Nadje Al-Ali

Nadje Al-Ali recently left her position as professor of gender studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London to join Brown as the Robert Family Professor of International Studies and professor of anthropology and Middle East studies. Her main research interests and publications revolve around feminist activism in the Middle East; transnational migration and diaspora mobilization; war, conflict and reconstruction; art & cultural studies and food.

Her publications include Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present (2007, Zed Books); What kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq (2009, with Nicola Pratt, University of California Press) and Secularism, Gender and the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women’s Movement (2000, CUP). Her co-edited book with Deborah al-Najjar entitled We are Iraqis: Aesthetics & Politics in a Time of War (Syracuse University Press) won the 2014 Arab-American book prize for non-fiction. Her more recent research and publications focus on the Turkish-Kurdish conflict and the Kurdish women’s movement. She has been a member of the Feminist Review Collective, and is on the editorial board of Kohl: a journal of body and gender research. Professor Al-Ali has been involved in several feminist organizations and campaigns, including being a founding member of "Act Together: Women’s Action for Iraq," in addition to her involvement in trade union activism.