Julia Bray

Julia Bray
Born	(1952-09-28)28 September 1952 Cambridge,England
Academic background
Education	Collège Sévigné
Alma mater	St Hilda's College, Oxford St Cross College, Oxford
Academic work
Discipline	Oriental studies
Sub-discipline	Arabic literature
Institutions	University of Manchester University of Edinburgh Faculty of Oriental Studies,University of Oxford St Antony's College, Oxford University of St Andrews University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis St John's College, Oxford

Julia Margaret Bray(born 28 September 1952) is a British scholar ofOriental studieswho specialises in Medieval to Early ModernArabic literature.From 2012 to 2023, she was theLaudian Professor of Arabicat theUniversity of Oxfordand aFellowofSt John's College, Oxford.She previously taught Arabic and Arabic literature at the universities ofManchester,EdinburghandSt Andrews,and was Professeur de littérature arabe médiévale at theParis 8 Universityfrom 2003 to 2012.

Early life and education

Bray was born on 28 September 1952 inCambridge,England. She was educated at theCollège Sévigné,an all-girls private school in Paris, France. She read Oriental Studies atSt Hilda's College, Oxford,graduating with aBachelor of Arts(BA) degree in 1974. After working as an archivist, she studied for aDoctor of Philosophy(DPhil) degree atSt Cross College, Oxford.She completed her DPhil in 1984.

Academic career

In 1983, Bray joined theUniversity of Manchesteras alecturerin Arabic. She was then asenior lecturerin Arabic at theUniversity of Edinburghfrom 1989 to 1992. She was a visiting lecturer atSt Antony's College, Oxfordfor the 1994/95 academic year, and James Mew Senior Research Fellow in Arabic in theFaculty of Oriental Studies,University of Oxford, from 1994 to 1996. She was senior lecturer in Arabic at theUniversity of St Andrewsfrom 1996 to 2003, and thenProfesseur de littérature arabe médiévaleat theUniversity of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denisfrom 2003 to 2012.

Since September 2012, she has been theLaudian Professor of Arabicat theUniversity of Oxford.She is also aFellowofSt John's College, Oxford.She co-edits (withWen-chin Ouyang) the Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature monograph series, published byEdinburgh University Press.The chair was renamed the Abdulaziz Saud AlBabtain Laudian Professorship of Arabic in after a re-endowment in 2016.Bray retired from the position in 2023, and was replaced byTahera Qutbuddin.

Bray's research coversmedievalArabic literature(pre-1800), especiallypoetry,narrative and biography.As well as formal literary analysis ofClassical Arabicliterature,she uses it as a source for thehistory of ideas,and to analyse social and cultural meanings.

Selected works

• Ashtiany, Julia (1982).The Arabic documents in the archives of the British Political Agency, Kuwait, 1904-1949.London: India Office Library and Records.
• Ashtiany, J.; Johnstone, T; Latham, J.; Serjeant, R., eds. (1990).Abbasid Belles Lettres.The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
• Ashtiany, Julia (1993).Media Arabic.The New Edinburgh Islamic Surveys. Edinburgh:Edinburgh University Press.
• Bray, Julia, ed. (2006).Writing and representation in medieval Islam: Muslim horizons.New York, NY:Routledge.ISBN9781134171545.