Biography
As an Associate Professor of English at the University of Central Florida (since 2017; Assistant Professor, 2011–2017), I hold a PhD in Early Modern Literature and Visual/Cultural Theory from Lancaster University, United Kingdom (2008). At UCF I serve as Director of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Minor and, since 2018, as Series Editor of the Anthem Press Series in Renaissance Literature and Culture.
My research situates Shakespeare and Milton within a comparative Abrahamic political theology, in sustained dialogue with Qur’anic revelation and Islamic thought, alongside a second line of inquiry in visual culture, cinema, and geo-philosophy. My publications include two monographs: Shakespeare’s Spiral (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010) and Untimely Islam: Conversing Worlds from Early Modernity to Our Contemporaneity (Brill, under contract); five edited collections, among them Shakespeare and the Future of Theory (Routledge, 2015), Reading Milton through Islam (Routledge, 2018), and David Lynch in Theory (Litteraria Pragensia | Charles University, 2010); and twenty-nine essays and chapters, among them “What Is Political Theology? Unhinging the Sovereign Body” (The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Religion, 2025), “Practices of Power: Unfolding Political Theology in Richard II” (The Comparatist, 2025), “Critical Gesture: A Poetics of Images in Shakespeare, at Last” (Picturing Shakespeare, Anthem Press, 2024), “A New Cartographer: Rabih Alameddine and An Unnecessary Woman” and “Autoscopia or la Femme-O-mirroir” (Literary Spaces of Resistance, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), “Minoring Shakespeare – Deleuze’s Tempest” (Minor Shakespeares, Routledge, 2018), and “The Voice of the Eye: Critical Gesture and Poetic Gestation in Giovanni Bellini’s Allegory of Prudence,” forthcoming in Saying the Unsayable (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026). I have delivered forty-six papers, eight of them as keynote addresses, in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
Before joining UCF, I held positions at the University of Liverpool, Qatar University, and the American University of Beirut, with visiting professorships at UCLA’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (2010) and at the American University of Beirut and the University of Balamand (2018–19); in Spring 2024 I was a guest professor at Aix-Marseille University’s Center for Anglophone Studies and Research (LERMA).
My publications are indexed on ORCID (orcid.org/0000-0002-6831-8838) and Google Scholar (scholar.google.com/citations?user=GDWHsKoAAAAJ).
Education
- Ph.D. in Early Modern British Literature & Visual/Cultural Theory from University of Lancaster, United Kingdom (2008)
Research Interests
- Early Modern Literature, Drama and Culture
- Shakespeare and his contemporaries
- Milton and his contemporaries
- Aesthetics and Representation
- Geo-philosophy and Cartography
- East ∞ West Relations
- Inter-Religious Dialogue
- Theology of Alterity
- Comparative Literature
- Cinematography
Recent Research Activities
Untimely Islam: Conversing Worlds from Early Modernity to Our Contemporaneity is under contract with Brill. Two further monographs are under review with publishers in Paris (Éditions Orizons; P.O.L.). Co-organizer of Face au Visage, international symposium at the Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence (April 2025); organizer and curator of the Zahi Zalloua guest event, Department of English 2026 Annual Symposium.
Professional Activities
- Series Editor, Anthem Press Series in Renaissance Literature and Culture (2018–present)
- Peer reviewer for Journal for Cultural Research, Shakespeare Quarterly, Journal of the Northern Renaissance, Prose Studies, Fordham University Press, and Deleuze and Guattari Studies
- Editorial board, Bethlehem University Journal
- Member: Modern Language Association, Renaissance Society of America, International Comparative Literature Association, British Shakespeare Association, International Association of Word and Image Studies
Publications
Books
- Reading Milton through Islam. Co-edited with David Currell. London and New York: Routledge, 2018
- Shakespeare and the Future of Theory. Co-edited with Johann Gregory. London: Routledge, 2015
- David Lynch in Theory. Prague: Litteraria Pragensia | Charles University, 2010
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Shakespeare’s Spiral. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010.
Edited Collections
- “Deleuze: Spaces of Change and Challenge." (with Christian Beck) Special Issue of Journal for Cultural Research
Articles/Essays
- “Practices of Power: Unfolding Political Theology in Richard II.” The Comparatist 49 (2025): 177–193
- “Critical Gesture: A Poetics of Images in Shakespeare, at Last.” Introductory essay to Picturing Shakespeare by Jean-Louis Claret. New York: Anthem Press, 2024
- “Minoring Shakespeare – Deleuze’s Tempest.” In Minor Shakespeares, edited by Simon Ryle. London: Routledge, 2018
- Deleuze and the Event(s)” (with Christian Beck). Spec. issue of Journal for Cultural Research 19 (Fall 2016).
- “Deleuze and the Grandeur of Palestine: Song of Earth and Resistance.” In Deleuze: Spaces of Change and Challenge, special issue of Journal for Cultural Research 20, no. 4 (2016)
- “Milton and Islam: Bridging Cultures” (with David Currell) English Studies 96.1 (2015): 1-5.
- Holistic Typology: ‘Uniting the Dissevered Pieces’: Quranic Retention and Protension in Milton’s Areopagitica and Nativity Ode.” English Studies 96.1 (2015): 21-43.
- “Thinking through Shakespeare and Theory.” (with Johann Gregory) English Studies 94.3 (2013): 251-258.
- Christine Buci-Glucksmann or the Archaeology of Shadows: Shakespeare and Mannerism", Critical Reader in Visual Theory, Saint, Nigel (Dir.) & Stafford, Andy (Dir.), Critical Reader in Visual Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013.
- “Lynch, Bacon, and the Formless.” In David Lynch in Theory. Prague: Litteraria Pragensia | Charles University, 2010
- “David Lynch’s Seismograph.” In David Lynch in Theory. Prague: Litteraria Pragensia | Charles University, 2010
Book Sections/Chapters
- “What is Political Theology? Unhinging the Sovereign Body.” In The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Religion, edited by Will Stockton. London and New York: Routledge, 2025
- “A New Cartographer: Rabih Alameddine and An Unnecessary Woman.” In Literary Spaces of Resistance, edited by Christian Beck. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021
- “Autoscopia or la Femme-O-mirroir.” In Literary Spaces of Resistance, edited by Christian Beck. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021
Courses
| Course # | Course | Title | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 93331 | ENL3222 | Renaissance Women in Lit | Asynchronous Online (W) | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM | Unavailable | |
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PRE-1865 and DIVERSITY. "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" (J. Kelly-Gadol). Renaissance women were often stereotypically portrayed—or objectified—as silent, chaste, pious, and obedient. Faced with many challenges, if not outright barriers, they struggled in their pursuit of knowledge and basic artistic literacy. This course, through selected texts, seeks to explore two key aspects: first, how Renaissance women were portrayed by the male writing class, and second, how some women of the period actively and vocally engaged in writing and publishing to re-fashion, interpret, and comment on the world around them. The course offers an innovative, interdisciplinary analysis of Renaissance women writers, while also providing an overview of current feminist approaches. It argues for the critical importance of reconsidering Renaissance writers in today’s context, inviting reflection on what these historical voices have to offer now and, in the future, and how our past continues to inform the present, and vice versa. Focusing on literature by and about women in the Renaissance, the course is structured into biweekly modules, each featuring a single author and their primary text(s). These readings are supported by two scholarly articles per module, each offering unique perspectives on the text and its themes. By synthesizing these articles in their analysis of the primary readings, students engage with critical scholarship, practice analytical skills, and participate in the broader scholarly conversation surrounding both Early Modern Women’s literature and contemporary feminist theory. |
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| 93333 | ENL4341 | Milton and His Age | Asynchronous Online (W) | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM | Unavailable | |
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PRE-1865 (or MAJOR AUTHOR). Who’s afraid of John Milton? In posing this question, the course aims to analyze Milton’s powerful and decisive influence and impact on the English literary Canon. This course focuses on John Milton’s lyric and epic poetry, prose, and letters, with a particular emphasis on his biblical epic, Paradise Lost. Published in 1667, Milton’s poem tells the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, their exile from Eden, and Satan’s war against God himself. Written in the aftermath of the English Civil War, Paradise Lost is an epic that explores the themes of free will, gender, obedience and defiance, republicanism, and the nature of good and evil. The seminar aims to facilitate a close reading of Milton’s poem and its themes, while introducing seminal critical interpretations and current critical/theoretical debates.
Undertaking close readings of specific Milton’s texts as well as visual artefacts such as engravings and paintings, the course provides a unique insight into Milton and Early Modern’s culture and helps refashion, re-map broader issues that engage the then emergent status of cultural and religious identity, nation, and individuality. Finally, the course argues for the critical importance of thinking Milton now. We will therefore consider what Milton has to offer now (in an age of global cultures) and in the future. |
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| Course # | Course | Title | Session | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 61478 | ENL4333 | Shakespeare Studies | A | Asynchronous Online (W) | 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM | Unavailable | |
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PRE-1865 or MAJOR AUTHOR. In this course, students will read plays from Shakespeare's tenure as chief dramatist for The Lord Chamberlain's Men and, later, The King's Men. Our discussions will involve close analysis of Shakespeare’s language, cultural context, and the various moral, political, and aesthetic issues raised in his plays and poetry. Rather than following a strict chronological order, we will take a thematic approach, allowing for a deeper exploration of key motifs such as kingship and kinship, gender, love, friendship, and reciprocal obligation. We will also examine domestic and political tyranny, revenge, and moral redemption. The course will incorporate interdisciplinary perspectives, connecting Shakespeare’s works to Renaissance-era visual art and cinema. Additionally, we will engage with contemporary critical theories to explore Shakespeare’s enduring relevance in today’s world. Plays will be supplemented by readings in Shakespearean criticism and contemporary theory. The course is structured into weekly modules, each dedicated to a single author and primary text(s). These primary readings will be supported by two scholarly articles per module, each offering unique perspectives. Through synthesis and analysis of these sources, students will engage with critical scholarship and contribute to broader discussions in Early Modern literature and contemporary theory. By undertaking close readings of Shakespeare’s texts, alongside visual artifacts such as Renaissance paintings, this course will provide insight into Early Modern culture and explore broader themes of cultural identity, nationhood, and individuality. |
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| Course # | Course | Title | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus |
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