Stefan Maneval

 Stefan Maneval
  • Arabic & Islamic Studies

Areas of Expertise:
Urban studies; Architecture; Art; Material culture; Theology of religions; Gender studies; Middle East and Islamic studies with a regional focus on the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula

Membership:
since 2019

Contact

Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Institut für Islamwissenschaft
Fabeckstr. 23-25
14195 Berlin

stefan.maneval(at)fu-berlin.de
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About me

I am currently a visiting professor of Islamic and Middle East Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, and was previously a research fellow at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. 

For my postdoctoral research project on interreligious relations, theological discourse and collective identities in Lebanon, I received a grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). My book, New Islamic Urbanism, on public and private spaces in the Saudi city of Jeddah in the twentieth century was published by UCL Press as open access publication in 2019. 

As an AGYA member, I am eager to engage in interdisciplinary projects on the intersection of art, architecture, literature, historical and anthropological research. I am currently engaged in a project of the AGYA Working Group “Global Heritage, Global Challenges,” digitizing a unique photo archive from South Lebanon. My research areas include material and visual culture, gender studies, collective identities, and the public sphere in Muslim societies, as well as discourse on Islam in Europe. 

Together with my fellow AGYA members, I have published two edited volumes: Faith Travels by Streetcar: Norms and Objects in Religious and Secular Contexts (Berlin: Falschrum, 2021), and Forms of Migration: Global Perspectives on Im/migrant Art and Literature (co-edited with Jennifer A. Reimer; Berlin: Falschrum, 2022). 


Academic career
2021 - today Visiting Professor (Vertretungsprofessur) at the Department. of Islamic and Middle East Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
2018 - 2021 Research Associate (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter, grant provided by the BMBF) at the Department. of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
2017 - 2018 Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Orient-Institut Beirut, Lebanon
2016 - 2017 Assistant Professor (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the Department. of Social Sciences and Theology, Europa-Universität Flensburg, Germany
2016 DAVO dissertation award
2010 - 2015 Ph.D. in Islamic Studies at the Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
2010 M.A. (Magister) in Islamic Studies, Art History, Middle Eastern Archaeology from the Freie Universität  Berlin, Germany
My Commitment to AGYA
Contribution to the BBAW Salon Sophie Charlotte 2022

On a personal note

Must read in my discipline:
Joyriding in Riyadh: Oil, Urbanism, and Road Revolt by Pascal Menoret

Favourite novel:
Pledge of Allegiance to Technology by Gregory Carlock

The scientist from my country you should know:
Sarhan Dhouib, Schirin Amir-Moazami, Lokman Slim