Sebastian Maisel is Professor for Arabic Language and Translations at Leipzig University from where he also received his PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies and Anthropology. As an area and language specialist of the Middle East, he teaches courses on the diverse cultures, languages and religions of the region as well as Arabic language. His research focus is on social, religious and linguistic transformation among marginalized communities and minority groups, for which he conducted fieldwork among the Bedouin tribes Saudi Arabia, Yezidis in Syria and Iraq as well as Dinka slave soldiers from Sudan. Currently, he helps building a museum for women in Saudi Arabia and works on establishing Yezidi Studies as an academic discipline. His publications include The Customary Law of the Bedouins in Northern Arabia (Peter Lang, 2006), Yezidism – Religion and Society, with C. Issa and T. Tolan (Denge Ezidiya 2007), An Encyclopedia of Life in Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf States, with J. Shoup (Greenwood Press, 2009), The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with D. Long (University of Florida Press, 2010), Al-Arabiya al-Mu’asira – Modern Standard Arabic: Textbook integrating Main Arabic Dialects. With Eckehard Schulz. (Edition Hamouda 2013), Speed up your Arabic: Strategies to Avoid Common Errors in Arabic (Routledge 2015), Yezidis in Syria – Identity Building among a Double Minority (Lexington Books, 2017), The Kurds – An Encyclopedia of Life, Culture, and Society (ABC Clio 2018), From Slavery to Independence – The Global Military March of Southern Sudanese Troops. With David E. Long (Frank & Timme 2021) and The Inspiring Thread – Embroidery and Embellishment in Saudi Arabia (al-Waraqoon, forthcoming), in addition to many articles on the culture, society and religion of the Yezidis