Dr Kurstin Gatt is a Senior Lecturer in Arabic, where he coordinates the Arabic programmes of study. His teaching and research bring together Arabic linguistics, Arabic political discourse, Maltese–Arabic relations and cultural studies, with a particular interest in how language shapes power, identity, memory and cultural belonging across the Arab world and the Mediterranean.
His doctoral study, 'Decoding DAʿISH', adopts a discourse-analytical approach to examine the linguistic and cultural strategies employed by the so-called “Islamic State”. The thesis was awarded the Ernst Reuter Gesellschaft Prize and was later published in the LitCon Series by Reichert Verlag. His research also explores rhetorical strategies in contemporary Arabic political speech, as well as broader questions of ideology, symbolism and narrative construction. He is co-author of 'Words of Influence: Strategies in Contemporary Arabic Political Speeches' (Malta University Press, 2025).
Dr Gatt has a strong interest in the linguistic and cultural interactions between Malta, North Africa and the wider Arab world. His work on Maltese examines themes such as conceptual metaphors of corruption, representations of “the foreigner” in Maltese oral culture, and depictions of the Maltese in Arab sayings. More broadly, his research explores how Malta’s language and cultural memory are connected to wider Mediterranean histories, routes and encounters. He is currently working on translation projects from Arabic into Maltese and English.
