Biography
I joined the Department of Anthropology at Sussex in 2011 after completing a PhD in Social Anthropology at the Department. My thesis ‘Be(com)ing Arab in London: Performativity between Structures of Subjection’ was based fieldwork in London between 2006-2007 among young people born or raised in London to migrants from Arab States. In it I explore the discourses and practices which (re)produce notions of gender, race, ethnicity and class among young Arabs in London. Based on the anti-foundationalist proposition that one is not born but becomes an Arab in Britain I asks how Arab-ness is achieved by young people in London and how this might be informed by London’s ‘multicultural context’, ideologies of Arab-ness from the Middle East and the genealogy of discursive Arabs-ness in Britain.
I have taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the School of Global Studies since 2007. In 2010 I held a Research Fellowship at the Department of Geography and the Sussex Centre for Migration Research where I conducted research with Dr Michael Collyer on Migration Legislation, Institutions and Policies in the Euromed Region (Euromed Migration II). In March 2011 I co-founded the 'Public Service Broadcasting Initiative’ (Egypt) with Mr Ali Belail of Belial Media Production and Consulting. I have contributed to the research on Arabic language media for the 'Tuning In' and ‘Diasporas@TheWorldService' projects with Prof’Marie Gillespie at the Open University and the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change. I have also contributed to research on transnational Arab media and changing political cultures in the European Union at the LSE with Dr Myria Georgiou and Prof Christie Slade (City University).
Before my PhD I completed an M.Sc. in Comparative and Cross Cultural Research Methods in 2005 (Sussex University) an M.A. In Middle East Politics and International Security at the University of Exeter in 2000 and a BA in Law with American Studies in 1998 (Sussex).
Role
Lecturer in Anthropology
Other affiliations:
Sussex Centre for Migration Research.
Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies.
Department of Media, Film and Music (Sussex)
Department of International Relations (Sussex)
Arab Studies Group (UK)
Middle East Studies Group (UK)