Bio:
I am an assistant professor in the Departments of Global Studies and Modern Languages and Sociology. My research examines structural transformations and social change in the Middle East. I look at how macro-level transformations allow for or inhibit the emergence of movements for change. In particular, I examine how recent capitalist transformations have affected movements in the Middle East and I investigate the impact of meso-level organizational factors on movement trajectories. I pay special attention to questions of gender, state/capital/labor dynamics, and how the interactions between different class forces shape movement trajectories.
I am currently working on my book project entitled Class Forces in the Egyptian Uprising of 2011. The book examines the role macro-level economic and political background conditions play in the development of movements in Egypt in the decade preceding the 2011 uprising. The book looks at how neoliberal transformations of the 2000s gave rise to the labor and democracy movements in Egypt. It examines the organizational capacities of key agents in the Egyptian unrest of the 2000s and shows how this unrest allowed for the massive mobilizations of the 2011 uprising and its sustainment until the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and the ending of his thirty-year reign.
As a teacher my aim is to help students investigate power relations here locally in the United States and on a global scale, both of which are crucial for understanding the world we live in. This, I believe, cannot be done without a deep understanding of the structures of power at work. My courses interrogate popular misconceptions about capitalism and show how social inequalities are built into the system. In my courses on the Middle East and North Africa, I strive to challenge stereotypical and orientalist understandings of the people in the region.