Dr. Mjriam Abu Samra
2023-2025
Contact Info
Email: mjriam.abusamra@gmail.com
Bio
Mjriam will be joining the department of Anthropology at UC Davis with ties to the program in Middle East/South Asian Studies as a Marie Sklodowska- Curie Postdoctoral Fellow through the cooperation with her hosting institution, the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy –Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage. Mjriam received her Ph.D. from the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, UK and her MA in Middle East Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), UK. Her research focuses on Palestinian transnational student and youth politics and Third World solidarities. Her work intervenes in the critical study of refugees, colonialisms, social movements and it is grounded on critical theories on subalternity and decolonization building on Gramsci and Fanon contribution to post-colonial studies. As a MSC Postdoctoral Fellow Mjriam will be exploring the political potential of contemporary Palestinian transnational youth activism in the United States and Europe through an historical comparative lens.
Currently Mjriam is a researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan in Amman where she has been based for the past 10 years. She acts as the gender expert for the quantitative component of “IMAGES-Jordan”, a UN-Women led research project, investigating masculinity and gender equality in Jordan and throughout the MENA region. For the past 7 years Mjriam has been teaching courses such as History of Colonialism in the Middle East and International Politics of the Middle East in undergraduate education abroad programs. She has also taught at the University of Jordan courses on refugee studies as well as theories of developments. Mjriam has publications in the Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Relevant Publications
Abu Samra Mjriam and Qutami Loubna “Transnational Politics in the post-Oslo Accords Era: The Case of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)”, Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée, September 2020
Achilli Luigi and Abu Samra Mjriam “Beyond legality and illegality: Palestinian informal networks and the ethno-political facilitation of irregular migration from Syria”, Journal of Ethnic
and Migration Studies, September 2019
Abu Samra Mjriam “Political Agency in the Middle East” Virtual Roundtable Allegra 9 August 2016
Abu Samra Mjriam “Palestinian Youth Revolts: Any Role for Political Parties? Roundtable” Al-Shabaka 23 November 2015
Abu Samra Mjriam “The Road to Oslo and its reverse” Allegra Lab 29 October 2015
Abu Samra Mjriam “Italian-Palestinian relations: What went wrong?” Jadaliyya 30 August 2014
Dr. Brent Eng
2024-2026
Contact Info
Email: brent_eng@berkeley.edu
Bio
Brent Eng is trained in sociocultural anthropology and critical theory. He received his PhD from the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Brent has specializations in the study of secularism and religion, migration, and political violence, as well in critical refugee studies, with a regional focus on the Middle East. His current project, "The Work of Bread in Times of War," is an ethnography of Syrian migrant and refugee bakery workers in Tripoli, Lebanon.