Brann, Ross 1949–

PERSONAL: Born September 8, 1949, in San Francisco, CA; married; children: two sons. Education: Attended Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1969; University of California—Berkeley, B.A., 1971; attended American University in Cairo, 1975; New York University, M.A., 1977, Ph.D., 1981.

ADDRESSES: Home—315 Eastwood Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850. Office—Department of Near Eastern Studies, 413 White Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-0001; fax: 607-255-6450. E-mail—rb23@cornell.edu.

CAREER: New York University, New York, NY, instructor, 1975–81, assistant professor of Near Eastern languages, 1982–86; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, assistant professor, 1986–89, associate professor, 1989–95, professor of Near Eastern studies, 1995–98, H. S. Krusen Professor of World Religions, 1995–96, Milton R. Konvitz Professor of Judeo-Islamic Studies, 1998–, Alice Cook House Professor and dean, 2003–, department chair, 1989–93, 1996–, faculty fellow, Society for the Humanities, 2002. University of Pennsylvania, Maurice Amado Foundation fellow at Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, 1998–99. State University of New York—Binghamton, visiting assistant professor, 1989; State University of New York—College at New Paltz, Resnick Distinguished Lecturer, 1992; Spertus Institute Museum, Solomon Goldman Lecturer, 2001; Drew University, Pinkus Family Lecturer, 2002; University of Washington, Seattle, Walker Ames Professor, 2003; speaker at other institutions, including Universidad de Alacala de Henares, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, University of Notre Dame, University of British Columbia, Pennsylvania State University, University of California—Berkeley, Northwestern University, and Oberlin College; conference organizer. Center for Arabic Study Abroad, member of governing council, 1993; National Security Education Program, panelist, 1994–95, 2002. 92nd Street Young Men's/Young Women's Hebrew Association, faculty member for Humanities and Jewish Omnibus, 1980–86; Cornell Hillel, member of board of directors, 2001–.

MEMBER: World Union of Jewish Studies, American Academy for Jewish Research, American Academy of Religion, American Comparative Literature Association, American Oriental Society, Association for Jewish Studies (member of board of directors, 2000–), Medieval Academy of America, Middle East Studies Association, Middle East Medievalists, Modern Language Association of America, Society for Judaeo-Arabic Studies, Society for the Medieval Mediterranean, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS: National Endowment for the Humanities, grant, 1983, fellowships, 1985, 1993–94; travel grant, Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, New York University, 1983; grants from Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, 1986, 1987, 1989; National Jewish Book Award in Sephardic Studies, Maurice Amado Foundation, 1992, for The Compunctious Poet: Cultural Ambiguity and Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain; Guggenheim fellow, 1993–94; John K. Walsh Award, Division on Medieval Spanish Language and Literature, Modern Language Association of America, 1996, for article "Shemu'el ibn Sason y su poesia hebrea en la Castilla del siglo XIV."

WRITINGS:

(Editor and author of afterword, with D. I. Owen) Isaac Rabinowitz, A Witness Forever: Ancient Israel's Perception of Literature and the Resultant Hebrew Bible, Capitol Decisions Limited Press (Bethesda, MD), 1993.

(Editor and contributor) Languages of Power in Islamic Spain, Capitol Decisions Limited Press (Bethesda, MD), 1997.

The Compunctious Poet: Cultural Ambiguity and Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1991.

Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Muslims and Jews in Islamic Spain, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2002.

(Editor, with Adam Sutcliffe, and contributor) Renewing the Past, Reconfiguring Jewish Culture: From Al-Andalus to the Haskalah, University of Pennsylvania Press (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

Contributor to books, including Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Judaic Studies in Honor of Baruch A. Levine, edited by R. Chazan, B. Hallo, and L. Schiffman, Eisenbrauns (Winona Lake, IN), 1999; Judaism and Islam: Boundaries, Communication, and Interaction; Essays in Honor of William Brinner, edited by F. Astren, B. H. Hary, and J. L. Hayes, E. J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 2000; Medieval Lyric: Genres in Historical Context, edited by William D. Paden, University of Illinois Press (Urbana, IL), 2000; The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Al-Andalus, edited by M. R. Menocal, R. P. Scheindlin, and M. Sells, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, England), 2000; and Local Knowledges, Local Practices: Cultures of Writing at Cornell, edited by Jonathan Monroe, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 2003. Contributor of articles and reviews to scholarly journals, including Journal of the American Oriental Society, Association for Jewish Studies Review, and Prooftexts: Journal for Jewish Literary History. Medieval Encounters: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Culture in Confluence and Dialogue, book review editor, 1993–98, member of editorial board, 1998–; member of editorial board, Comparative Literature Studies, 2000–.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Journal of the American Oriental Society, April-June, 1996, Baruch A. Levine, review of A Witness Forever: Ancient Israel's Perception of Literature and the Resultant Hebrew Bible, p. 285.