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Assistant Professor of Modern Languages, University of Central Florida

I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Prior to UCF, I was a Graduate Assistant at Tarbiat Modarres University in Iran (2004-2006), a Lecturer at Damascus University in Syria (2008-2011), an Assistant Professor at Mardin Artuklu University in Turkey (2011-2014), and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Indiana University – Bloomington (IUB) (2014-2018). At IUB, I designed and developed the first and only Sorani Kurdish curriculum for North American universities under the Title VI – U.S. Department of Education Grant, and through IUB’s Center for the Study of the Middle East. I am currently co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Kurdish Linguistics (Oxford University Press 2022). My recent work, Sorani Kurdish: An Elementary Textbook, is currently under design at IUB’s Center for the Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR), for publication by Georgetown University Press. My current monograph project deals with the reception of Franz Kafka by Middle Eastern literary circles, particularly after the Arab Spring and the Iranian Green Movement. I have taught courses in Arabic, Persian, and Kurdish languages, Middle Eastern literature and culture (including Arabic, Persian, Kurdish, and Turkish), comparative literature and cultural studies, and Middle Eastern cinema.

Experience

  • 2019–present
    Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida

Education

  • 2011 
    Damascus University, Comparative Literature

Honours

2017-2018 Indiana University President's International Research Awards