium “Representing German Identities: Defining the German Nation from the Nineteenth Century to the Present,” sponsored by the German and European Studies Group, UT Austin, April 1995.
“German Orientalism.” Colloquium Series of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UT Austin, March 1995.
“Negotiating the New Order: Gender and Race in Ernst Lubitsch's Sumurun.” “Art and Cultural Politics in the Weimar Republic,” symposium sponsored by the Huntington Art Gallery, UT Austin, October 1994.
“The Critique of Modern Society, Jewish Identity, and the Orient: Orientalism in Else Lasker-Schüler's Writings.” Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, University of Virginia at Charlottesville, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, University of Colorado at Boulder, Yale University, University of Texas at Austin, University of California at Berkeley, January - April 1994.
“Karl May's Orientzyklus.” Haverford College, Department of German, January 1994.
“Colonialism in Disguise: Karl May's Orientzyklus.” “Nation and Difference,” conference sponsored by the Department of German, UC Berkeley, October 1992.
“Stonemasons and Vocational Training in Germany.” Culture Lecture Series, German Department, UC Berkeley, May 1992.
"Translation and Literary History." "Building Bridges: International Conference on Transcultural German Studies," University of Arizona at Tuscon, March 29-31, Tuscon.
"Johann Schiltberger’s account of his life in the Ottoman and Mongol Empires: Questions of Genre and Ideology." Annual meeting of the Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, December 27-30, 2006.
"Imperial Ideology in Medieval Islamic Geographical Writings." 13th Annual Critical Geography Mini-Conference, Ohio State University, Columbus, October 13-14, 2006.
"Germans and Ottomans: Thoughts on a Transnational History." Annual conference of the German Studies Association, Pittsburgh, September 28 to October 1, 2006.
“German-language Sources about the Ottoman Empire: Questions of Genre, Power, and Ideology.” Second World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, Amman, Jordan, June 11-16, 2006.
“World Literature or Literatures of the World?” Annual meeting of the Modern Language Association, Washington, DC, December 27-30, 2005.
“Universal versus colonial empires: Imperial ideology in medieval Islamic geographical writings.” Annual meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, March 11-13, 2005.
“Beyond Interdisciplinarity: Comparative German Studies.” Annual meeting of the Modern Language Association, Philadelphia, December 27-30, 2004.
“Medieval World Chronicles: Connecting Histories and Territories.” Annual meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, April 16-18, 2004.
“German Zionism Revisited.” Annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, Anchorage, November 6-9, 2003.
“Herzl versus Buber: Zionism in the context of Germany’s relationship to the Middle East.” Annual meeting of the German Studies Association, New Orleans, September 18-21, 2003.
“Black Hawk Down and Humanity of the Masters: American and German Views on Humanitarian Interventions in Somalia.” Annual meeting of the African Studies Association, Washington, D.C., December 5-8, 2002.
“Kenya in contemporary German-language autobiographies: Internalist interpretations of the situation of women.” Annual meeting of Society of Research on African Cultures, Montclair University, New Jersey, November 7-9, 2002.
“Informal Development Aid: German Repeat Visitors in Kenya.” African Studies Association, Houston, November 15-18, 2001.
“How Ethnic Is It? Reflections on works by Arab-German writers of the second generation.” German Studies Association, Washington, October 4-7, 2001.
"Colonization or Globalization? Ernst Udet in Africa." “Pathways to Africa’s Past,” University of Texas at Austin, March 30-April 1, 2001.
“Contemporary Arab-German Writers: Questions of Methodology and Reception.” Middle East Studies Association, Orlando, November 16-19, 2000.
"The Engineer as Colonizer/Modernizer: Max Eyth in Egypt.”German Studies Association, Houston, October 5-8, 2000.
“German Tourists in Kenya: Informal Development Aid?” Panel on “Human Rights in Democratic Germany: National Identity, Religion, and Mission Abroad.” German Studies Association, Atlanta, October 7-10, 1999.
“Albert Schweitzer: Germany’s and Europe’s Alibi.” Panel on “Albert Schweitzer, Walter Benjamin, Altruism,” German Studies Association, Salt Lake City, October 8-11, 1998.
“German and Middle Eastern Literary Traditions in Writings by Salim Alafenisch:
Thoughts on a Germanophone Beduin Author from the Negev.” American Comparative Literature Association, Austin, March 28, 1998.
“Nomadism as Resistance: Salim Alafenisch’s Das Kamel mit dem Nasenring.” Panel on “Nomadism, Tourism, Multiculturalism,” German Studies Association, Washington, D.C., September 25-28, 1997.
“Bodo Kirchhoff’s Herrenmenschlichkeit: Germans in Somalia and the Predicament of Humanitarian Intervention.” Panel on “The Postcolonial View: German Authors and the Third World,”German Studies Association, Seattle, October 10-13, 1996.
“The Absence of African and Asian Voices in German Post-Colonial Discourse.” Panel on “The Empire’s New Clothes,” Division on Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century German Literature, Modern Language Association, Chicago, December 1995.
“K. u. K. Colonialism: Hofmannsthal in Northern Africa.” Panel on “George, Hofmannsthal, and Rilke,”German Studies Association, Chicago, September 21-24, 1995.
“Oriental Jewish Identity around 1913 and the Critique of Modern Society: Articulating a Minority Position.” “Minority Literature II: Crossing Borders, Constructing Identities,” Division on 20th-Century German Literature, Modern Language Association, San Diego, December 1994.
“Fascinated with Otherness, Disliking the Other: Karl May's Orientzyklus.” Panel on“Xenophilia-Xenophobia I: The Occidental Tourist -- Nineteenth-Century German Versions of the ‘Orient,’”German Studies Association, Washington, D.C., October 7-10, 1993.
“The Space Beyond the Border: German and Muslim Travel Accounts and Geographical Literature.” Panel on “The Construction of the East,” Renaissance Society of America, Stanford University, March 1992.
“Images of the Other in Muslim Travel Accounts and Geographical Writings.” Panel on “Beyond Western Europe,” Medieval Association of the Pacific, UC Irvine, February 1992.
“The Representation of Arabic Peoples in German Travel Accounts of the 14th and 15th Centuries.” German Department, UC Berkeley, February 1991. Panel on “Concepts of Travel,” Medieval Association of the Pacific, UC Davis, March 1991.
Lecture on Edward Said’s Orientalism in Comparative Studies 711, Ohio State University, January 30, 2007.
Commentator on panel on "Authorship, Memory, and Precarious History," First annual Comparative Studies graduate student conference on "Rethinking Precarity," Ohio State University, January 19, 2007.
Participant in Roundtable honoring Noble Price winner Orhan Pamuk, October 31, 2006, Ohio State University.
Moderator on panel on "Rethinking the Nineteenth Century: Contesting the Boundaries of 19th-Century Intellectual History." Annual conference of the German Studies Association, Pittsburgh, September 28 to October 1, 2006.
Participant in Roundtable on "Transnational German Studies." Annual conference of the German Studies Association, Pittsburgh, September 28 to October 1, 2006.
Moderator on panel on “Music and Identity I.” Regional meeting of the Midwest Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology. Ohio State University, Columbus, April 30, 2006.
Commentator on Kwaku Larbi Korang, “Postcolonial Crisis and a New Paradigm of African Knowledge: A Critique of Achille Mbembe’s Semiotics of the ‘Postcolony.’” Ethnic Studies Research Group, The Ohio State University, January 27, 2006.
Commentator on Marcia Stephenson, “The French Connection: Engaging Questions of Race through the Eighteenth-Century International Trade in Alpacas, Llamas, and Vicuñas.” Event sponsored by CIRIT, Office of International Affairs: Interdisciplinary Lectures, Seminars, and
Conferences on International Themes, Center for Latin American Studies, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, OSU Women in Development, Department of Anthropology, Department of Women’s Studies, The Ohio State University, June 3, 2005.
“Swahili poetry about the German occupation of East Africa.” Swahili 103, The Ohio State University, May 26, 2005.
“Germany’s relationship to the Middle East during the Middle Ages.” Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 695, “Medieval Christendom, Medieval Islam: A Common Literary Culture?,” The Ohio State University, May 11, 2005.
Speaker on panel commemorating Edward Said. Ohio State University, October 8, 2003.
Commentator on panel entitled “Borders and State Authority,” conference on Deprivation, Violence, and Identities, Mershon Center, The Ohio State University, October 4, 2003.
“Cultural and Religious Difference in Medieval Islamic Civilization.” Congregation Tifereth Israel, Columbus, Ohio, February 26, 2003.
Lecture on “German post-colonial studies” in Third World Literature proseminar, UT Austin, November 1, 2000.
Lecture on “Cultural Studies” in Comparative Literature proseminar, UT Austin, October 13, 2000.
Represented the Center for Middle Eastern Studies on a panel on “Area Studies Opportunities,” Public Diplomacy Training for Senior Foreign Service National Employees, University of Texas, April 27, 2000.
Participant in session on “Mentoring during the Tenure Process,” Experienced Faculty Seminar, UT Austin, January 10, 2000.
Moderator of afternoon session of the conference "Pilgrimages to Holy Sites," Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, UT Austin, November 10, 1999.
Lecture on “Cultural Studies” in Comparative Literature proseminar, UT Austin, October 22, 1999.
Commentator for panel on “Resistance or Integration: The Language of Emancipation in Imperial Germany.” German Studies Association, Atlanta, October 7-10, 1999.
Guest speaker, Celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Afro-Asiatisches Studentenheim, Göttingen, June 1997. Published in Mahatma-Gandhi-House: Hostel and Centre for the African, German and Asian Students and Mahatma-Gandhi-Haus: Wohnhaus und Zentrum für afrikanische, deutsche und asiatische Studierende (Göttingen: pachnicke, 1998) 37-39.
Commentator for panel on “Latin America and the Caribbean in Contemporary Literature,” German Studies Association, Washington, D.C., September 25-28, 1997.
Commentator for panel on “German-Jewish Identity and Literature,” German Studies Association, Seattle, October 10-13, 1996.
Gave a presentation on the educational system in Germany, with a focus on vocational education (stonemasons) to a group of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Travis Heights Elementary School, Austin, TX, on September 15, 1999.
Taught elementary German to two groups of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Travis Heights Elementary School, Austin, TX, on October 14, 1998.
Research in African Literatures, associate editor; (August 2002––August 2004)
Weltengarten, editorial board; (August 2002––)
German: native
Arabic: fair reading, speaking, and writing ability
French: fair reading, speaking, and writing ability
Swahili: basic reading and speaking ability
Latin: basic reading ability
MEMBERSHIPS
Modern Language Association of America; German Studies Association; American Comparative Literature Association; The Middle East Studies Association of North America; American Association of Teachers of German