Bio:
I am an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Global Studies and Modern Languages and Sociology. My work brings political economy back into the study of social movements and demonstrates how class relations shape both the possibilities and limits of transformative political change. My research focuses on the Middle East, with particular attention to youth, gender and labor movements.
In my forthcoming book, Class Forces: Youth and Labor in the Making of the Egyptian Uprising of 2011 (University of Michigan Press, Emerging Democracies Series), I move beyond the dominant focus on rising grievances under neoliberalism to examine how changing class relations created opportunities for mobilization. I argue that the interdependent relationship between capitalists and the regime produced an uneven neoliberal turn that created openings for labor mobilization. Building on this analysis, I develop a broader conceptual framework for understanding revolutionary mobilization through the concepts of inter-class openings—opportunities created by one class for another—and intra-class openings—opportunities generated within the same class. These concepts also illuminate the limits of associational capacities, helping explain why democratic forces failed to consolidate political gains after President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. This approach has broader implications for understanding movements and revolutions beyond the MENA region.
My next research project systematically compares Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, examining how different trajectories of neoliberal restructuring reshape labor power, class formation, and collective action under authoritarian and hybrid political regimes.
My courses prepare students to become informed global citizens by examining the relationship between capitalist markets and the political, economic, and social dimensions of global integration. My MENA courses examine the material conditions underlying authoritarianism, failed democratization movements and the Arab uprisings, and persistent gender inequality. Developing a nuanced understanding of the Middle East is particularly important given the region’s significance in U.S. foreign policy and global affairs.