College of Arts and Sciences

Education:

• PhD, Department of Sociology, New York University, 2017
• MA, Department of Sociology, Goldsmith College, University of London, UK, 2002
• BA, Psychology and Communication Studies (Joint Honours), Tel-Aviv University, 2000

Research Interests:

• Political Economy
• Social Movements
• Middle East Studies
• Gender Studies
• Labor Studies
• Revolutions

Bio:

I am an assistant professor in the Departments of Global Studies and Modern Languages and Sociology. My research interests are in political economy, social movements, and gender studies. I primarily investigate questions of structural inequality and social change in the Middle East.

I am currently working on a book manuscript entitled “Class Forces in the Egyptian Uprising of 2011." I examine the background conditions and the social forces that brought about the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. By studying changes in Egyptian capitalism and ruling elite coalitions since the 1980s, I highlight the structural changes that facilitated the generation of a revolutionary process in Egypt in the 2000s. I look closely at how these macro level changes facilitated the rise in social and political unrest. The mobilizations of large sections of labor groups and middle-class democracy activists built the groundwork for the uprising and made it possible.

Selected Publications:

• Matta, Nada. “Middle-Class Employees in the Egyptian Uprising of 2011.” Critical Historical Studies (Forthcoming).
• Matta, Nada. 2021. “Class Capacity and Cross-Gender Solidarity: Women's Organizing in an Egyptian Textile Company” Politics & Society, 49 (2):203-233.
• Matta, Nada and Rene Rojas. 2016. “The Second Intifada: A Dual Strategy Arena”, European Journal of Sociology, 57 (01): 65-113.
• Matta, Nada. 2003. “Postcolonial Theory, Multiculturalism and the Israeli Left: A Critique of Post-Zionism.” Holy Land Studies, 2 (1) 85-107.
• Achcar, Gilbert and Nada Matta. 2016. “Gilbert Achcar On the Arab Upheaval: Facts and Fiction.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 18 (1): 1-15. (translated to Arabic in  Bidayat Journal).
• Matta, Nada. 2005. “Disparities Between Arab and Jewish Local Authorities in the Social Welfare Ministry Budget.” Sikkuy Report.