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Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

We are one of 24 Subject Centres funded by the Higher Education Academy
Our primary aim is to support learning and teaching of Languages,
Linguistics and Area Studies across UK Higher Education

Dr Lisa Bernasek, BA MA PhD

picture of Dr Lisa Bernasek, BA MA PhD

Academic Coordinator

  • Plans and oversees activities for the Higher Education Academy’s Islamic Studies Network
  • Carried out research for HEFCE-funded study of International Approaches to Islamic Studies in Higher Education

Lisa can be contacted by
Email: llas@soton.ac.uk | Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 4814 | Fax: +44 (0)23 8059 4815

Biography

I have a BA in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University (1996), an MA in Social Anthropology from Harvard University (2003), and a PhD in Social Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies, also from Harvard University(2007). My PhD research focused on the collection, exhibition and circulation of North African art and material culture in state museums and North African-run cultural sites in Paris. I have taught courses in Social Anthropology, French Studies, Islamic Studies, and Arabic.

I worked for the Subject Centre in the academic year 2007-08 as a research fellow for a HEFCE-funded report on International Approaches to Islamic Studies. In April 2009 I rejoined the Subject Centre to support work related to Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught Languages and Literary and Cultural Studies. I am now the Academic Coordinator for the Higher Education Academy’s Islamic Studies Network. This work involves planning and overseeing events, funding opportunities, and a variety of other activities for the network.

My research interests include the languages, histories and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa and their diasporas in Europe, especially questions of cultural representation and the integration of Muslim minorities. While I was at Harvard I also developed my interests in museum studies by co-curating the exhibit Imazighen! Beauty and Artisanship in Berber Life and writing a book about the North African collections at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. I have carried out research more recently on the teaching of Arabic, Middle Eastern, and Islamic Studies in higher education in the UK and internationally. I have loved learning languages and living abroad since I first lived in Germany with my family when I was twelve. Since that time I have lived and worked in France, Egypt and Morocco as well as the UK and my native United States.

Publications

(2010) Bunt, G. and Bernasek, L. Islamic Studies Provision in the UK: a report to HEFCE by the Higher Education Academy. Bristol.

(2010) First Arts of the Maghrib: Exhibiting Berber Culture at the Musée du Quai Branly. In Hoffman, K.E. and Miller S.G. (eds.) Berbers and Others: Shifting Parameters of Ethnicity in the Contemporary Maghrib. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Bernasek, L and Canning, J. (2009) Influences on the Teaching of Arabic and Islamic Studies in UK Higher Education: connections and disconnections. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 8 (3), pp. 259-275.

(2009) Middle Eastern Studies in the UK. Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies Good Practice Guide.
www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/3192

(2008) Bunt, G. and Bernasek, L. (eds.) Subject Centres for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies and Philosophical and Religious Studies. International Approaches to Islamic Studies: a report to HEFCE. Bristol: HEFCE.
www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/rdreports/2008/rd07_08

(2008) Artistry of the Everyday: Beauty and Craftsmanship in Berber Life. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum Press.
www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/BERIMA.html

(2008) Teaching Arabic: the view from the US. Liaison Magazine 1: 33-35.

(2000) Unveiling the Orient, Unmasking Orientalism: Sophia Poole's Englishwoman in Egypt. Cairo Papers in Social Science 23 (3): 50-79.

Presentations

Secularism and the ‘Muslimisation’ of North Africans in France. Parkes Institute seminar series, University of Southampton, 28 April 2009.

Bernasek, L. and Canning, J. Influences on the teaching of Arabic in UK Higher Education: connections and disconnections. Languages in Higher Education Conference, 8-9 July 2008.

Cultural Objects in the Diaspora: Berber art and material culture in Paris. British Society for Middle Eastern Studies annual conference, 4-6 July 2008.

Arts Premiers and Diasporic Objects: Berber art and material culture in Paris. Transnational Studies seminar series, University of Southampton, 24 October 2007.

The Taste for Moroccan Arts in Paris, 1917-2006. Middle East Studies Association annual meeting, 18-21 November 2006.