Dr. Anna Hager, MA

Biography

  • Since October 2019: recipient of the Herta Firnberg fellowship of the Austrian Science Fund (PI). Research project: the Syriac Orthodox Community in Lebanon (1918-1982)
  • 2019: Coordinator of the University Platform PLURIEL for research on Islam at the Catholic University of Lyon, France
  •  2018-2019: postdoctoral research associate at the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies (IvOC), Nijmegen, Netherlands. Research project: Mass conversions to the Syriac Orthodox Church in Guatemala (see publication list). Fieldwork in Guatemala and Los Angeles
  • 2017 and 2018 Summer school, Syriac Beginners and Advanced, Beth Mardutho Syriac Institute, New Jersey, US
  • 2016-2017: postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton, New Jersey, US. Research project: Islamist and Salafi attitudes towards Coptic Egyptians in post-revolutionary Egypt (2011–2013) (see list of publications)
  • 2016: PhD in Arabic Studies, University of Vienna. Dissertation: Christian-Muslim Relations in the Context of the Video “The Innocence of Muslims” in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories (September 2012)
  • 2014-2015: Field-work in Beirut, Université Saint-Joseph, Cairo, Jerusalem, Amman with “Marietta Blau” Mobility of the OeAD
  • 2012: MA Islamic Studies, University of Vienna
  • 2009 : BA Iranian Studies, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco), Paris
  • 2008 : BA History, Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), Paris

Research Interests

  • Modern Islamic and Islamist Movements
  • Christian-Muslim relarions in the Middle East
  • Middle Eastern Christianity

Teaching


Lectures (invitations)

  • Fall 2022, University of Vienna, Lecture given as part of the BA course “Einführung in den Islam” taught by Prof. Wolfram Reiss: Der Koran, seine Lesarten und Rezitation
  • Spring 2020 : École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Ehess), Paris, France, Lecture given as part of the MA course “anthropologie historique des chrétiens en Islam” taught by Prof. Bernard Heyberger : De la dispersion à la ṭāʾifa : les syriaques orthodoxes de Beyrouth après la Première Guerre mondiale
  • Fall 2019, University of Vienna, Lecture given a spart of the MA course “Ägyptisches Christentum in Zeiten des gesellschaftlichen und politischen Umbruchs” taught by Prof. Wolfram Reiss: Kopten und Islamisten nach dem Arabischen Frühling
  • Fall 2019, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, invitation by Prof. Michaela Quast-Neulinger: Islamische Einstellungen zu den Christen im Nahen Osten. Zwischen Dhimma und Realpolitik”
  • Fall 2017, Diplomatic Academy, Vienna, Prof. Neudeck, “Interdisciplinary Lecture and Seminar Series”: Christian-Muslim Relations in the Contemporary Arab World
  • Spring 2016, University of Vienna, Lecture given as part of the MA course, “Aktuelle Themen des Nahen Ostens und der Integration von Muslimen in europäischen Gesllschaften” taught by Prof. Wolfram Reiss: Die Anfänge der Muslimbruderschaft, Sayyid Qutb

 

Publications

Book

Peer-reviewed Articles

  • Darf ein Muslime frohe Weihnachten und frohe Ostern wünschen? Eine inner-islamische Polemik um eine soziale Praxis im post-revolutionären Ägypten (2011-2013), in Uta Heil, Annette Schellenberg (Hrg), Zukunft der Theologie – Theologie der Zukunft (Vienna University Press: Press, 2023), 415-423
  • The Syriac Orphanage and School in Beirut: Building an Elite Transnational Syriac Identity, Studies in World Christianity, Volume 28,3 (2022): 311–333, DOI: 10.3366/swc.2022.0402
  • Die Christen in Jordanien nach 2011, Ostkirchliche Studien, Volume 69:1 (2020): 103-116
  • When Ephrem Meets the Maya: Defining and Adapting the Syriac Orthodox Tradition in Guatemala" Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, Volume 23,2 (2020): 215–262, https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv23n2hager
  • The Emergence of a Syriac Orthodox Mayan Church in Guatemala, International Journal of Latin American Religions (2019), https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs41603-019-00083-1
  • The Orthodox Issue in Jordan: The Struggle for an Arab and Orthodox Identity, Studies in World Christianity, Volume 24, 3 (2018): 212-233, DOI: 10.3366/swc.2018.0228
  • Die Kopten und der Arabische Frühling. Zwischen politischer Emanzipation und Minderheitenstatus, Études Asiatiques/Asiatische Studien, Volume 72, 3 (2018): 795-817, DOI 10.1515/asia-2017-0004         
  • From ʻPolytheists’ to ʻPartners in the Nation’: Islamist Attitudes towards Coptic Egyptians in Post-Revolutionary Egypt (2011-2013), Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Volume 29, 3 (2018): 289-308, DOI 10.1080/09596410.2018.1480337
  • ʻLebanon is more than a Nation, more than a Country. It is a Message.’ Lebanon as a Model of Christian-Muslim Relations, Journal of Beliefs and Values, special issue ʻHow do we see each other? Interdisciplinary studies of relations between Abrahamic religions,’ Volume 38, 3 (2017): 286-295, DOI: 10.1080/13617672.2017.1317523

Collective volume

  • Younès, Michel; Hager, Anna; Basanese, Laurent; Sarrio-Cucarella, Diego, Islam et appartenance (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2020, ISBN 978-2-343-19867-5)

Selected Presentations

  • October 2024, Documentation Centre Political Islam, 3rd CERA conference “Political Islam between Idea and Practice” (invivation), Vienna: “The Moderation of Egyptian Salafism during the Arab Spring”
  • January 2024, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (invitation), ERC conference “Rewriting Global Orthodoxy: Oriental Orthodox Communities in a Transnational World”: Keynote: The Oriental Orthodox Laity Going Global: New Opportunities and Old Patterns
  • September 2022, Université Saint-Joseph, Beirut, Lebanon (invitation): Les Chrétiens d’Orient dans l’imaginaire collectif occidental : vers un apport nuancé de l’historiographie
  • July 2022, BRISMES Annual Conference, University of Saint Andrews: The French Mandate’s alleged protection of Middle Eastern Christianity: a false-flag kidnapping, weak French and angry patriarchs
  • June 2019, 8th North American Syriac Symposium, Brown University, Rhode Island, US:     The Syriac Orthodox in Lebanon after WWI: The Emergence of a ṭāʾifa
  • January 2019: IvOC/Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, organisation of the Workshop “Redefining Syriac Christianity in a Globalized 21st Century”: When Ephrem meets the Maya. Transposing and Adapting the Syriac Orthodox Tradition in Guatemala
  • June 2018: University Platform PLURIEL for Research on Islam, Rome, Italy, Conference “Islam et appartenances”: Les Fondements de la citoyenneté des non-musulmans – des lectures islamiques modernes d’Égypte et du Liban
  • November 2017: MESA Annual Conference, Washington D.C., U.S.: From ʻPolytheists’ to ʻPartners in the Nation:’ Islamist Attitudes towards Coptic Egyptians in Post-Revolutionary Egypt”
  • September 2017: Cedej, Ifao, Catholic University of Louvain, Cairo, Egypt, International conference “Religious Dynamics in Contemporary Egypt”:  La question des vœux pour les fêtes religieuses chrétiennes : un enjeu national, politique et religieux
  • November 2016 : Princeton University, New Jersey, U.S. (invitation), Lecture given at the Department of Near Eastern Studies: ʻPartners in the United Nation:’ Islamist Attitudes towards Coptic Egyptians in Post-Revolutionary Egypt (2011-2013)     

Initiative

  • Network Promoting the Field of Middle Eastern Christianity
    Newsletter concerned with the field of Middle Eastern Christianity in the homelands and the diasporas (from approx. 1800 until the present). It seeks to connect scholars working on these topics and appears three times a year, featuring upcoming events, peer-reviewed publications, open positions and funding opportunities as well as ongoing projects.
    → 2nd issue
    → 1st issue