Date:
Location:
2012 H.A.R. Gibb Arabic & Islamic Studies Lecture Series
featuring
Nelly Hanna
Distinguished University Professor, American University of Cairo
Nelly Hanna is Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Civilization at the American University in Cairo. Hanna earned her Doctorat d’Etat at the University of Aix-en-Provence in France. She has been teaching full-time at AUC since 1991. She has also been professor/guest lecturer at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (May–June 1998), at Harvard University (January–June 2001), and at Waseda University, Tokyo (December 2008–January 2009).
Hanna's research interests are in the Ottoman history of the Arab world (1500–1800) with special focus on the economic, social and cultural aspects of this period. Her interest in this period started with a study of middle class housing in 17th- and 18th-century Cairo, undertaken both as an archival study based on court records and a study of the architecture of remaining houses. While researching this subject in the archives, she became interested in the material she found on a 17th-century merchant, who eventually became the subject of a book on his life, his business ventures and his family. The research for this book entailed much reading on economic history. Hanna is still pursuing this channel in her present research.
Hanna's publications include: Artisan Entrepreneurs in Cairo and Early Modern Capitalism (Syracuse, 2011); In Praise of Books, a Cultural History of Cairo’s Middle Class 16–18th centuries (Syracuse, 2003); Making Big Money in 1600: The Life and Times of Isma`il Abu Taqiyya, Egyptian Merchant (Syracuse, 1998); Habiter au Caire: La Maison Moyenne et ses habitants aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siecles (Cairo, 1991); and An Urban History of Bulaq in the Mamluk and Ottoman Periods (Cairo, 1983).
This is the second of three lectures by Professor Hanna in the 2012 H.A.R. Gibb Lectures series. For information on the other lectures, please use the links below:
October 29, 2012 — 17th- and 18th-century Arabic Texts: Colloquial in Language, Scholarly in Genre
October 31, 2012 — Artisans, Spies and Manufacturers: 18th-century East-West Transfers of Technology
Contact: Liz Flanagan