New Faculty: Jonathan R. Lawrence

Jonathan R. Lawrence

Provost's New Faculty Fellow (Starting in July 2024 as Assistant Professor), Near Eastern Studies

Academic focus:

Arabic literature and Islamic studies

Current research project: 

“Narratives of Love: Chastity, Sex and Desire in Medieval Arabic Literature and Thought”

Previous positions:

  • Departmental Lecturer in Classical Arabic Literature, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 2022-2023

Academic background:

  • D.Phil., Asian and Middle Eastern studies, University of Oxford 2022
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Education, University of Brighton, 2018
  • M.St., Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, 2017
  • B.A., Arabic and French, Somerville College, University of Oxford, 2016

Last book read:

“Porn: An Oral History” (Fitzcarraldo Editions) by Polly Barton

In your own time/when not working:

I enjoy cooking, cycling, reading, running, films and travel!

Courses you’re most looking forward to teaching:

Death and the Afterlife in Islam, Sex and Sexuality in the Pre-Modern Islamic World, Orientalism and the European Imaginary, Arabic Literature

What most excites you about Cornell:

I absolutely love teaching and interacting with students, so I am probably most looking forward to building students’ excitement about Arabic literature and the Islamic World, as well as building departmental and cross-departmental connections with the amazing scholars and faculty who work here!   

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