Nora Derbal

Nora Derbal is an Assistant Professor (Juniorprofessorin W1) of Islamic Studies at the Asia Africa Institute of the University of Hamburg since July 2024. Previously, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Martin Buber Society of Fellows (2020–2025) and was a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at the American University in Cairo (2018–2020). She earned her PhD in Islamic Studies from Freie Universität Berlin (2017), and conducted research at institutions including the Oriental Institute Beirut, Effat University (Jeddah), and the King Faisal Center in Riyadh.

Her research focuses on Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula, emphasizing civil society dynamics, state-society relations, Islamic charity, gender, youth activism, and historical studies of 19th-century travel narratives. She is particularly known for her 2022 monograph *Charity in Saudi Arabia: Civil Society under Authoritarianism*, which won the Polonsky Prize and was selected as a *TLS* Book of the Year. Her work bridges historical, ethnographic, and decolonial methodologies.

Derbal’s current projects include a biographical study of 19th-century German Orientalist Heinrich von Maltzan and the role of travel writing in knowledge production about Islam. She also organizes conferences and publishes on topics such as Saudi legal history, Gulf civil society, and de-colonial approaches in Middle Eastern Studies.

• Education:
  • PhD in Islamic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin (2017)
  • MA in Islamic Studies and Middle East History, Freie Universität Berlin/Humboldt Universität (2011)
  • Studies at Oxford University and Effat University (Jeddah)
• Key Research Interests:
  • Saudi Arabian social structures
  • Islamic charity and philanthropy
  • Gender and youth activism
  • Historical epistemologies of the Middle East in European scholarship
• Awards:
  • Polonsky Prize (2023)
  • *TLS* Book of the Year (2022)
  • Core Course Competition Winner (AUC, 2019)
• Teaching:
  • Courses on Arab society, civil society, and gender at AUC and Freie Universität Berlin

She serves as Book Review Editor for *Die Welt des Islams* and actively engages in outreach through public lectures and media contributions, including analyses of Saudi social reforms and Gulf civil society challenges.