Near and Middle Eastern Studies
Faculty
Mika Ahuvia, (PhD, Religion, Princeton, 2014), Assistant Professor, Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS), Jewish Studies and Comparative Religion; adjunct in Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and Classical Studies; Research and Teaching Interests: history of the Jewish people, formative history of Jewish and Christian communities in the ancient Mediterranean world, biblical texts and women’s religious history, social movements and radicalism mahuvia@uw.edu |
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Danya Al-Saleh (PhD, Geography, University of Washington, 2021), Assistant Professor, Jackson School of International Studies Research and Teaching Interests: energy transition, U.S. imperialism, oil and gas industry, higher education, environmental and climate justice, Arabian Peninsula |
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Arbella Bet-Shlimon (PhD, History, Harvard, 2012), Associate Professor, History; Research and Teaching Interests: modern Middle East history, Iraq, the Gulf, urban history, and oil in the Middle East shlimon@uw.edu |
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Canan Bolel (PhD, Near and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Washington, 2022), Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC) Research and Teaching Interests: Jewish communities in Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, Sephardic history and culture, late Ottoman Empire and early Turkish Republic |
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Elena Campbell (PhD [equivalent], History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Russian History, 1999), Associate Professor, History; Research and Teaching Interests: empire, religion and nationalism in late Imperial Russia eicampb@uw.edu |
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Asli Cansunar (PhD, Political Science, Duke, 2018), Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science Research and Teaching Interests: inequality, taxation, economic development, ethnic discrimination, nation-making, state-building, public services, Turkey, and Ottoman Empire |
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Karam Dana (PhD, Interdisciplinary Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Washington, 2009), Associate Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Bothell; Research and Teaching Interests: how religion influences political identities in different cultural and societal contexts kdana@uwb.edu |
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Terri DeYoung (PhD, Arabic Languages & Literature, California-Berkeley, 1988), Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization (MELC); Research and Teaching Interests: Arabic languages and literature tdeyoung@uw.edu |
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Purnima Dhavan, (PhD, South Asian History, University of Virginia, 2003), Associate Professor, History; Research and Teaching Interests: Comparative gender, medicine, science and technology, South Asia pdhavan@uw.edu |
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Jennifer Dubrow (PhD, South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, 2011), Associate Professor, Asian Languages and Literature
Research and Teaching Interests: Modern Urdu literature; the history of the book in South Asia; Urdu modernism; print culture; novel, short story, and dastan genres |
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Hussein Elkhafaifi (PhD, Arabic Languages & Literature, Utah, 1985) Associate Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization (MELC); Research and Teaching Interests: Arabic languages and literature hme3@uw.edu |
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Aria Fani (PhD, Near Eastern Studies, UC, Berkeley, 2019), Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization (MELC); Research and Teaching Interests: Persian and Iranian Studies, cultural history of Iran and Afghanistan, modern Persian literature, and transnational literary connections between Iran and Afghanistan ariafani@uw.edu |
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Kathie Friedman (PhD, Sociology, SUNY, Binghamton, 1991), Associate Professor, Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS); Research and Teaching Interests: Refugee and forced migration studies; social and political integration of immigrants and their children friedman@uw.edu |
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Liora R. Halperin (PhD, History, UCLA, 2011), Associate Professor, Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS), History, and Jewish Studies; Research and Teaching Interests: Israel/Palestine Studies, History of Israel/Palestine, Modern Jewish History, Cultural History, Nationalism, Collective Memory, Language policy and ideology lhalper@uw.edu |
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Resat Kasaba (PhD, Sociology, SUNY-Binghamton, 1986), Professor, Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS) & Director, JSIS; Research and Teaching Interests: Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey kasaba@uw.edu |
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Selim S. Kuru (PhD, Ottoman & Turkish Literature, Harvard, 2000), Associate Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization (MELC) & Department Chair, MELC; Research and Teaching Interests: history of sexuality and organization of gender among Ottoman urban communities through a study of Turkish pre-modern textualities with a focus on poetry and poetics selims@uw.edu |
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Clark B. Lombardi (PhD, Religion, Columbia, 2001, J.D., Law, 1998), Professor, School of Law; Research and Teaching Interests: Islamic legal systems, comparative constitutionalism and particularly the way that constitutional systems deal with religious organizations and religious law lombardi@uw.edu |
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James Long (PhD, Political Science, UC San Diego, 2012), Associate Professor, Political Science; Research and Teaching Interests: elections in fragile and developing countries (in sub-Saharan Africa and Afghanistan), including the determinants of voting behavior and turnout, the dynamics of electoral fraud, the impact of ICT on corruption monitoring, the causes of electoral violence, and the effects of civil war and insurgency on state-building and development jdlong@uw.edu |
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Brian McLaren (PhD, Architecture, MIT, 2001) Associate Professor, Architecture, College of the Built Environment; Research and Teaching Interests: history and theory of architecture, western colonialism in Africa and the Middle East bmclaren@uw.edu |
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Victor Menaldo (PhD, Political Science, Stanford University, 2009), Associate Professor, Political Science; Research and Teaching Interests: comparative politics and political economy of economic development vmenaldo@uw.edu |
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Devin E. Naar (PhD, History, Stanford, 2011), Associate Professor, History & Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS) & Chair, Sephardic Studies Program; Research and Teaching Interests: Modern European Jewish History, Sephardic Jewry denaar@uw.edu |
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Scott Noegel (PhD, Near Eastern Studies, Cornell, 1995), Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization (MELC); Research and Teaching Interests: Hebrew Bible, Northwest Semitic languages and literature, Assyriology, Hieroglyphic Egyptian, and Medieval Hebrew poetics snoegel@uw.edu |
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Arzoo Osanloo (PhD, Anthropology, Stanford, 2002; J.D., Law, American University, 1993), Associate Professor, Anthropology & Law, Societies, and Justice Program & Director, Middle East Center; Research and Teaching Interests: anthropology of law, transnational law, Islam particularly in Iran, Pakistan, and the U.S., Islam and women’s studies aosanloo@uw.edu |
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Noam Pianko (PhD, Religious Studies/Judaic Studies, Yale, 2004), Professor, Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS) & Director, Stroum Center for Jewish Studies; Research and Teaching Interests: American Jewish History, History of Jewish Nationalism, Modern Jewish thought npianko@uw.edu |
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Scott Radnitz (PhD, Political Science, MIT, 2007), Associate Professor, Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS); Research and Teaching Interests: protests, authoritarianism, informal networks, and identity srad@uw.edu |
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Cabeiri deBergh Robinson (PhD, Anthropology, Cornell, 2005), Associate Professor, Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS) & Anthropology; Research and Teaching Interests: political Islam, refugees and forced migration; human rights and humanitarianism, gender and masculinity, anthropology of religious and political violence, Islam particularly in Pakistan, India, Kashmir, Afghanistan and US cdr33@uw.edu |
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Stephanie Selover (PhD, Anthropology, University of Chicago, 2015), Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization (MELC); Research and Teaching Interests: ancient Near Eastern archaeology, Anatolian archaeology, Levantine archaeology, archaeology of violence and warfare, destruction of cultural heritage. sselover@uw.edu |
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Naomi Sokoloff (PhD, Comparative Literature, Princeton, 1980), Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization (MELC); Research and Teaching Interests: modern Hebrew language and literature naosok@uw.edu |
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Joel Walker (PhD, History, Princeton, 1998), Associate Professor, History; Research and Teaching Interests: Late Antique Middle East, especially the Sasanian Empire (224-651) and Syriac Christianity; the Mongol Empire; animal-human relations jwalker@uw.edu |
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Hamza Zafer (PhD, Near Eastern Studies, Cornell, 2013), Assistant Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Civilization (MELC); Research and Teaching Interests: early Islamic period, textural studies, Islamics, Qur’an hmzafer@uw.edu |