Arabic & Persian Studies Teaching Staff

Professor Yasir Suleiman
Prof Yasir SuleimanContact Information

Email: ys310@cam.ac.uk

Current Position

Professor Yasir Suleiman is His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Sa'id Professor of Modern Arabic Studies and a Fellow of King's College.

Research Interests

Professor Suleiman's research covers the cultural politics of the Middle East with special focus on identity, conflict, diaspora studies and modernization in so far as these issues relate to language, modern Arabic literature, translation and memory. He also conducts research in Arabic grammatical theory and the Arabic intellectual tradition in the pre-modern period.

Publications

Professor Suleiman’s published works include the following:

Books

  • Arabic in the Fray: Language Ideology and Cultural Politics (EUP, 2013)

  • Arabic, Self and Identity: A Study in Conflict and Displacement (OUP, 2011)

  • A War of Words: Language and Conflict in the Middle East (CUP, 2004)

  • The Arabic Language and National Identity: A Study in Ideology (Edinburgh University Press and Georgetown University Press, 2003)

  • The Arabic Grammatical Tradition: A Study in Tal'liil (Edinburgh University Press,1999)

  • Living Islamic History: Studies in Honour of Professor Carole Hillenbrand (editor, Edinburgh University Press, 2010)

  • Literature and Nation in the Middle East (editor with Ibrahim Muhawi, Edinburgh University Press, 2006)

  • Language and Society in the Middle East and North Africa (editor, Curzon Press, 1999)

  • Arabic Grammar and Linguistics (editor, Curzon Press, 1998)

  • Language and Identity in the Middle East and North Africa (editor, Curzon Press, 1996)

  • Arabic Sociolinguistics: Issues and Perspectives (editor, Curzon Press, 1994)

Professor Suleiman is working on two books: Language Policy in the Arabic Speaking World (2015) and Being Palestinian: Reflections on Personal Identity in the Diaspora (editor, 2014).

Conference Proceedings

  • Proceedings of the VII International Conference of Functional Linguistics, With Laurence Bon (St. Andrews University, 1981)

  • Language Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Issues and Perspectives, with Richard Wakely, Andrew Barker, David Frier and Peter Graves (Centre for Information on Language Teaching, CILT, 1995, ISBN: 1-874016-46-1)

Reports

  • Narratives of Conversion to Islam in Britain: Female Perspectives (ISBN: 978-0-9573166-0-7)

  • Contextualising Islam in Britain II (2012, ISBN: 978-0-9563743-5-6) [ PDF ]

  • Contextualising Islam in Britain: Exploratory Perspectives (2009, ISBN: 978-0-9563743-0-1) [ PDF ]

  • Islam on Campus, with Ayman Shehadeh (2006) [ PDF ]

  • Conducting Fieldwork in the Middle East, with Paul Anderson (2007) [ PDF ]

  • Arabic on Campus and Beyond, with Paul Anderson (2008) [ PDF ]

  • Arabic Schemes of Works for Qatar, with Iman Soliman, Abir Najjar and Gada Khalil (2005)

  • Lesson Plans for the State of Qatar: Arabic Grades K-12, with Alaa Elgibaali (2004, ISBN: 99921-8-932-0)

  • Curriculum Standards for the State of Qatar: Arabic Grades K-12, with Alaa Elgibali (2004, ISBN: 99921-8-932-0)

Audio

Professor Suleiman is Chair of the Panel of Judges, British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book Prize in Middle Eastern Studies. He serves as Trustee on the Boards of the following organisations: Arab-British Chamber Charitable Foundation, International Prize for Arab Fiction (in association with the Man-Booker Prize), Banipal Trust for Arab Literature and is trustee of the Gulf Research Centre-Cambridge. He is also Chair of the Advisory Board of the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World, Chair of the Centre for the Study of the International Relations of the Middle East and North Africa (CIRMENA), Board Member of the Islamic Manuscript Association, Member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Evaluation and Research in Muslim Education, Institute of Education, Member of the Advisory Board of The Doha Institute, Qatar and Member of the Advisory Board of Our Shared Future, a joint project of the British Council, USA and Carnegie Foundation. He is a member of the editorial boards of a number of journals and book series.

Professor Suleiman is Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, formerly Head of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies.