Nancy Université

Faculty Member, Arabic Studies

Other Affiliations: CNRS-Université Lyon 2, GREMMO / UMR 5195 groupe de recherches et d’études sur la Méditerranée et le Moyen-Orient
Université Nancy2, EA 1132 — HISCANT

Maître de Conférences

Arabic Studies

About

Historian, archaeologist and epigraphist, Saba Farès is Professor at the University of Nancy 2 and member of the Group for Research and Studies on the Mediterranean and the Middle East at the Orient House (GREMMO, NRC UMR 5195). She has a PhD in Linguistics, from the University of Provence, Aix-Marseille I, where she has spent her entire academic career, first at the Department of Arabic Studies (to MA) and the Department of Languages Sciences. Originally from Syria, she arrived in France in 1980. She works, since 1996 in the Jordanian desert and in Saudi Arabia, a country on which she  had focused her doctoral thesis. She lived 8 years in Lebanon, made regular trips to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, countries of her main fields of research.
She manages two research programs, the first in Jordan (Wadi Rum) since 1996 to nowadays and the second in Saudi Arabia, Kilwa, from 2007 to nowadays. Both programs are funded by the Department of Humanities and Archaeology, in French Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Multidisciplinary, these programs focus on the question of the desert and men. They are based on historical remains such as graffiti and archaeology.
Saba Fares have large consulting experiences in cultural heritage management, on the issue of resource management in the desert, on the issue of cultural tourism and generally, on Community Development based culture. Her historical-anthropological approaches have led her to publish articles on women in nomadic societies, and the economy of hunting yesterday and today. She participated in the development of tourism management program in the desert.
The question of water is in the centre of her research programs. She conducts research on tribal territories: distribution and management yesterday and today. Arabs from southern Jordan to the Christian community of Kilwa.
Since 1995 : Co-director of the French-Jordanian Epigraphical and Archaeological Project in Wadi Ramm (Southern Jordan). The aim of the project is to study the social and religious history of the region before Islam.
http://www.wadiramm.com

Since 2008 : Director of the Franco-Saudi to Kilwa, in Saudi Arabia. The project focus on the survey and excavation of a monastery dating before the 7th century AD and recording northarabian inscriptions to study Arabs societies on the eve of Islam.
http://www.kilwa-arabie.com

In the media:
Excavation of an ancient dam in Wadi Rum, in November 2010:
http://www.alarabalyawm.net/pages.php?news_id=266842

Excavation in kilwa :
http://sahattabuk.com/vb/showthread.php?p=77124

Conference in French Cultural Centre, in Luxembourg:
http://www.centre-culturel-francais.lu/spip.php?article125
Conference in French Consulate in Jeddah:
http://www.consulfrance-djeddah.org/france_djeddah/spip.php?article571
Conference in Cerisy la Salle : LA MAIN
http://www.ccic-cerisy.asso.fr/main03.html

Colloquium project:
Deserts and men, in Wadi Rum and Aqaba, in October 2011, in collaboration with the department of Antiquities of Jordan and Nancy 2 University, under the patronage of French Embassy in Amman and Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority:
http://www.desertsethommes.com/

Contact Information