Arabic: Modern Arabic film, literature, and media
Nathaniel Greenberg is an Assistant Professor of Arabic at George Mason University and book review editor for the Journal of Arabic Literature. His work includes the ACLA award-winning The Aesthetic of Revolution in the Film and Literature of Naguib Mahfouz (1952-1967) (Lexington 2014) and Islamists of the Maghreb (Routledge 2018) with Jeffry R. Halverson. Prior to joining Mason, Greenberg held positions as an Assistant Professor of Arabic and World Literature at Northern Michigan University and as a Postdoctoral Fellow in North African Studies with the Center for Strategic Communication at Arizona State University.
Focusing on the intersection of aesthetics, language, politics and security Greenberg's scholarship has appeared in a range of mainstream and academic journals. In 2018, his article "Mythical State: the Aesthetics and Counter-Aesthetics of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" was selected by the editors of the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication as one of the 'top 10 articles of the past 10 years.' At Mason, Prof. Greenberg teaches modern Arabic literature, film, translation and open-source media analysis. In 2015, he created the University's first BA Concentration in Arabic.
Books
Islamists of the Maghreb, with Jefrry R. Halverson. London, U.K.: Routledge. 2018.
The Aesthetic of Revolution in the Film and Literature of Naguib Mahfouz (1952-1967), Lanham M.D: Lexington Books. 2014.
Peer-Reviewed Essays
"Ahmed Khaled Towfik: Days of Rage and Horror in Arabic Science Fiction." Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 57.2. 2018.
"Mythical State: The Aesthetics and Counter-Aesthetics of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria." The Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. 2017.
"Ideology as Narrative: The Mythic Discourse of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb." The Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. Co-written with Jeffry R. Halverson. 2017.
"The Politics of Perception in Post-Revolutionary Egyptian Cinema." Arabic Literature for the Classroom. Ed. Muhsin J. al-Musawi. Routledge. 2017.
"Naguib Mahfouz's Children of the Alley and the Coming Revolution." The Comparatist. 37. 2013.
"Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Ibn Jubayr." Essays in Arabic Literary Biography 925-1350. Ed. Terri DeYoung. Harrassowitz. 2011.
"Political Modernism, Jabra, and the Baghdad Modern Art Group." Comparative Literature and Culture. 12.2. 2010.
"War in Pieces: AMIA and the Triple Frontier in Argentine and American Discourse on Terrorism." A Contracorriente. 8.1. 2010.
Translations
"The Secret Organization" (1982), by Naguib Mahfouz. Banipal: Magazine of Modern Arab Literature. 58. 2017.
Editor-Reviewed Journalism
“Exit ISIS, Stage Left: Fighting for Laughs in Mosul and Beyond.” Jadaliyya. 16 Apr 2016.
“The Rise and Fall of Abu 'Iyadh: Reported Death Leaves Questions Unanswered.” Jadaliyya, 13 Jul 2015.
“History in the Making: Tunisia’s Revolution.” The Los Angeles Review of Books, 30 May 2014.
“Emergent Public Discourse and the Constitutional Debate in Tunisia: a Critical Narrative Analysis.” TelosScope, 4 Jan 2014.
“A People's Protest? The View from a Cairo Coffeehouse.” The Seattle Times, 28 Jan 2011.
The Mathy Junior Faculty Award in the Arts and Humanities, GMU (2018)
The U.S. Department of State (CLS Alumni Development Fund, 2016)
The National Endowment for Humanities (Summer Scholar Program, 2015)
Chester Fritz [and Boeing International] UW (Egypt, 2012)
The Modern Language Quarterly (Dissertation Fellowship, 2011)
The U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (Morocco, 2010)
The U.S. Department of Education (FLAS, Egypt, 2007-08)
ARAB 250, Gateway to advanced Arabic
ARAB 390, Methods in Arabic translation
ARAB 350/351, Media Arabic
ARAB 325, Major Arabic Writers
ARAB 360, Arab Cinema
Ph.D., Comparative Literature (2012) The University of Washington
M.A., Comparative Literature (2009) The University of Washington
B.A., Comparative Literature (2003) The City University of New York- Hunter College
"Caliphate: On the Communicative Aesthetics of the Islamic State Group" (2018). Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication. UPENN. Annual Symposium: "Mediating the Islamic State."
"From Futuwwa to Baltagiyya: Populism in Post-Revolutionary Egyptian Cineam" (2018). MLA. NYC.
"Ahmed Khalid Tawfiq and the Speculative Turn in Modern Arabic Fiction" (2017). NEMLA. Baltimore, MD.
"Mythical State: The Aesthetics and Counter-Aesthetics of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria" (2016). Communication and Conflict. SOAS.
“The Politics of Perception in the Life and Work of Kamil al-Jadriji” (2015). The Middle East Studies Association. Denver, CO.
“Comparative vs. World Literature: The Great Debate in 21st American Literary Studies” (2015). Invited Lecturer. The Fulbright Commission Humanities Circle. Egypt.
“Abu ‘Iyadh: l’homme revolté [or the Discourse on Terrorism in Tunisia]” (2014). Presenter and Organizer. The Middle East Studies Association. Washington, D.C.
“Emergent Public Discourse and the Constitutional Debate in Tunisia: A Pragmatic Narrative Analysis” (2014). The Modern Language Association. Chicago, IL.
"Naguib Mahfouz's Children of the Alley and the Fall of Mubarak" (2011). Presenter and Organizer. The American Comparative Literature Association, Vancouver, B.C.
"The Existentialist of Baghdad: Jabra I. Jabra and the Art of Political Modernism" (2008). The American Comparative Literature Association. Long Beach, CA.
The Council on Foreign Relations - "From the Potomac to the Euphrates"