This research initiative, led by Nadje Al-Ali, Nancy Duke Lewis Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies, is based on the recognition that a gendered intersectional lens is central, not marginal, to a deeper analysis and understanding of political mobilizations, economic developments, social inequalities and cultural expressions in the Middle East and amongst diasporas of the region. The most recent publication associated with the wider research initiative is titled: Resisting Far-Right Politics in the Middle East and Europe: Queer Feminist Critiques.
As part of this broader initiative, CMES is collaborating with the Columbia University’s Middle East Institute (MEI) on a project titled “Gender and Body Politics: Arts in the Middle East and its Diasporas,” which examines intersecting inequalities and body politics expressed, represented and transgressed in both visual and performance art. Against the backdrop of war and conflict, the growth of political authoritarianism, displacement and diaspora mobilization, Islamophobia, ongoing orientalist depictions, this research explores the ways in which artists are informed by and/or contribute to anti-racist, transnational feminist, and queer praxis.
Al-Ali is also co-organizing the Transnational Feminisms Initiative which brings together scholars, practitioners, artists, and activists to examine how feminist knowledge is produced, mobilized, and contested across different historical contexts and how solidarities can be reimagined through attention to power structures, historical entanglements, and alternative sociopolitical visions.
The initiative encompasses a wide range of activities, including in-person and virtual lectures, curated conversations, workshops, film screenings, and artistic collaborations. A central aim is to create spaces where academic research, activist practice, and cultural production intersect, allowing for engagement across diverse constituencies. In addition to hosting speakers, the initiative foregrounds collaborative formats, including opportunities for jointly authored publications and longer-term intellectual partnerships. While housed primarily in the Pembroke Center, the program collaborates with the Center for Middle East Studies as well as other regional centers around campus.