Dr. Heba Mostafa

Biography

Heba Mostafa received her doctorate from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Architecture in 2012. She has taught courses on Islamic art and architecture and has held positions at the American University in Cairo and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport. In 2012, she served as a Sultan Post Doctoral Teaching Fellow/Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and Department of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2015-2016, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florence, where she explored the role of narrative in shaping sacred space in early Islam. Mostafa was an Assistant Professor of Islamic Art, Architecture, and Urbanism at the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas from 2014 to 2017. She has authored the book 'Architecture Anxiety: Body Politics Formation Islamic Architecture', published by Brill in 2024. Her research particularly focuses on the formation of Islamic architecture through the lenses of early Islamic sectarianism and governance, addressing the intersection of political conflict and sacred architecture. Her interests include the examination of Islamic temporality and ritual practices in medieval Islamic Jerusalem and Cairo. She continues to develop and publish her research on Jerusalem and Nilotic ritual practices.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards