about

I am an assistant professor of political science at the American University in Cairo (AUC). I received my PhD in political science from Northwestern University. Previously, I was a  doctoral fellow at the Orient Institut-Beirut (2018-2019) and a research affiliate at the Center for Arab and Middle East Studies at the American University of Beirut. My primary research is on ethnic and sectarian minority communities during times of civil war in the Middle East and Central Africa. My research has been generously funded by the Fulbright-Hays program, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Buffett Institute, and Program of African Studies, and the Project on Middle East Political Science. Before going to Northwestern, I taught in the English department at the American University of Beirut (2007-2011). And before that, I earned graduate degrees from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and the Université de Paris III – La Sorbonne Nouvelle and worked at UNESCO.

On a personal note, I grew up in Alabama, spent my formative years in Paris and Beirut and studied literature before coming to political science. In my free time, such that it is, I like to practice my Turkish and Swahili and catch up on reading fiction.

You can contact me here.