# Core Faculty ## expand\_more [### Ali Asani (On Leave) ](/people/ali-asani) Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ali Asani is Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures. He has served as the Director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard... ![asani](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/nelcnew/files/asani.jpg?itok=rZ6m4BLs) [### Nicholas Boylston (On Leave) ](/people/nicholas-boylston-0) Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Nicholas Boylston is a scholar of classical Persian literature and Persianate Islam. His research focuses on themes of diversity and unity in the writings of Sufis, philosophers and litterateurs from the Persianate world. He is currently completing a book... ![Nicholas Boylston](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/nelcnew/files/img_3423.jpeg?itok=VAMfxQCO) [### Andrew Danielson (On Leave) ](/people/andrew-danielson) Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Andrew Danielson is a Levantine Archaeologist specializing in the first millennium BCE southern Levant. His work examines changes to sociopolitical organization and complexity, cross-cultural interaction, and identity negotiation. His work also engages... ![Andrew Danielson](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/nelcnew/files/danielson_harvard_bio.jpg?itok=MshLf01M) [### Céline Debourse ](/people/c%C3%A9line-debourse) Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Céline Debourse is an Assyriologist specializing in the languages, history, and religion of Babylonia during the first millennium BCE. Her work draws on a broad spectrum of methods and disciplines, from rigorous philological analysis, through historical... ![Céline Debourse](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/nelcnew/files/d_r_slyn_dbvrs_dr._celine_debourse_1.jpg?itok=Zf9KwihF) [### Khaled El-Rouayheb ](/people/khaled-el-rouayheb) James Richard Jewett Professor of Islamic Intellectual History Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies Khaled El-Rouayheb’s research interests include: the intellectual and cultural history of the Arabic-Islamic world in the Mamluk and early-Ottoman periods (1200-1800); the history of Arabic logic; Islamic theology and philosophy. He holds a BA in... ![El-Rouayheb](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-01/IMG_0038.jpeg?h=7481edf5&itok=Vzqc3Agz) [### Jay M. Harris ](/people/jay-m-harris) Harry Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies Harris has been on the Faculty since 1989. He specializes in Modern Jewish Intellectual and Cultural History, teaching courses on modern Jewish religion, law, thought, and culture, primarily in Europe. He also teaches two Gen Ed courses in the Ethics and... ![Jay M. Harris](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/nelcnew/files/harris2.jpg?itok=_ZMpllHC) [### Peter Der Manuelian ](/people/peter-der-manuelian) [peter\_manuelian@harvard.edu](mailto:peter_manuelian@harvard.edu)Barbara Bell Professor of Egyptology; Director of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East Peter Der Manuelian is the Barbara Bell Professor of Egyptology and holds a joint appointment in the Anthropology Department and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He is also director of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East... ![Peter Der Manuelian](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/nelcnew/files/2022-03-20_pdm_img_9125-laurie_thomas300.jpg?itok=95dbb5sq) [### Christina Maranci ](/people/christina-maranci) Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies Chair of the Department Christina Maranci is Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University, a Harvard College Professor, Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and holds a joint appointment in the History of Art and Architecture. She... ![maranci.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/nelcnew/files/maranci.jpg?itok=tr01mghl) [### Jessica Marglin ](/people/jessica-marglin) Jacob E. Safra Professor of Jewish History and Sephardic Civilization Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies Jessica Marglin’s research examines the history of Jews in North Africa and the Mediterranean in the modern period, with a particular emphasis on law. She draws on sources in Arabic, Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, and multiple European languages. Her first book... ![Marglin](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-06/Marglin.jpg?itok=pdsN6184) [### Adam Mestyan (On Leave) ](/people/adam-mestyan-leave) Ford Foundation Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Research interests : Modern Middle Eastern History (Ottoman and Post-Ottoman); Social and Cultural History; Historical Anthropology; Empire/Law Prof. Mestyan is on sabbatical leave during 2026-27. During this period, he is a Guggenheim Fellow, a... ![Mestyan](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-07/Mestyan.png?itok=7FZxDl0I) [### Julia Rhyder ](/people/julia-rhyder) John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Julia Rhyder is a specialist of the Hebrew Bible with a particular interest in ritual texts and the history of the Israelite cult. She is the author of Centralizing the Cult: The Holiness Legislation in Leviticus 17–26 (Mohr Siebeck, 2019), which was... ![Rhyder](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-07/JH203993.jpg?h=247fd435&itok=hyUYJkXj) [### David Stern (On Leave) ](/people/david-stern) Harry Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Jewish and Hebrew Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature Research Fields: Classical and Modern Hebrew Literature; History of Biblical Interpretation, Jewish and Christian; Intersection of contemporary literary theory and hermeneutics with ancient and medieval exegesis; ancient and medieval Judaism; History of... ![david_stern](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/nelcnew/files/david_stern_0.png?itok=_eNMg0LZ) Show morerefresh