Youssef Yacoubi, assistant professor of near eastern studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, is author of the new book, The Play of Reasons: The Sacred and the Profane in Salman Rushdie's Fiction (Peter Lang Publishers, June 2012), a fascinating perspective on one of the most notorious cultural and religious controversies of recent times. Yacoubi teaches courses in postcolonial and Arab-American studies, modern Arabic literature, and critical theory.

Yacoubi earned his PhD from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom specializing in critical theory and cultural studies. Before joining Ohio State's   Department of Near Eastern Languages and Culture, he was assistant professor of Arabic and comparative literature, and director of the Arabic Studies Programs at Hofstra University and then at Bard College in New York.