Nadje Al-Ali is Robert Family Professor of International Studies and Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies. She is currently Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University. Her main research interests revolve around feminist activism and gendered mobilization, mainly with reference to Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and the Kurdish political movement. Her publications include What kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq (2009, University of California Press, co-authored with Nicola Pratt); Women and War in the Middle East: Transnational Perspectives (Zed Books, 2009, co-edited with Nicola Pratt); Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present (2007, Zed Books), Secularism, Gender and the State in the Middle East (Cambridge University Press 2000) and more recently a co-edited book with Deniz Kandiyoti and Kathryn Spellman entitled Gender, Governance and Islam (University of Edinburgh Press, 2020). Her co-edited book with Deborah al-Najjar entitled We are Iraqis: Aesthetics & Politics in a Time of War (Syracuse University Press) won the 2014 Arab-American book prize for non-fiction.
Professor Al-Ali is on the advisory board of kohl: a journal of body and gender research and has been involved in several feminist organizations and campaigns transnationally.
Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs
Department of Anthropology, Brown University
ORCID
| Nadje Al-Ali Latif Tas. "Kurdish women’s struggles with gender equality: from ideology to practice." vol. 42, no. 9, 2021, pp. 2133-2151. |
| Nadje Al-Ali Isabel Käser. "Beyond Feminism? Jineolojî and the Kurdish Women’s Freedom Movement." Politics and Gender, 2020, pp. 1-32. |
| Nadje Al-Ali. "Covid-19 and feminism in the Global South: Challenges, initiatives and dilemmas." European Journal of Women's Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, 2020, pp. 333-347. |
| Nadje Al-Ali. "Feminist dilemmas: how to talk about gender-based violence with reference to the Middle East." Feminist Review, no. 122, 2020, pp. 16-31. |
| Nadje Al-Ali. "Iraqi Women’s Agency: From Political Authoritarianism to Sectarianism and Islamist Militancy’." Women Rising: In And Beyond The Arab Spring, edited by Rita Stephan and Mounira Charrad, New York, NYU Press, 2020, pp. 98-106. |
| Nadje Al-Ali & Ghiwa Sayegh. "Feminist and Queer Perspectives in West Asia: Complicities and Tensions." Queer Asia, edited by J. Daniel Luther and Jennifer Ung Loh, London and New York, Zed Books, 2019, pp. 243 - 265. |
| Gender, Governance and Islam. edited by Deniz Kandiyoti, Nadje Al-Ali and Kathryn Spellman Poots, Edinburgh University Press, 2019. |
| Co-authored with Latif Tas. "Clashes, collaborations and convergences: evolving relations of Turkish and Kurdish women’s rights activists." Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 2018. |
| Co-authored with Latif Tas. "Dialectics of struggle: challenges to the Kurdish women's movement." 2018. |
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"Iraq." Arab Family Studies: Critical Reviews, edited by Suad Joseph, Syracuse University Press, 2018, pp. 153-169.
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| "Reconsidering nationalism and feminism: the Kurdish political movement in Turkey." Nations and Nationalism, vol. 24, no. 2, 2018, pp. 453-473. |
| Co-authored with Latif Tas. "War is like a Blanket…:” Feminist Convergences in Kurdish and Turkish Women’s Rights Activism for Peace." Journal of Middle East Women's STudies, vol. 13, no. 3, 2017, pp. 3540-375. |
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Co-authored with Nicola Pratt.
"Gender, protest and political transition in the Middle East and North Africa." Handbook on Gender in World Politics, edited by Jill Steans and Daniela Tepe-Belfrage, Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA, USA, Edward Elgar, 2016, pp. 127-136.
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| "Sexual violence in Iraq: Challenges for transnational feminist politics." European Journal of Women's Studies, vol. 25, no. 1, 2016, pp. 10-27. |
| "Feminist Dilemmas in (Counter-)revolutionary Egypt." Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, vol. 21, no. 4, 2013, pp. 2012-3016. |
| We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War. edited by Co-edited with Deborah Al-Najjar, Syracuse, 2013. |
| "Gendering the Arab Spring." Middle East Journal of Culture & Communicatioins, vol. 5, no. 1, 2012, pp. 26-31. |
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"The Iraqi Women's Movement: Past and Contemporary Perspectives." Mapping Arab Women's Movements: A Century of Transformations Within, edited by Pernille Arenfeldt and Nawar Golley, Cairo, AUC Press, 2012, pp. 93-110.
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| "A Feminist Perspective on the Iraq War." Works & Days, vol. 29, no. 1 & 2, 2011, pp. 1-16. |
| "Between Nationalism and Women’s Rights: the Kurdish Women’s Movement in Iraq." Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, vol. 4, no. 3, 2011, pp. 339-355. |
| Co-authored with Nicola Pratt. "Conspiracy of Near Silence: Violence against Iraqi Women." MERIP, vol. 258, 2011, pp. 34-37. |
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Co-authored with Nicola Pratt.
"Iraq's Triple Challenge: State, Nation, and Democracy." Politics in the Developing World, edited by Peter Burnell, Vicky Randall, Lise Rakner, Oxford, UK, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 406-416.
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"Iraqi Women: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives." Orient: German Journal for Politics, Economics and Culture in the Middle Eas, vol. 52, 2011, pp. 32-38.
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"Diasporas and gender." Diasporas: Concepts, Intersections, Identities, edited by Kim Knott and Sean McLoughlin, London and New York, Zed Books, 2010, pp. 118-122.
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"The War on Terror and Women's Rights in Iraq." Iraq at a Distance: What Anthroplogists Can teach us About the War., edited by Antonius C.G.M Robben, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010, pp. 57-79.
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| Mujeres iraquíes. Historias nunca contadas desde 1948 hasta la actualidad. Sirpus., 2009. |
| Co-authored with Nicola Pratt. What kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation in Iraq. University of California, 2009. |
| Women and War in the Middle East. edited by Co-edited with Nicola Pratt, Zed Books, 2009. |
| "A blind eye on women." The Guardian, vol. 20 March 2008, 2008. |
| "Iraqi Women and Gender Relations: Redefining Difference." British Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 35, no. 3, 2008, pp. 405-419. |
| "The Perils of Forgetting History [Anthropology in Conflict: An Exchange]." Survival; global politics and strategy, vol. 50, no. 3, 2008, pp. 151-155. |
| Co-authored with Nicola Pratt. "Women organizing and the Conflict in Iraq since 2003." vol. 88, 2008, pp. 74-85. |
| "Contextualizing the Plight of Iraqi Women." ISIMReview - international institute for the study of islam in the modern world, vol. 20, 2007, pp. 28-29. |
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"Gender, Diaporas and Post Cold War Conflict." Diasporas in Conflict: Peace-Makers or Peace Wreckers?, edited by Hazel Smith and Paul Stares, New York, United Nations University Press, 2007, pp. 39-62.
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| "Iraq's Women Under Pressure." Le Monde Diplomatique, 2007. |
| "Iraqi Women in Diasporic Spaces: Political Mobilization, Gender & Citizenship." Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, vol. 117-118, 2007, pp. 137-156. |
| Iraqi Women: Untold Stories From 1948 to the Present. Zed Books, 2007. |
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Al-‘almaniya, al-naw wa al-dawla fi shark al-awsat: al-haraka al-nissaiya fi’ misr.. Supreme Council of Culture, Cairo, 2006.
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| Co-authored with Nicola Pratt. "Researching Women in Post-Invasion Iraq: Negotiating 'Truth' and Deconstructing Dominant Discourses." Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, vol. 8, no. 1-2, 2006, pp. 193-214. |
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"The Enemy of my Enemy is not my Friend: Women’s Rights, Occupation and ‘Reconstruction’ in Iraq.'." The situated politics of belonging, edited by Nira Yuval Davis, Kalpana Kannabiran, and Ultike Vieten, London, Sage Publications, 2006.
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| "Women in Iraq: Beyond the Rhetoric." MERIP, vol. 23, 2006, pp. 18-23. |
| "Gendering Reconstruction: Iraqi Women between Dictatorship, Wars, Sanctions and Occupation." Third World Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 4-5, 2005, pp. 739-753. |
| "Gender & Civil Society in the Middle East." International Feminist Journal of Politics , vol. 5, no. 2, 2003, pp. 216-232. |
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"Gender Relations and Transnational Ties among Bosnian Refugees." Forging New Frontiers in Europe: Transnational Families and their Global Networks, edited by Deborah Bryceso and Ulla Vuorela, Oxford, Berg Publisher, 2003.
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Co-authored with Yasmin Hussein.
"Iraq." Teen life in the Middle East, edited by Akbar Mahdi, Greenwood Publishing, 2003.
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"Women, Gender Relations, and Sanctions in Iraq." Iraq: its history, people and politics, edited by Shams Inati, Humanity Books, 2003.
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"Between Political Epochs and Personal Lives: formative experiences of Egyptian women activists." Auto/biography and the Construction of Identity and Community in the Middle East, edited by Mary Ann Faye, London and New York, Palgrave, 2002.
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| "Gender relations, transnational ties and rituals amongst Bosnian refugees." Global networks: a journal of transnational affairs, vol. 2, no. 3, 2002, pp. 249-262. |
| New Approaches to Migration: Transnationalism and Transformations of Home. edited by Co-edited with Khalid Koser, Routledge, 2002. |
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"Trans- or a-national: Bosnian refugees in the UK and the Netherlands." New Approaches to Migration: Transnational Communities and the Transformation of Home, edited by Nadje Al-Ali and Khalid Koser, London and New York, Routledge, 2002, pp. 96-117.
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Co-authored with Khalid Koser.
"Transnationalism, international migration and home." New approaches to migration? : transnational communities and the transformation of home, edited by Nadje Al-Ali and Khalid Koser, London and New York, Routledge, 2002, pp. 1-14.
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| Co-authored with Richard Black and Khalid Koser. "Refugees and transnationalism: the experience of Bosnians and Eritreans in Europe." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 7, no. 4, 2001, pp. 615-634. |
| Co-authored with Richard Black and Khalid Koser. "The limits to transnationalism: Bosnian and Eritrean refugees in Europe as emerging transnational communities." Ethnic and racial studies, vol. 24, no. 4, 2001, pp. 578-600. |
| Secularism, Gender & the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women's Movement. Cambridge University Press, 2000. |
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"We Are Not Feminists: Egyptian Women’s Rights Activists On Feminism." Globalization And the Indigenization of Knowledge Debate: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Cynthia Nelson and Shahnaz Rouse, University of Florida Press, 2000.
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Co-authored with Heba El-Kholy.
"InsideOut: the Native and the Halfie Unsettled." Cairo Paper of Social Sciences, vol. 22, no. 2, 1999, pp. 14-40.
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"Feminism and Contemporary Debates in Egypt." Women Organized in Groups in the Middle East: formal and informal groups, edited by Dawn Chatty and Anika Rabo, Oxford and New York, Berg Publisher, 1997.
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Gender Writing/Writing Gender: The representation of women in a selection of modern Egyptian literature. AUC Press, 1994.
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My research to date has focused on women’s and gendered mobilizations in the Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey and the Kurdish regions) as well as the gendered dimensions of transnational migration and diaspora mobilization (with reference to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq and the Kurdish political movement).
Recently I have finished co-edited a book entitled Gender, Islam & Governance (co-edited with Deniz Kandiyoti and Katherine Spellman), which builds on Deniz Kandiyoti’s classic edited volume Women, Islam & the State (1991). In this volume, we are exploring the links between the politics of gender and governance issues (both global and domestic) in relation to a selected number of Muslim majority countries as well as Muslim diasporas.
Currently, I am engaged in research for a new book project with the working title Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East to be published by Cambridge University Press. Building on previous research and activism in relation to Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon and the Kurdish movement, I am exploring the centrality of gender and sexuality for understanding key developments and processes in the region. One of the specific angles I am exploring is the complex relationship between knowledge production about gender and sexuality with reference to the Middle East in academic and activist contexts.
Book Chapters
Book Chapters
Al-Ali, Nadje (2010) 'Diasporas and gender'. In: Knott, Kim and McLoughlin, Sean, (eds.), Diasporas: Concepts, Intersections, Identities. London & New York: Zed Books, pp 118-122.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2008) 'Afterword'. In: Al-Qazwini, Iqbal, (ed.), Zubaida's Window: A Novel of Iraqi Exile. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, pp 123-135.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2008) 'Women & gender in political transition in Iraq post-2003'. In: Gozzi, Gustavo and Salih, Ruba, (eds.), (RI)Construzione Politica, Societa Civile E Cooperazione In Medioriente. L'Harmattan Italia, pp 46-64.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2007) 'Gender, Diaporas and Post Cold war Conflict'. In: Smith, Hazel and Stares, Paul, (eds.), Diasporas in Conflict: Peace-Makers or Peace Wreckers?. New York: United Nations University Press, pp 39-62.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2006) 'Iraqi Women's Rights In Historical Perspective'. In: Simpson, Caroline, (ed.), Iraq - Women's Rights Under Attack: Occupation, Constitution & Fundamentalism. London: WLUML.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2006) 'The Enemy of my Enemy is not my Friend: Women’s Rights, Occupation and ‘Reconstruction’ in Iraq'. In: Yuval Davis, Nira and Kannabiran, Kalpana and Vieten, Ulrike, (eds.), The situated politics of belonging. Sage Publications.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2004) 'Secular Women’s Activism in Contemporary Egypt'. In: Imam, Ayesha and Morgan, Jenny and Yuval Davis, Nira, (eds.), Warning Signs of Fundamentalisms. London: Women Living Under Muslim Law, pp 144-157.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2004) 'Irakerinnen sind keine Opferlaemmer'. In: Goebel, Ruediger and Guillard, Joachim and Schiffmann, Michael, (eds.), Der Irak: Krieg, Besetzung, Widerstand. PapyRossa Verlag, pp 2000-2008.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2003) 'Gender Relations and Transnational Ties among Bosnian Refugees'. In: Bryceson, D. and Vuorela, U., (eds.), Forging New Frontiers in Europe: Transnational Families and their Global Networks. Oxford: Berg Publisher.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2003) 'Women, Gender Relations, and Sanctions in Iraq'. In: Inati, Shams, (ed.), Iraq: its history, people and politics. Amherst, N.Y.: Humanity Books.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2003) 'A mirror of political culture in contemporary Egypt: divisions and debates among women activists'. In: Kienle, Eberhard, (ed.), Politics from above, politics from below : the Middle East in the age of economic reform. London: Al-Saqi Books.
Al-Ali, Nadje and Hussein, Yasmin (2003) 'Iraq'. In: Mahdi, Akbar, (ed.), Teen life in the Middle East. Westport: Greenwood Publishing.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2002) 'Between Political Epochs and Personal Lives: formative experiences of Egyptian women activists'. In: Faye, Mary Ann, (ed.), Auto/biography and the Construction of Identity and Community in the Middle East. New York: Palgrave.
Al-Ali, Nadje and Koser, Khalid (2002) 'Transnationalism, international migration and home'. In: Al-Ali, Nadje and Koser, Khalid, (eds.), New approaches to migration? : transnational communities and the transformation of home. London; New York: Routledge, pp 1-14.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2002) 'Trans- or a-national: Bosnian refugees in the UK and the Netherlands'. In: Al-Ali, Nadje and Koser, Khalid, (eds.), New Approaches to Migration: Transnational Communities and the Transformation of Home. London; New York: Routledge, pp 96-117.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2000) 'We Are Not Feminists: Egyptian Women’s Rights Activists On Feminism'. In: Nelson, Cynthia and Rouse, Shahnaz, (eds.), Globalization And the Indigenization of Knowledge Debate: Comparative Perspectives. University of Florida Press, pp 337-358.
Al-Ali, Nadje (1997) 'Feminism and Contemporary Debates in Egypt'. In: Chatty, Dawn and Rabo, Anika, (eds.), Women Organized in Groups in the Middle East: formal and informal groups. Oxford & New York: Berg Publisher.
Reports and Working Papers
Al-Ali, Nadje and Tas, Latif (2018) Dialectics of struggle: challenges to the Kurdish women's movement.London: London School of Economics; LSE Middle East Centre Paper Series 22.
Al-Ali, Nadje and Ali, Zahra and Isabel, Marler (2016) The new dynamics in the inclusion and empowerment of young women. In:The Arab Human Development Report 2016: Youth and the Prospects for Human Development in a Changing Reality. New York: United Nations Publications.
Al-Ali, Nadje and Al-Jeboury, Irada and Al-Enezy, Inass and Al-Dujaili, Huda (2012) Female Iraqi Academics In Post-Invasion Iraq: Roles, Challenges & Capacities. London.
Al-Ali, Nadje and Muhammed, Muzhda and Kareem, Hataw and Salih, Dlaram and Akreyi, Kawther (2012) Female Iraqi Academics In Iraqi Kurdistan: Roles, Challenges & Capacities. London: SOAS.
Fabos, Anita and Al-Ali, Nadje and El-Abed, Oroub (2005) Middle East. Developing DFID’s Policy Approach to Refugees. Oxford: Refugee Studies Centre; London: DFID.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2004) The Relationship between Migration within and from the Middle East and North-Africa and Pro-Poor Policies. Department for International Development.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2003) Women Migrant Organization and Citizenship in Europe. EU.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2002) Women’s Movements in the Middle East: Case Studies of Egypt and Turkey. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
Book Reviews
Al-Ali, Nadje (2007) 'Review of "Dancing in the No Fly Zone: A Woman's Journey Through Iraq" by Hadani Ditmars'. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, (3) 1, pp 128-130.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2000) 'Review article: Nationalisms, national identities and nation states: gendered perspectives'. Nations & Nationalism, (6) 4, pp 631-638.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2000) 'Review of "Sanctioning Saddam: The Politics of Intervention in Iraq" by Sarah Graham-Brown'. Journal of Refugee Studies, (13) 2, pp 234-235.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2000) 'Review of "Der neue Islam der Frauen: Weibliche Lebenspraxis in der globalisierten Moderne - Fallstudien aus Afrika, Asien und Europa" by Ruth Klein-Hessling; Sigrid Nökel; Karin Werner'.European Journal of Women's Studies, (7) 4, pp 523-525.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2000) 'Review of "Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance" by Fadwa El Guindi'. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, (6) 3, pp 543-544.
Al-Ali, Nadje (1999) 'Review of "The Pure and Powerful: Studies in Contemporary Muslim Society" by Nādya Abū-Zahra'. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, (5) 4, pp 633.
Al-Ali, Nadje (1998) 'Eurocentrism through the backdoor'. Soundings: a journal of politics and culture, (10), pp 71-75.
Al-Ali, Nadje (1997) 'Review of "Feminists, Islam and Nation" by Margot Badran'. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, (60) 2, pp 363-364.
Audios
Al-Ali, Nadje (2008) 'Iraqi Women Under Threat: Are honour killings being used as a weapon to subjugate women?'.
Videos
Al-Ali, Nadje and Wild Iris Media, and David, Perasso (2008) 'Iraqi Women: An Interview with Nadje Al-Ali'.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2005) 'Keynote: Nadje Al Ali (Speech from the World Tribunal on Iraq, Istanbul, Turkey, June 24-27, 2005)'.
Other
Al-Ali, Nadje (2016) 'Gender, power and violence' The Middle East at SOAS - Centenary Edition, 12.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2016) 'How to Talk about Gender-Based Violence?' Kohl : A Journal for Body and Gender Research, 1.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2012) 'Why I am here?'.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2007) 'Talk: Iraqi Women- Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present'.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2007) 'US Out of Iraq Now? [Interviewed by Kiera Butler]' Mother Jones.
Al-Ali, Nadje (2005) 'The Enemy of My Enemy is not My Friend'.
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | PhD | University of London |
| 1993 | MA | American University in Cairo |
| 1989 | BA | University of Arizona |
Watson Institute of International & Public Affairs
Department of Anthropology
Centre for Gender Studies, SOAS University of London
Gender & Sexuality in the Middle East (UG)
Transnational Feminist Mobilizations: Comparative Perspectives (GT)
Gendering Migration & Diasporas (UG)
Anthropological Perspectives on the Middle East (UG)
| ANTH 1150 - Middle East in Anthropological Perspective |
| ANTH 1225 - Gendering Migration and Diasporas |
| ANTH 1911 - Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East |
| ANTH 2020 - Methods of Anthropological Research |
| ANTH 2253 - Transnational Feminist Politics and Knowledge Production |
| IAPA 1201F - Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East |
