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Shawkat Toorawa

Shawkat Toorawa

· Brand Blanshard Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Professor of Comparative Literature

Yale University · Comparative Literature

Active 1988–2025

h-index9
Citations333
Papers578470 last 5y
Funding—

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About

Shawkat Toorawa is the Brand Blanshard Professor of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale University. He has previously taught Arabic at Duke University, medieval French literature and Indian Ocean studies at the University of Mauritius, and Arabic and comparative literature at Cornell University. Since joining Yale in 2016, his courses have included topics on medieval Baghdad, Arabic and Islamic Classics, medieval and early modern travel accounts, and graduate seminars on Arabic literature. His research interests encompass classical and medieval Arabic literature, the literary and writerly culture of Abbasid Baghdad, the literary dimensions of the Qur’an, and the cultural and historical significance of the Waqwaq Tree and islands. He has authored and edited several books, including 'Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition', 'Ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur and Arabic Writerly Culture: A ninth-century bookman in Baghdad', and a critical edition of Ibn al-Sa‘i’s 'Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad'. He is a director of the School of Abbasid Studies, series editor of Resources in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Lockwood Press, and of Cultural Legacies at Pink Pigeon Press/Solitaire. Additionally, he serves on the editorial or advisory boards of multiple journals such as the Journal of Abbasid Studies, the Journal of Arabic Literature, the Journal of Qur’anic Studies, and Middle Eastern…

Research topics

  • Chemistry
  • Computer Science
  • Art
  • Biochemistry
  • Literature
  • Philosophy
  • Linguistics
  • Psychology
  • Geology
  • Aesthetics

Selected publications

Frequent coauthors

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