He was until recently the Chair of the department and has held senior research fellowships at Harvard, Edinburgh and the ANU. He has published widely on Islamic historiography and human geography, perceptions of the other cultures, particularly medieval Hellenism, as reflected in classical Arabic literature and thought, on mutual Arab-Greek perceptions as reflected in modern creative writings, on modernity and the changing Arab city in contemporary Arabic poetry and fiction, and on contemporary Arabic-Islamic discourses on globalization, and the problematic of religion and politics in the Arab world. Contact: ahmad.shboul@sydney.edu.au