Avigail Noy

Avigail Noy serves as an Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, with an affiliate appointment in the Program in Comparative Literature. Her academic home is within the College of Liberal Arts, where she contributes to the Department of Middle Eastern Studies. Noy holds a PhD from Harvard University in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, establishing her foundation in the scholarly study of Middle Eastern cultures and languages.

Her research expertise centers on classical Arabic literature and Islamic civilization, with particular emphasis on pre-modern Arabic literary and linguistic traditions. Noy's scholarly work explores poetics, rhetoric, literary criticism, grammar, Qur'anic hermeneutics, and adab. Her current book project examines the development of Arabic poetics in the thirteenth century, building on her established reputation for insightful analysis of early Islamic conceptions of metaphorical language.

Through her publications, Noy has made significant contributions to understanding Arabic linguistic tradition, particularly regarding the work of influential figures like ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī and Sībawayhi. Her research demonstrates how metaphorical thinking evolved within early Arabic grammatical works, revealing connections between literary environments and linguistic theory development in 8th-century Iraq. Noy's methodological approach often bridges historical linguistics with literary analysis to uncover how technical terms like majāz functioned in their original contexts.

Noy teaches a diverse range of courses including Secrets Of Arabic Eloquence, Reading Arabic Literature, The Arabian Nights, and The Arabic Humanities. Her course offerings span multiple departments including Middle Eastern Studies (MES), Middle Eastern Languages (MEL), Comparative Literature (C L), and Religious Studies (R S), reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to Middle Eastern scholarship and her commitment to providing students with comprehensive exposure to Arabic literary traditions.