New Directions in the Study of the Arab World
The Humanities Research Fellowship for the Study of the Arab World is pleased to announce the fourth Annual Graduate Student Research Workshop under the theme “New Directions in the Study of the Arab World”. The workshop includes ten doctoral students from a variety of disciplines and a range of institutions paired with NYUAD faculty who will serve as discussants for each session.
The event will take place February 11-13, 2026 at the NYUAD campus and is convened by Maya Kesrouany (NYUAD) and Erin Pettigrew (NYUAD).
We look forward to welcoming the following graduate students and their projects to NYUAD:
Gehad Abaza (UC Santa Barbara), Disillusioned Belonging: Homemaking, Statecraft, and Syrian-Circassian Migration in Abkhazia
Humaira Afreen (Presidency University, India), Political Violence under the Mughals (1526-1707)
Zeina Al Attar (Carleton University), Temporary Marriage in Lebanon’s Shi’i Community: Sociocultural Dynamics, Economic Influences, and Gender
Mekarem Eljamal (Columbia University), “We are afraid for what’s left”: The Spatialization of the Future and (Re)Definition of Citizenship for Lyddadweh
Richard Harrod (Washington University in St. Louis), Oil, Onions, and Education: A Social History of Development in Oman from the 1950s to the 1980s
Bushra Hashem (University of Oslo, Norway), Afro-Arab Identity, Race, and the Work of Translation in Contemporary Gulf Literature
Marina Johnson (Stanford), On This Land: Palestinian Performance from 2015-2025
Siga Maguiraga (European University Institute (Italy), Seekers of Knowledge from the Sahel in Cairo
Abdullah Omran (Indiana University Bloomington), Oversharing “Private” Family Life on YouTube: Redrawing the Boundaries of Privacy Within Fiqh
Isha Panwar (National University of Singapore), An Urban Political Economy of Two Maritime Gulf Cities: South Asian Lives and Work in Ras Al Khaimah and Muscat
The event is hosted by the Humanities Research Fellowship for the Study of the Arab World in collaboration with the Arts & Humanities Division and the Arab Crossroads Studies Program. Open to NYUAD only.