Ben Notis

Ben Notis is a PhD student in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. His dissertation focuses on Hebrew poetry written during an exciting time of Jewish-Muslim interaction in al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. He hopes to explore lyrical complaints about physical and mental breakdowns, betrayal and abuse, separation from friends and lovers, and the vicissitudes of Time. His other interests include medieval Arabic poetry, the histories of madness and emotions, and the cultural history of the human body.  A graduate of Brandeis’s NEJS department in 2017, he wrote his BA thesis on thunder in Kabbalistic thought. Having studied Arabic and Hebrew throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies, he also attended the Middlebury Arabic Language School in summer 2019. He came to Penn after a series of odd jobs such as farming, Bar Mitzvah tutoring, and book editing. When not studying, he enjoys visiting his new nephews and baking cookies.

This graduate student is available to deliver lectures to your K-12 classroom at no charge. All requests MUST be booked through the Middle East Center Speaker's Bureau.