Department of Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages & Cultures
Department of Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages & Cultures
HANADI AL-SAMMAN

Hanadi Al-Samman

Associate Professor
ha2b@virginia.edu

Office Address: 133 New Cabell Hall  
Office Hours: Spring 2023: Tuesday/Thursday 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Class Schedule

  • EGMT 1510: The Aesthetics of Trauma
  • MEST 2270/5270: Culture and Society of the Contemporary Arab Middle East
  • ARTR 3350/5350: Introduction to Arab Women’s Literature
  • ARTR 3290/5290: Modern Arabic Literature in Translation
  • ARTR 3490/5490: Arab Cinemas.
  • ARAB 3860/5860: Modern Fiction in Arabic
  • ARAB 5830/5840: Readings in Modern Arabic Poetry & Prose
  • ARAB 4120/7120: Introduction to Arabic Drama
  • ARAB 4230/5240: Love, War, and Diaspora in Hoda Barakat’s Writings

Background & Interests

Contemporary Arabic Literature, Arab Feminism(s), Literary and Trauma Theory, Gender Studies, Queer Arab Studies, Autobiography, Travel, Fantasy, War Narratives, Postcolonial and Diasporic Literature, and Comparative Literature.

Selected Publications

BOOKS

  • Anxiety of Erasure: Trauma, Authorship, and the Diaspora in Arab Women’s Writings. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2015. Reprint: 2019.
  • Al-Ṣamt wa-al-Ṣakhab by Nihad Sirees: The Authorized, Abridged, and Annotated Edition for Students of Arabic. Ed. Hanadi Al-Samman. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2022.
  • Co-editor with (Alireza Korangy & Michael Beard), The Beloved in Middle Eastern Literatures: The Culture of Love and Languishing. London: I.B. Tauris, 2017.
  • Co-editor (with Howard Chiang & et al), Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History.  3 Volumes. Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2019.
  • Editor, “Arab Diaspora Literature Then and Now.” Humanities. Switzerland: MDPI, (Forthcoming 2019).
  • Co-editor with (Tarek El-Ariss), "Queer Affects," special issue of International Journal of Middle East Studies 45:2 May 2013.

ARTICLES

  • “Arab Women’s Literature from Anonymity to Global Presence,” in Handbook on Women in the Middle East. Eds. Suad Joseph and Zeina Zaatari. New York: Routledge, 2022.  pp.454-469.
  • “Of Cities and Canons in an Age of Comparative Consumption.” In The City in Arabic Literature: Classical and Modern Perspectives. Eds. Nizar Hermes and Gretchen Head.  Edinburgh University Press, 2018.  pp. 268-286.
  • “Invading Muslim Bodies in the Era of Trump,” Special Forum, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 13.3 (2017):483-485.
  • “Syrian ‘Bad Girl’ Samar Yazbek: Refusing Burial.” In Bad Girls of the Arab World. Eds. Rula Quawas and Nadia Yaqub.  Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017. pp. 146-166.
  •  “The Art of Teaching Arab Traumas Triumphantly,” In Arabic Literature for the Classroom: Teaching Methods, Theories, Themes, and Texts. Ed. Muhsin al-Musawi. London & New York: Routledge, 2017. pp. 145-155.
  • “Al-Samman, Hanadi. "Syria, Cinema of. The Suspended Utterances of Syrian Cinema.”  In Oxford Islamic Studies Online. Oxford Islamic Studies Online. 2016.
  • "Remapping Arab Narrative and Sexual Desire in Salwâ al-Na'îmî's Burhân al-'Asal(The Proof of the Honey)." Journal of Arabic Literature 43.1 (2012): 60-79.
  • "Border Crossings: Cultural Collisions and Reconciliations in Hanan al-Shaykh's Only in London." in Perspectives on the 'Migrant Cosmopolitans': Narratives of Contemporary Postcoloniality. Eds. Nirmala Menon and Marika Preziuso. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2014.
  • "North American Muslim Women's Movements and the Politics of Islamic Feminine Hermeneutics.” in Mapping Arab Women’s Movements: A Century of Transformations from Within. Eds. Nawar Al-Hassan Golley and Pernille Arenfeldt. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2012. 303-329.
  • “Anxiety of Erasure: Arab Women Writers between Shahrazad’s Memory and the Nightmare of Infanticide.” Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics 30 (2010): 73-97. (In Arabic).
  • “Transforming Nationhood from Within the Minefield: Arab Female Guerrilla Fighters and the Politics of Peace Poetics.” Women's Studies International Forum 32.5 (2009): 331-339.
  • “Out of the Closet: Representation of Homosexuals and Lesbians in Modern Arabic Literature.” Journal of Arabic Literature 39.2 (2008): 270-310.
  • “Contemporary Syrian Literature: An Introduction.” in Literature from the “Axis of Evil”: Writing from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Other Enemy Nations . Ed. Words Without Borders. New York: The New Press, 2006.

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES

  • “Uncovering the Lens: The Misrepresentation of the "Other" in Pasolini's Il Fiore delle Mille e Una Notte,” in Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History, Board Editor. Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2019. pp. 1204-1213.
  • “ISIS Gay Trials” in Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History, Board Editor. Farmington Hills, MI: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2019.  pp. 844-847.

REVIEWS

  • "Beyond Islamicate and Modern Sexualities." A review of Islamicate Sexualities: Translations Across Temporal Geographies of Desire. Eds. Kathryn Babayan and Afsaneh Najmabadi. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 129.4 (2009): 693-695.
  • “Writing Away Exile with a Faceless Alphabet” a review of Without an Alphabet, Without a Face: Selections of Poems of Saadi Youssef . Trans. Khaled Mattawa. Saint Paul: Graywolf Press, 2002. In Cold Mountain Review . 34.2 (2006): 58-66.

TRANSLATIONS

  • A translation of Hanna Mina’s “On the Sacks” in Literature from the “Axis of Evil”: Writing from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Other Enemy Nations . Ed. Words Without Borders. New York: The New Press, 2006.

NATIONAL POSTS

  • President, Association for Middle East Women’s Studies (AMEWS), 2017-2019.

CITATIONS

Media Appearances

Lectures & Presentations

  • “Strangers in My House: Conspiracy Theory of Queer Representation in Arab Media,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Denver, CO., December 1-4, 2022.
  • “The Politics of Sexual Insult in Civil Revolutions,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Online via Zoom, October 28-31, 2021.
  • “Decolonizing Queer Bodies,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Online via Zoom, October 14, 2020.
  • “Trajectories of Syrian Culture in Retrospect,” panel organizer and Chair, Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Online via Zoom, October 15, 2020.
  • “Towards a Queer Qur’anic Tafsir,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA), New Orleans, LA., November 14-17, 2019.
  • “Mapping the Borders of the Arab Closet,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). San Antonio, TX., November 15-18, 2018.
  • “Confronting Sexual Harassment and Power Violence in Middle East Studies,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). San Antonio, TX., November 15-18, 2018.
  • “Queer Theory and Methodology: Applications and Possibilities for Middle East Studies,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). San Antonio, TX., November 15-18, 2018.
  • “Traversing Buried Cities in Samar Yazbek’s The Crossing,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Washington D.C., November 18-21, 2017.
  • “Witnessing Traumas, Performing Alterity in Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire.” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Denver, CO., November 21-24, 2015.
  • “Surviving Multiple Wa’d: Samar Yazbek’s A Woman in the Crossfire.”  Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Washington D.C., November 22-25, 2014.
  • “Writing Love in an Age of Comparative Consumption,” Tunisian Society for Comparative Literature (JAMAM), Tunis, April 28-30, 2014.
  • “Teaching Contemporary Arabic Literature for Heritage and Foreign Students: Challenges and Recommendations,” Colloquium on Arabic Literature in the Humanities Curriculum, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., April 3-4, 2014.
  • “Of Cities and Canons” presented in a panel entitled “Burning Capitals: Representations of Violence in Modern Arabic Literature,” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), New York University, New York, March 20-23, 2014.
  • “Contested Frames: Recasting Arab Muslim Womanhood in Lalla Essaydi’s Art,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). New Orleans, October 10-13, 2013.
  • “Buried Cities, Resurrected Histories, and Rhizomatic Narratives in Hoda Barakat’s ‘The Tiller of Waters,’” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Denver, CO., November 17-20, 2012.
  • "Unearthing the Archives in Salwa al-Neimi's The Proof of the Honey," Gender and Women Studies in the Arab Region Conference, American University in Sharjah, Sharjah, March 7-9, 2012.
  • "Muslim Women on the Move: From Local Notoriety to Global Networks," Middle East Studies Association (MESA). San Diego, November 18-21, 2010.
  • “Embodying Arab Lesbian Identity,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Boston, November 21-24, 2009.
  • “Are We There Yet? Lesbian Identity in Modern Arabic Literature,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Washington, DC. November 22-25, 2008.
  • "Queering the Arabic Novel," MESALC Speakers Series, University of Virginia, October 17, 2008.
  • "A Man Against His Will: Suppressed Homosexuality and Ruptured National Memory in Hoda Barakat's The Stone of Laughter," Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Montréal, November 17-20, 2007.
  • “Transforming Nationhood from Within the Minefield: Arab Female Guerrilla Fighters and the Politics of Peace Poetics,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Boston, November 18-21, 2006.
  • “The Poetics of Mosaic Autobiography in Contemporary Arabic Literature,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Washington, D.C. November 19-22, 2005.
  • “Buried Alive: The Poetics of Exile and Arab Women Writers,” Sheikh Mohammad Bin Khalid al-Nahyan Cultural Center. Al-‘Ain, United Arab Emirates. February 18, 2003.
  • “Contested Departures in Ghada Al-Samman’s Travel Writing,” Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Washington, D.C. November 20-22, 1999.
  • “The Prodigal Daughter: Women Writers, the Academia, and the Dissertation Novel,” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA). Austin, TX. March 26-28, 1998.
  • “The Academia at Trial: Memoirs of a Prodigal Daughter from ‘Hisland,’” Indiana University Conference in the Humanities. Bloomington, IN. March 6-7, 1998.
  • “A Spaceship to the Orient: Fantasy Fiction as Exile in Ghada Al-Samman’s Narrative,” Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA). San Francisco, CA. November 22-24, 1997.
  • “(Re)Writing Magic: Science Fiction and the Arab Novel," Crossing the Jordan Annual Conference. Cultural Studies. Indiana University. Bloomington, IN. February 7-8, 1996.
  • “Uncovering the Lens: The Mis/Representation of the ‘Other’ in Pasolini’s Il Fiore delle Mille e Una Notte,” Crossing the Jordan Annual Conference. Cultural Studies. Indiana University. Bloomington, IN. February 17-19, 1995.

Selected Awards

Language
Arabic
Specialties
Modern Arabic Literature, Gender Studies, and Literary Theory