I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at UMASS Boston researching social movements and authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa.
My current research project focuses on the intersection of neoliberalism, labor activism, and authoritarian repression in Jordan and the Middle East. My research has been published in the International Review of Social History, the Journal of International Women’s Studies, and the Middle East Report Online.
BACKGROUND
I earned my Ph.D. in Political Science from Wayne State University in 2021. I also hold a M.A. in International Security from the University of Denver, and a M.S. in Political Science from Portland State University.
I have taught courses across a wide range of institutional contexts and social science disciplines. Broadly, my teaching has focused on global development, Middle East politics and history, political theory, and research methods. At Umass Boston, I am teaching graduate seminars in qualitative methods and global development while also leading a workshop series on the “Hidden Curriculum” of graduate school. During the 2021-2022 academic year, I taught the three-course Power, Identity, Resistance Core sequence at the University of Chicago, which focuses on close readings and discussions of foundational works in liberal political thought and political economy. At Wayne State University I taught courses in modern Middle East history and politics, as well as introduction to political science and political theory.
Beyond research and teaching, I’m an avid consumer of movies and television as well as nerdy writing about both. When I venture out of the office or my apartment, I enjoy travel, tinned fish, and camping.
Book project
My book manuscript combines interviews, discourse analysis, and archival research to demonstrate how social movements can emerge under highly repressive conditions by generating solidarity from other groups in society. Advancing scholarship on both social movements and authoritarian politics, I argue that when authoritarian states utilize employment and welfare provision to garner the “consent” of important social constituencies—as many postcolonial regimes in the MENA did when establishing their rule—they create historical obligations that social movement actors can later draw upon to generate popular support for their grievances. Supported by a 2018-19 Fulbright U.S. Student Grant, this research draws on over twelve months of fieldwork across Jordan, consisting of in-depth interviews with activists, government officials, and experts.
Professional appointments
2022-Present. University of Massachusetts Boston
Visiting Assistant Professor, Global Inclusion and Social Development
2021-2022. University of Chicago
Assistant Instructional Professor, Social Sciences Collegiate Division
Education
2021. Ph.D. Political Science | Wayne State University
Fields: Comparative Politics, Political Theory, World Politics
Committee: Sharon F. Lean (Chair), Kevin Deegan-Krause, Paul V. Kershaw (History), Jillian Schwedler (CUNY Hunter College and The Graduate Center)
2014. M.S. Political Science | Portland State University
2009. M.A. International Security | University of Denver
2007. B.A. History | Florida State University