Dr. Jörg Matthias Determann

Specialization

History; Science, Technology & Society

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, History, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, 2012.

• Magister der Philosophie, History, University of Vienna, 2007.

• Magister der Philosophie, Arabic Studies, University of Vienna, 2007.

Biography

I am very fortunate to work as a faculty member in the Liberal Arts & Sciences program at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar. I also have the honor of serving as an associate editor of the Review of Middle East Studies. Previously, I had the good fortune of working at Zentrum Moderner Orient, Freie Universität Berlin, SOAS, University of London, and King Saud University. I also had the privilege of being a visiting scholar at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.

I am deeply grateful to a number of organizations for generously supporting my research. They include Qatar Foundation, Gerda Henkel Stiftung, the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, the Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation, the Society for Arabian Studies, the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, and Stiftung Hans. Finally, I sincerely thank my family, friends, colleagues, students, teachers and mentors for their invaluable guidance, encouragement and assistance.

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the history of science and scholarship and in the history of the Muslim world. I am immensely thankful to I.B. Tauris for publishing the following four books of mine: Historiography in Saudi Arabia; Researching Biology and Evolution in the Gulf States; Space Science and the Arab World; and Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life. My current project is entitled Diversifying Modern Astronomy: A History of Science and Activism. You can find more about my research here.

Teaching Experience

• HIST 341 The Modern Middle East
• HIST 340 The Middle East, 600-1600
• HIST 202 History Without Borders: Global Science
• HIST 201 The Art of Historical Detection
• HIST 101 and 102 Survey of European History
• SCTS 200 Science in Society: Values, Ethics and Politics

Publications

• “Kindness in the Classroom Is More Important Than Ever During Covid-19.” Al-Fanar Media, July 20, 2021. https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2021/07/kindness-in-the-classroom-is-more-important-than-ever-during-covid-19/
• “How to Create Safe Spaces for Teaching Taboo Topics.” Al-Fanar Media, June 30, 2021. https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2021/06/how-to-create-safe-spaces-for-teaching-taboo-topics/.
• “Teaching Middle Eastern History Through Games.” Al-Fanar Media, June 9, 2021. https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2021/06/teaching-middle-eastern-history-through-games/.
• “Universities That Teach in English Should Aim for Linguistic Diversity Too.” Al-Fanar Media, May 27, 2021. https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2021/05/universities-that-teach-in-english-should-aim-for-linguistic-diversity-too/
• “Just astronomy.” Nature Astronomy 5, no. 4 (2021): 336–37.
• “How Much Academic Freedom Should Students Have?” Al-Fanar Media, April 1, 2021. https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2021/04/how-much-academic-freedom-should-students-have/.
• “Teaching and Researching Arabia in Arabia.” The IASA Bulletin 26 (2021): 10–11.
• “al-ʿUthaymīn, ʿAbdallāh al-Ṣāliḥ.” In The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three, edited by Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Rowson, John Nawas, and Everett Rowson, Part 2021-1: 149–51. Leiden: Brill.
• Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life: The Culture of Astrobiology in the Muslim World. London: I.B. Tauris, 2021.
• “Teaching with Podcasts.” Newsletter of the History of Science Society 49, no. 4 (2020): 10–11.
• “Islamophobia & Civilization: Surveying European History from the Middle East.” Communiqué 102 (2020): 35–36.
• “The unlikely role of dinosaurs in the diversity discourse.” Science 369, no. 6504 (2020): 632.
• “Transcending Middle East conflict in the space race.” Nature Middle East, June 30,2020.
   https://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2020.69
• “History of Astronomy and Space Science in the Islamic World.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies, edited by Natana DeLong-Bas. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.
• Space Science and the Arab World: Astronauts, Observatories and Nationalism in the Middle East. London: I.B.Tauris, 2018.
• Researching Biology and Evolution in the Gulf States: Networks of Science in the Middle East. London: I.B.Tauris, 2015.
• كتابة التاريخ في المملكة العربية السعودية: العولمة والدولة في الشرق الأوسط، ترجمة عبدالله بن إبراهيم العسكر. بيروت: جداول، 2015.
• ”Dynastic Periodization and its Limits: Historiography in Contemporary Arab Monarchies.” Der Islam 91, no. 1 (2014): 95–114.
• Historiography in Saudi Arabia: Globalization and the State in the Middle East. London: I.B.Tauris, 2014.
• “Recent Science in Arabia: Networks of Biology and Evolution in the Gulf Monarchies.” Orient Bulletin 24 (2013): 3–4.
• “How Saudis Write Their History: Historiography in Saudi Arabia.” Bulletin of the British Foundation for the Study of Arabia 17 (2012): 4–5.
• “Die Entwicklung von Geschichtsschreibung in Saudi-Arabien: Erschließung der modernen Geistesgeschichte eines wichtigen, aber kaum erforschten Landes.” L.I.S.A.: Das Wissenschaftsportal der Gerda Henkel Stiftung, March 9, 2010. http://www.lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/content.php?nav_id=997.
• “Edge of Arabia: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia, exhibition in the Brunei Gallery at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 10/16/2008 – 12/13/2008.” Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 2, no. 1 (2009): 171–75.
•  “The Crusades in Arab School Textbooks.” Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 19, no. 2 (2008): 199–214.

Presentations

• “Diversifying modern astronomy: a history of academic activism.” 26th International Congress of History of Science and Technology, Prague, Czech Republic, 2021.
• “Futurisms in the Muslim World.” Department of English Language and Literature, Cappadocia University, Turkey, 2021.
• “Muslim Futurisms: Science and the Imagination Across Asia.” Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London, United Kingdom, 2021.
• “Arabische Astronaut*innen.” Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Germany, 2020.
• “The History of Astrobiology and the Muslim World.” Global Digital History of Science Festival, British Society for the History of Science, 2020. 
• “The International Astronomical Union and the Arab World: Bridging Communities in Science and Outreach.” XXXth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, Vienna, Austria, 2018.
• “Lord of the Worlds: Islam, Astrobiology, and Science Fiction in the Middle East.” World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo and Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain, 2018.
•  “Muslim Worlds: Extraterrestrial Life and Scientific Imagination in the Middle East.” British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Annual Conference, New Approaches to Studying the Middle East, King’s College London, United Kingdom, 2018.
• “Arab Space Science: Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism.” 25th International Congress of History of Science and Technology, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2017.
• “La conquête arabe de l’espace.” Rendez-vous de l’Histoire du monde arabe, troisième édition, Frontière(s), Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France, 2017.
• “Space Politics and Security in the Middle East.” Philosophy, International Studies and Economics (PISE) Lecture, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, 2017.
• “Space Science and Politics in the Middle East.” Political Economy Cluster Seminar, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, 2017.
• “Arab World Science: Transnational Networks and Modern Astronomy.” British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Annual Conference, Networks: Connecting the Middle East Through Time, Space and Cyberspace. University of Wales Trinity Saint David, United Kingdom, 2016.
• “Arab World Science: Transnational Astronomy and Modern Egypt.” Eighth Three Societies Meeting of the British Society for the History of Science, the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, and the History of Science Society, Transitions. University of Alberta, Canada, 2016.
• “Crossing the Cosmos: Modern Arab Space Scientists.” Institute of Near Eastern and African Studies, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, 2016.
• “Rentier science: history of biology and evolution in the Arab Gulf States.” British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference, Swansea University, Wales, 2015.
• “Biology, Evolution and Scientific Islands of Efficiency in Arabia.” Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, held as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ontario, 2015.
• “Transnational Biology and Astronomy in the Gulf: Globalization and Science in the Middle East.” Liberal Arts International Conference Looking Forward, Looking Back: Transnational Perspectives on Globalization, Texas A&M University at Qatar, 2015.
• “Researching Biology and Evolution in the Gulf States: Networks of Science in the Middle East.” Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference, Doha, Qatar, 2013.
• “Scientific Networks, Evolution and the Saudi Wildlife Commission.” In Search of the Kingdom – Emerging Scholarship on Saudi Arabia: From the First Saudi State to the Present, workshop, Zentrum Moderner Orient and Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 2013.
• “Dynastic Periodization and its Limits: Historiography in Contemporary Arab Monarchies.” What is in a Period? ‘Jāhiliyya’, ‘ʿAbbāsid’, and ‘Arab Spring’ in Arabic Historical Writing, Arabic Pasts: Histories and Historiography workshop, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University, and School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, United Kingdom, 2012.
• “Globalization, the State, and Narrative Plurality: Historiography in Saudi Arabia.” British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Annual Conference in association with the European Association for Middle Eastern Studies and the Asian Federation of Middle East Associations, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, 2011.
• “Architectural Heritage in Saudi Arabia: From the Dynasty to the Nation.” Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London, United Kingdom, 2010.
• “Globalization, the State, and Narrative Plurality: Historiography in Saudi Arabia, 1924–2010.” 44th Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), San Diego, California, United States of America, 2010.
• “Globalization, the State, and Narrative Plurality: Historiography in Saudi Arabia, 1932–2010.” Third World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, 2010.
• “The Emergence and Challenges of a National Historiography in Saudi Arabia.” Arabic Pasts: Histories and Historiography workshop, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University, and School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, United Kingdom, 2009.
• “Spaces in Contemporary Historiography in Saudi Arabia.” Frontiers: Space, Separation and Contact in the Middle East, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Annual Conference, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, 2009.
• “Contemporary Historiography in Saudi Arabia.” Seminar on the History of the Near and Middle East, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, United Kingdom, 2009.
• “Kulturelle Strömungen im öffentlichen Raum: eine Reise durch Saudi-Arabien.” Institut für Orientalistik, University of Vienna, Austria, 2008.

Honors

• Distinguished Achievement in Research Award, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, 2015.
• BRISMES Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize for the best PhD dissertation on a Middle Eastern topic, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and Leigh Douglas Memorial Fund, 2013.
• Abdullah Mubarak BRISMES Scholarship, Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation and the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, 2010.
• Sir Peter Holmes Memorial Award for Travel, Royal Society for Asian Affairs, United Kingdom, 2009.
• Prize (Würdigungspreis) for the best university graduates in Austria, Austrian Federal Minister of Science and Research, 2007.

Professional Service

• Associate Editor, Review of Middle East Studies (Middle East Studies Association and Cambridge University Press), since 2017.
• Member, Editorial Board, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes (University of Vienna), since 2016.
• Chair, Faculty and Staff Life Committee, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar,  2021–2022.
• Chair, Teaching and Learning Committee, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, 2020–2021.
• Chair, Faculty Research Grant Committee, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, 2018–2019.
• Co-chair, Faculty Advisory Committee, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, 2016–2017.
• Chair, Research Development Committee, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, 2013–2015.