Sociocultural Anthropology
she/her/hers
Graduated May 2021
Research Interests
Middle East, subjectivity and belonging, authority, and social stratification
About
Noha’s dissertation research explores the intersection between class, nationalism and global educational patterns in shaping national belonging and political subjectivity in post-Mubarak Egypt.
There, a highly centralized and national education system is being overturned by neoliberal educational transformations that are decidedly transnational in orientation, and are purportedly undermining national culture in private schools. Noha’s study interrogates “the national” that gets defined and articulated among private education stakeholders, exploring the varieties of belonging that are emerging in this new educational landscape.
Before starting the PhD program at Boston University, Noha was engaged in policy-oriented research on youth, gender and reproductive health education with different local and international human rights organizations in Egypt. She has a BA in Middle East Studies and an MA in anthropology from the American University in Cairo. Her MA thesis on the politics and poetics of belly dance in Egypt received the Magda al-Nowaihi award for best graduate work in gender studies in 2010.
Awards
- SPA/Lemelson Student Fellowship Award (2014)
- Dean’s Fellowship (2013)