鈥淚 am incredibly proud of all of the outstanding faculty members who were recognized this semester,鈥� said Rosario Ceballo, dean of the 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences. 鈥淎cross all of our departments and programs, we have tremendous, world-class researchers, thinkers and scholars who are not only changing the shape of academia, but the way we view and engage with the wider world.鈥�

A Lifetime of Arabic Poetry

Suzanne Stetkevych, a specialist in Classical Arabic poetry, received the Career Research Achievement Award. 

鈥淚 am especially honored to have been nominated for this award by my colleagues in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, who have generously supported and encouraged me during my ten years here,鈥� said Stetkevych. 鈥淚 hope to express my gratitude for this award in the form of further research on the origins of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry.鈥�

Stetkevych, who has held the Sultan Qaboos bin Said Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies since 2014, is recognized by her peers around the world as one of the finest scholars in her field. Last year, Stetkevych received the prestigious King Faisal Prize in the category of Arabic Language and Literature. Already a monumental achievement for a Western academic, Stetkevych was the first female scholar to win the award since 1994. 

A prolific writer and editor, Stetkevych has penned four books on the study of Arabic poetry and produced more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. A laundry list of awards has accompanied her mountain of research, including the Middle East Medievalists Lifetime Achievement Award and the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. 

鈥淭he 1500-year tradition that I study continues to inform cultural perception and production in the Arab and more broadly Islamic world, and to take its place in our understanding of world literature,鈥� said Stetkevych.  

A Tale of Espionage in Qing Dynasty China

Gregory Afinogenov received the Distinguished Achievement in Research Award for his book Spies and Scholars: Chinese Secrets and Imperial Russia鈥檚 Quest for World Power. 

鈥淚’m honored to receive this award and truly staggered to be counted among such talented faculty,鈥� said Afinogenov, an associate professor in the . 鈥淚 owe everything I’ve achieved at Georgetown to the community of staff, faculty and students in my department, and I’m looking forward to supporting other colleagues as they succeed in turn.”

Published by Harvard University Press in 2020, Afinogenov鈥檚 debut book explores the covert operation of an intelligence network designed by the Russian Empire to spy on Qing Dynasty China between the 17th and 19th centuries. At its height, the operation stretched across the country, involving bribed porcelain artists, Buddhist monks and undercover students. 

鈥淭he book reads like a detective novel,鈥� wrote John Steinberg, a history professor at Austin Peay State University, in a review for the Journal of Jesuit Studies. 鈥淭he author鈥檚 tremendous erudition, based on his rich and comprehensive research in archives, results in revelations about a host of people ranging from missionaries to bureaucrats representing both countries to adventurers and merchants who together comprised the brain-trust that formed the impressions about China that existed in the West.鈥�

Since its publication, the book has won three awards, including its publisher鈥檚 Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize, which is bestowed on the best first book published by Harvard University Press. It has also received the 2021 W. Bruce Lincoln Prize and the Independent Publisher Book Awards鈥� 2021 Gold Medal in the category of World History. 

A Cross-Campus Collaboration to Model Forced Migrations

Lisa Singh, Katharine Donato and Ali Arab received a Sonneborn Interdisciplinary Collaboration Chair, which honors collaborative teams of faculty members. Singh and Arab are faculty members in the 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences. Donato, the Donald G. Herzberg Professor of International Migration, holds her appointment in the School of Foreign Service. 

The team, composed of a computer scientist, a demographer and a statistician, are working in concert to develop a framework to predict forced human migration.

鈥淜atharine, Ali and I are honored to be the recipients of the Sonneborn Chair,鈥� said Singh, a professor in the and the . 鈥淚t gives us the opportunity to not only advance our cross-disciplinary research on understanding emerging forced displacement using novel data sources, but also to develop new ways to engage more students in this work.

The team鈥檚 framework uses a computationally-driven grounded theory approach to assess how different factors interact to affect forced migration. Their work draws on a variety of data sources, from Google searchers to administrative data gleaned from social media platforms. 

“It’s been a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to collaborate with Katharine and Lisa, and the rest of our team over the past several years,鈥� said Arab, an associate professor in the . 鈥淎s an interdisciplinary statistician, the forced migration project ties together many of my interests and experiences in modeling problems at the intersection of social and environmental processes, climate change and human rights.鈥�

A Collaborative Study of the Indian Ocean Region

Rogaia Abusharaf, Ananya Chakravarti and C贸il铆n Parsons received a Sonneborn Interdisciplinary Collaboration Chair for their work as part of the . 

鈥淥ver half the world鈥檚 population lives within 50 miles of the shores of the Indian Ocean, yet study of the intricate and long-running connections across the Indian Ocean are comparatively new,鈥� said Parsons, an associate professor in the and the director of . 鈥淕eorgetown University has been at the forefront of the study of this region for a decade now, and we are delighted to see our cross-disciplinary work in the humanities recognized with a Sonneborn Chair.鈥� 

Formed in 2014, the working group has served as a launchpad for lectures, conferences and collaborative research conducted on the Indian Ocean world. 

鈥淚’m delighted and honored to have the opportunity to work collaboratively with my colleagues to increase our community’s investment in and knowledge of the Indian Ocean world,鈥� said Chakravarti, an associate professor in the . 鈥淚’m particularly excited to be able to bring that part of the world into ongoing academic conversations here on the history of slavery, on mobility and on the environment.鈥� 

The Sonneborn Chair provides funding and support for three years of research, which the team is eager to pursue. 

鈥淥ver the next three years we plan to work closely with students across both campuses to advance our knowledge of pressing global issues 鈥� climate change, forced labor and political violence 鈥� by paying attention to Indian Ocean stories,鈥� said Parsons. 

This chairship helps bridge the scholarship and research produced by the working group, which has been primarily based in Qatar, to the main campus here in Washington, DC. 

鈥淭he Indian Ocean, with its beautiful warm waters, has sustained a huge part of humanity for much of our history,鈥� said Chakravarti. 鈥淚 see this chair, and the opportunity it provides to expand our investment in understanding the region, as part of Georgetown’s commitment to producing knowledge in service of the world.鈥�

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鈥淥ne of the crown jewels in Georgetown 海角论坛 is our Faculty of Language and Linguistics,鈥� said Dean Rosario Ceballo at the ceremony. 鈥淭he FLL is a national and preeminent leader in language education.鈥�

Connecting Georgetown鈥檚 commitment to language education and broad cultural understanding, Dean Ceballo linked the FLL to the university鈥檚 commitment to educating students to be women and men for others. 

鈥淎s we look at the world today, now more than ever, it鈥檚 important to reach out to others, to listen, to learn and to dialogue across our differences,鈥� Dean Ceballo said. 

Faculty Recognized 

Each year, the FLL Distinguished Service Award is presented at the ceremony to a member of the faculty who has 鈥渕ade extraordinary contributions to the programs and mission of the FLL through his or her research, teaching and service to the community.鈥� , convenor of the FLL and , presented the award to , an associate teaching professor and head of the .

Mostowfi not only developed the Persian Studies Program, but was a driving force behind the Persian language minor. As she received her award, Mostowfi addressed the assembled students and faculty, reflecting on her time at Georgetown and the intrinsic value of studying foreign languages. 

鈥淟anguages unlock worlds of possibilities,鈥� Mostowfi said. 鈥淔rench has taken me across three continents and into my dream job. I am teaching the next generation of decision-makers at a world-renowned institution. When your life鈥檚 mission aligns with the work that you do, you will always look forward to coming to work 鈥� as I do every day.鈥�

The Regent鈥檚 Address

The FLL Awards Ceremony is marked each year by The Regent鈥檚 Address, which is given by a senior in the FLL with an exceptional GPA who is chosen by the faculty. This year鈥檚 remarks were delivered by Helen Catherine Poe (C鈥�22), a double major in German and Russian. Due to the pandemic, Poe was unable to study abroad, but her coursework broadened her perspective during an unprecedented time. 

鈥淚 saw that there were other people out there who鈥檇 somehow made sense of an unfair world that I couldn鈥檛 even begin to make sense of myself, and they did it in a way that was uniquely beautiful and beyond translation,鈥� Poe reflected. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have anything in common with most of those authors 鈥� they鈥檇 all died before I was born, and many of them were from countries that don鈥檛 even exist anymore 鈥� but just being about to read their work made me feel less alone.鈥�

Poe鈥檚 Georgetown career, especially the study of other languages and cultures, left an indelible mark. 

鈥淪tudying languages here hasn鈥檛 just given me a way to learn about how other people live, it鈥檚 also helped me understand what I鈥檝e gone through myself,鈥� Poe said. 

, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the, is a 2022 King Faisal Prize laureate, a monumental achievement for a Western academic. The award for Arabic Language and Literature, of which Stetkevych is a recipient, has only been given to a single American scholar before this year. Stetkevych is the first female scholar to win the award since it was awarded to Wadad Kadi and Aisha 鈥楢bd al-Rahman (Bint al-Shati鈥�) in 1994. 

Bestowed by the King Faisal Foundation, the award seeks to 鈥渂enefit Muslims in their present and future, inspire them to participate in all aspects of civilization, as well as enrich human knowledge and develop mankind.鈥� For Stetkevych, who specializes in Classical Arabic poetry, the award is a welcome recognition for a lifetime of work in a field marked by its relative obscurity in the United States. 

鈥淔or me, receiving the King Faisal Prize in Arabic Language and Literature represents, above all, the recognition that Classical Arabic poetry is part of our universal human heritage and that the study of Classical Arabic poetry is a shared humanistic endeavor,鈥� says Stetkevych. 鈥淚 am very honored that my Arab colleagues have supported me for this award.鈥�

Established in 1976, the prize commemorates the late King Faisal bin Abdulaziz and is considered one of the most prestigious international awards for scholars and scientists, especially within the Muslim community. Awardees are honored in five categories: Service to Islam, Islamic Studies, Arabic Language and Literature, Medicine and Science. To date, there have been 275 laureates from 43 countries.

Through her work, Stetkevych has plumbed the depths of classical poetry with a variety of tools, which has led to a novel and distinct methodology for the study of Arabic literature. 

鈥淎s with virtue, a life spent on Classical Arabic poetry is its own reward. However, it is won only after years of toiling in obscurity in an often neglected and sometimes disparaged field. Many years go to mastering the Arabic language and exploring its rich 1500-year poetic tradition, which together with the Qur’an forms the foundation of Arabo-Islamic civilization,鈥� says Stetkevych. 鈥淭here is joy and satisfaction in decoding the distinctly Arabic lyric-heroic images and metaphors for loss, quest and belonging: the abandoned campsite, the desert journey by camel, the poet’s steed in battle or hunt, and ensuing celebration and feast and to uncovering the 鈥榞rammar鈥� of the Arabic poetic forms.鈥�  

The King Faisal Foundation plans to hold the 2022 award ceremonies in Riyadh in late March.

“Our outstanding new faculty members span the disciplines of the arts and sciences, bringing with them excellence in research and teaching, a remarkable diversity of perspectives and great intellectual energy,鈥�  says Christopher Celenza, dean of Georgetown 海角论坛. 鈥淚 am delighted to welcome them to Georgetown 海角论坛.”

Contributing to a Community of Top-Notch Teachers 

The faculty will also continue their research projects at Georgetown that address a variety of topics that range from the examination of systems and network security to writing the first cultural history of Black Chicago鈥檚 mid-twentieth century apartments. Several of these new faculty members have interests that are interdisciplinary and require interdepartmental collaboration.  

, inaugural director of the , says that she is thrilled to work with incoming and professor , a historian of medicine and medical humanities scholar, on the intersection of medicine and the humanities.

鈥淎n enlightened, creative and generous colleague, with excellent credentials in medicine and literary studies, Professor Krishnan is instrumental to the vision of the Georgetown Humanities Initiative,鈥� says Pireddu.  鈥淭hrough her pioneering scholarship and pedagogy and her strong community engagement, Professor Krishnan will help students, faculty, and administrators inside and outside Georgetown to appreciate the crucial role of humanities tools in the medical profession–emphasis on critical reading and analytical skills and the ability to master complex narratives, different cultural productions and multiple interpretive methodologies.鈥�

Krishnan says that she is honored to join the Georgetown faculty and stresses that now more than ever, this work is of critical importance 鈥渁s we remake and reimagine our current and post-pandemic world.鈥�

鈥淭hough we are living through a profoundly unsettling time, I have personally been energized by the global movements fighting systemic racism, health disparities, and socioeconomic injustice,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e know that pandemics unerringly expose social inequalities, and the intersection of this outbreak and our healthcare system has powerfully revealed all the areas ripe for intervention. The humanities and social sciences have already offered critical insights to the biomedical, and I hope and believe our initiative can contribute in profound ways. I look forward to how the Medical Humanities initiative can support, contribute, and innovate in creating a more equitable, just campus and world.鈥�

She is eager to lead the Medical Humanities Initiative, work closely with colleagues at the Medical Center and 海角论坛 and Pireddu and the Humanities Initiative. 

These new professors are some of the leading experts in their fields. , an incoming professor in the , has authored and edited several books on the intersections of Black women鈥檚 intellectual history, 20th-century US political and cultural activism, African American and African Diasporic politics and gender and sexuality studies. 

鈥淒ayo Gore is a preeminent scholar of Black women’s and Black movement histories,鈥� says , vice dean of faculty and Idol Family Professor of the 海角论坛 of Arts and Sciences. 鈥淪he has conducted original archival research that transforms our understanding of the Civil Rights Movement. Her new book on Black women鈥檚 transnational travels and activism will evidence how Black women formed international movement networks in the mid- and late-twentieth century, which serve as a precursor to contemporary organizations that struggle for justice.鈥�

Many of these professors are eager to conduct their research on campus with the help of undergraduate and graduate students’ participation. 

21st Century Postdoctoral Fellows Program Launches

The 海角论坛 is excited to continue its postdoctoral fellowship that brings exceptional early-career scholars from historically underrepresented groups in their fields to teach and pursue research in their area of interest.

This year, will serve as a postdoctoral fellow in the under . 

Tenure-Line Faculty

Full-Time Non-Tenure Line Faculty

21st Century Postdoctoral Fellows

The novel, which Colla wrote in just seven weeks, follows the saga of Muhsin al-Khafaji, a flawed and deeply human cop who unravels a mystery in 2003 war-torn Iraq. Colla was inspired to write this story after noticing that the depictions of Arab men in American media lacked any real depth of human character.

鈥淲estern screen culture tends to depict Arab men as a problem — as terrorists, fanatics, wife-beaters,鈥� Colla said in a February issue of Radio Times. 鈥淥ccasionally directors try to make individual male Arab characters likeable, but too often that involves making them super-pious, as if they can鈥檛 imagine compelling, virtuous Arab men who aren鈥檛 praying all the time. Khafaji smokes and drinks, and loves poetry. He has a messy backstory, worldly desires and sordid dreams.鈥�

Many books and films reinforce these stereotypes or, like 2008鈥檚 The Hurt Locker, fail to focus on Iraqi individuals at all. Colla hoped 鈥渢o start conversations, spark curiosity, and perhaps ignite debate among people who had never read, and never search for, Arabic novels in translation or the new scholarship on the Middle East.鈥�

Though Stephen Butchards鈥� six-part adaptation deviates from the novel, he took care to maintain the essence of Colla鈥檚 book, focusing primarily on the story of both Iraqi men and women. Colla has been immensely happy with the changes made by Butchard, stating that 鈥渟eeing the series take shape was like discovering that my novel had a sibling!鈥�

Colla also noted that this story is as important now as it was then.

鈥淭he same people who were calling for the invasion of Iraq are now calling for a war on Iran鈥he story of Baghdad Central may take place in 2003, but the characters and situations might as well have been drawn from our present moment,鈥� says Colla. 鈥淚t鈥檚 never too late to revisit an old story and re-examine its pages in the hope that we might just learn something from the past.鈥�

The series has already received positive reviews from publications like , and . 

鈥淎fter seven seasons of Homeland, it鈥檚 nice to see an Iraq war-set thriller that centers on Iraqi lives for a change,鈥� writes a reviewer from . 鈥淣ice because it鈥檚 the right thing for a socially conscious broadcaster to commission, but also just nice because it makes for some refreshingly original entertainment.鈥�

Women in Poetry

Davis has perfected the art of translating Persian poetry. As noted during her introductory remarks, he strikes a difficult balance between flowery lines and scholarly translations. Davis has not only contributed greatly to the translation of Persian poetry but also sheds light on the underrepresented female authors of these works. 

Prior to the 20th century, most Persian poets were male. If poetry was written by a woman, she tended to be of a higher social standing, such as a princess or a member of the court. Even up to the modern day, many poems with female authors have not been studied with the veracity of their male counterparts. Davis has helped bring awareness to these poets by translating their work for the first time. 

Mirror of My Heart contains work by 83 female poets from the 10th to 20th centuries. While at Georgetown, Davis shared poems by three of these poets, the contents of which varied widely from the romantic to the philosophical. 

Davis was quick to mention that many of these female poets broke convention by writing poems that were seen as unladylike. He spoke of them with admiration for their wit and skill, but also of the timelessness of their writing on subjects like love, religion, and death. The awareness that Davis has brought to these poets reminds us that there is much about our past that we can learn from and apply to today, and that by engaging with poets like these, we gain a deeper understanding of our shared humanity. 

Lifelong Passion

Davis has made his career studying medieval Persian culture and poetry, which has helped him to glean the deeper meaning behind the poems he translates from centuries long past. He holds a masters degree from Kings 海角论坛, Cambridge, and a Ph.D from the University of Manchester. Davis has translated volumes of Persian poetry with the help of his wife Afkham Darbandi. He has also written and published his own poetry such as Belonging, and A Trick of Sunlight.

Collaboration Across Departments

The co-sponsored this event with the , the , the , the , and the Jalinous Endowed Fund for Persian Studies, as part of the , directed by .