My current research focuses on the history of Arab-Russian and Arab-Soviet cultural and literary ties during the long twentieth century.  The working book title is Another East: Arab Writers, Moscow Dreams.

In February 2017 I hosted  a workshop at BU on Russia in the Arab World: History, Literature, Arts. Several collaborative projects have emerged from this – please contact me for details.

In October 2014 I gave a preliminary talk on this research at the Center for Translation Studies at the American University in Cairo.  You can watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbc_34FKseU:

These slides will also give you an idea of the project.

Please join the fun.  I’m excited to be part of a (small) movement that’s building around this research topic. Our interlocutors are based in the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Poland, Germany, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. We have organized panels at MESA, ATSEEL, and other conferences, convened a three-day workshop on Arab-Russian and Arab-Soviet cultural ties at St. Petersburg State University in June 2013, and launched a Facebook discussion group to share our research with a wider circle of interested Arabists and Slavists. Future projects include more conferences, an interdisciplinary edited volume with work in history, anthropology, and literary studies, and so forth. If the topic interests you, please consider joining the Facebook group or contacting me directly.