Jörg Matthias Determann's Blog, page 5

Hosting Peter Gould in Qatar

My heartfelt gratitude to Peter Gould for giving an inspiring and moving speech at the 2025 commencement ceremony of Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar! I had the immense honor of hosting and escorting Peter during his time in Doha. His trip included a visit to our Year End Show “Art and Design Now” at M7. I had the distinct pleasure of introducing him to many of our graduates, including Syed Erzum Naqvi, Shima Aeinehdar and Saga Elkabbash. I owe the unique opportunity of hosting Peter to my colleagues in our Department of Strategic Engagement, especially Lejla Nikšić, Maya Roeder and Isabel Latayan-Pascua. Asmaa Benkermi shared with me professional photographs taken by Sunny Dave, some of which also made it into a story on our website: https://qatar.vcu.edu/news/vcuarts-qa...

Documentary about Ameen Rihani on AlAraby Television

Alf shukr and thank you a thousand times to Eman Alsoudi for inviting me to serve as an on-screen contributor to a documentary about Ameen Rihani as part of the series مذكرات (Memoirs) on AlAraby Television. Eman and Mohamad Said asked me wonderful questions about Rihani’s relationship with the “kings of the Arabs” (ملوك العرب) during an interview recorded at Calm Street in Lusail last July. Ahmad Hammad of Fisheye Films was responsible for direction and other coordination. Maegan Palmario operated a Sony camera, and Ibrahim Al-Hilal was our producer. The film was aired on AlAraby Television on May 13, 2025. You can stream it on Alaraby Plus: https://www.alarabyplus.net/ar/node/2...

Natana DeLong-Bas reviews Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life

I have been thanking Natana DeLong-Bas for over a decade, ever since she first engaged with my scholarship on Saudi Arabia. This time, I ask her to accept my gratitude for a thoughtful review she composed of Shoaib Ahmed Malik’s and my edited volume Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life (I.B. Tauris). Natana, who teaches at Boston College, writes that our book “raises important theological questions.” She adds: “Hopefully observant readers will ponder for themselves the theological implications for all life forms, whether of this world or others as yet unknown.” Her review appeared in Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations 35, no. 4 (2024), 415–17. You can get access to this journal through Taylor & Francis: https://doi.org/10.1080/09596410.2025...

Featured Employee in HRConnect newsletter

Thank you very much and terima kasih banyak to Lolyta Poniman and her colleagues in our Department of Human Resources at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar for including me in a new section of their newsletter called “Featured Employee”! A paragraph about my daughter Maria and me plus a photograph taken by Jeanne Vaz appeared in issue 24 of HRConnect (May 2025). The title is “Jörg Matthias Determann: Love Language.” This issue of HRConnect, which also features Nishi Rafols, was distributed via email on May 13, 2025. I archived it on Academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/129343809/J%...

Olga Protopopova and Maria Determann play “Lullaby” by George Shearing

Thank you, Спасибо and дякую to Olga Protopopova for allowing my daughter Maria to participate in a celebration of International Jazz Day at the International Centre for Music (ICM) in Qatar! Olga and Maria played “Lullaby” by George Shearing on a Steinway & Sons grand piano on May 2, 2025. I am deeply indebted to Olga for teaching Maria and to my wife, Jeanne Vaz, for practicing with our daughter every day. The ICM published a recording on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ICMQATAR/vid...

Journal of Arabian Studies 14.1 released

In my role as Book Review Editor of the Journal of Arabian Studies, I must give thanks to the contributors to our latest issue. Volume 14, number 1, is formally dated June 2024, but was published online on May 7, 2025. Our authors include Amal Sachedina, Fariz Alnizar, Maha Fallatah, Simon Coppieters and Thomas Lippman. I thank Bloomsbury, Cambridge University Press, Routledge and Stanford University Press, for publishing the works under review and sending copies. I worked most directly with Gerd Nonneman and Fatemeh Teimoorzadeh in editing the pieces. Joselle Duculan-Macarandan, our production editor, completed essential work further in the background. You can find the contents of this issue on the website of Taylor & Francis: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjab2...

Maryam Al-Tajer defends MFA thesis on spirituality

Alf mabrūk (a thousand congratulations) to Maryam Al-Tajer on successfully defending her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) thesis at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar! Her project is entitled “Vessels of Spirituality: Merging Faith and Form.” I thank my fellow committee members, Giovanni Innella and Yasmeen Suleiman, for advising Maryam in this work together with me. I also say grazie to Marco Bruno for scheduling the oral defenses and thanks to Rab McClure for directing our MFA program. Our colleagues at our VCU Graduate School in Richmond, including Manu Gupta, Sarah Steele, Kat Roberson and Cynthia Myron, provided additional support. Maryam’s objects are on display at our show Art and Design Now at M7 till July 5, 2025. Her thesis is available on our Scholars Compass: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/8...

New issue (57.2) of Review of Middle East Studies

As Associate Editor of the Review of Middle East Studies (RoMES), I have to say a big thank you to the contributors to our most recent issue (volume 57, number 2). I am particularly indebted to Zarqa Parvez and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, the authors of an article and a review respectively. I have worked most closely with the two of them. Additionally, I thank my colleagues in our Editorial Office, Heather Ferguson, Ghayde Ghraowi and ErisJames Elliot, plus our collaborators at Cambridge University Press for their leadership and efforts. The new issue of RoMES is formally dated December 2023, but was published online in its entirety on April 25, 2025. You can scroll the contents on Cambridge Core: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journa...

Nick Campion reviews Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Astronomy

A very big thanks and diolch yn fawr iawn to Nicholas Campion of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David for writing a long and detailed review of my book Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Astronomy: A Modern History (Springer)! He engages with my work over ten pages (293–302) in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (JAHH) 28, no. 1 (2025). Nick concludes: “Overall, this is an important and thought-provoking book, which provides a valuable addition to the work on the history of modern astronomy, and of the emerging field of cultural astronomy, a reminder that astronomers, like any other professional group, have a culture. Determann should be congratulated for opening complex new academic terrain with sensitivity and rigorous attention to detail.” The JAHH is published by the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). I express sincere gratitude to the editorial team and especially to Clifford Cunningham and Wayne Orchiston. Read and download this open access content on SciEngine: https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.140-2807...

New website of Qatar Teaching and Learning Forum

My profoundest gratitude to Peter Martin, Nimer Murshid and Sahar Mari for commissioning a new website for our Qatar Teaching and Learning Forum (QTLF)! Reem Kensouh, Hiba Hamad, and Khalifa Al Thani, three students at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar, built the site for us under the mentorship of their professor, Mohammad Aazam. They used Squarespace. You can browse our new pages and find links to our Instagram and LinkedIn profiles here: https://qtlf.org/