Maha T. Nassar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies
Marshall Bldg Rm 440 | 845 N Park Av
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0158
Phone: (520) 626-5189 | Fax: (520) 621-2333
Email: mtnassar@email.arizona.edu
[Updated October 2015]
EMPLOYMENT
Assistant Professor, School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of
Arizona, 2011-present
Lecturer, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Arizona, 2008-2011
Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Arizona, 20062008
EDUCATION
Ph.D. University of Chicago, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 2006
(with Honors)
Dissertation: “Affirmation and Resistance: Press, Poetry and the Formation of
National Identity among Palestinian Citizens of Israel, 1948-1967”
Committee: Rashid Khalidi (chair), A. Holly Shissler, Ian Lustick
Major Field: Modern Middle Eastern History
Minor Fields: Islamic Civilization, Qur’anic Studies
M.A. University of Chicago, Middle Eastern Studies, 1999
B.A.
Benedictine University, 1997
English Language and Literature, Secondary Education (minor), Summa Cum
Laude, Scholar’s Program
PUBLICATIONS
Monograph:
Resisting Isolation: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World (under review)
Articles:
“’My Struggle Embraces Every Struggle’: Palestinians in Israel and Solidarity with AfroAsian Decolonization Movements,” Arab Studies Journal, 22, no. 1 (Spring 2014):
74-101.
“Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Discourse on the Right of Return, 1948-1959.” Journal
of Palestine Studies 40, no. 4 (Summer 2011): 45-60.
Maha T. Nassar
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“The Marginal as Central: Al-Jadid and the Development of a Palestinian Public Sphere,
1953–1970,” Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 3, no. 3 (November
2010): 333-51.
Book Chapters:
“My Resilient Flag,” in Being Palestinian, ed. Yasir Suleiman (forthcoming with Oxford
University Press)
“Palestinians in Israel and Global Leftist Discourses,” in The Global Sixties: Conventions,
Contests, and Countercultures, edited by Jadwiga E. Pieper Mooney and Tamara
Chaplin (forthcoming with Routledge)
Book Reviews:
Zareena Grewal, Islam is a Foreign Country: American Muslims and the Global Crisis of
Authority (2014). American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 32 (2015): 113-6.
Ilan Peleg and Dov Waxman, Israel’s Palestinians: The Conflict Within (2008). International
Journal of Middle East Studies, 45 (2013): 631-3.
Hillel Cohen, Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948, tr. Haim
Watzman (2008). International Journal of Middle East Studies, 41 (2009): 506-7.
Shawkat Toorawa (translator), Adonis, A Time between Ashes and Roses: Poems (2004).
Journal of Arabic Literature 38, no. 2 (2007): 240-3.
RESEARCH AREAS AND INTERESTS
Research Areas:
Modern Middle Eastern History, Palestinian Cultural and Intellectual History,
Historiography of Arab-Israeli Conflict; Palestinian and Israeli Collective
Memories
Research Interests:
Nationalism and Religion in the Middle East, Language and Culture in the Middle
East, Arabs and Muslims in the United States, Women and Gender in Islam and
the Middle East
FELLOWSHIPS AND HONORS
Junior Faculty Professional Development Leave, University of Arizona, Spring 2015
SBSRI Faculty Professorship, University of Arizona, Fall 2012
Finalist, Five Star Faculty Teaching Award, University of Arizona Honors College, 2010
University of Chicago Century Fellowship (Tuition and Stipend), 1999-2004
University of Chicago Unendowed Fellowship, 1997-99
Benedictine University Humanities Division Award, 1997
Maha T. Nassar
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TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Courses Taught:
MENA 277A:
History of the Middle East, 600-1453 (Tier 2 General Education)
MENA 277B:
History of the Middle East, 1453-present (Tier 2 General Education)
MENA 334:
Islamic Thought (Tier 2 General Education)
MENA 463/563:
Gender Issues and Women’s Literature in the Middle East
MENA 480/580:
The Middle East in the 20th Century
MENA 484/584:
History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
MENA 595D
Introduction to the Study of the Middle East
MENA 696Y:
Nationalism and Islam
Thesis & Dissertation Committees:
Advisor, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium Thesis (2015)
Primary Advisor on Two Undergraduate Honors Thesis Committees (2006, 2013)
Primary Advisor on Three M.A. Thesis Committees (2006, 2013, 2015)
Committee Member on 13 Ph.D. Dissertation Committees (2011-present)
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Colonial and Anti-Colonial Discourses Regarding Palestinian Women in Israel,”
Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, Denver, November 23, 2015
“Boycott and Solidarity at the 1968 World Youth Festival,” New Directions in
Palestinian Studies International Conference, Brown University, March 7, 2015.
“‘And for Us, Too:’ Decolonization Movements and the Palestinian Counterpublic in Israel,
1960-1967,” American Historical Association Annual Conference, Chicago, January
7, 2012.
“Revolution in Egypt: An Analysis,” panel sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild
Southwest Regional, University of Arizona James E. Rogers School of Law, April 10,
2011.
“Islam in the Media,” Arizona Newspaper Association Annual Conference, Phoenix,
October 10, 2009.
“The Generation Gap: Marxism and Nationalism in Palestinian-Israeli Literary
Productions, 1948-1967,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference,
Washington, D.C., November 2008
“Media Coverage of Muslims and Muslim-Americans,” Society of Professional
Journalists Annual Conference, Tucson, April 2008.
“On the Front Lines: The Arab ‘Discovery’ of Palestinian Citizens of Israel, 1967-1970,”
Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.,
November 2005.
“‘Know Your Heritage:’ Communism, Nationalism and the Appropriation of Islamic
History Among Palestinian-Israeli Intellectuals, c. 1953-1960.” Middle East
History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, May 2005.
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“Nationalism through Verse: The Emergence of Palestinian-Israeli Resistance Poetry,
1957-60.” Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference, San Francisco,
November 2004.
“Inspiration, Confirmation, Justification: The Functions of Islamic History in
Palestinian Nationalist Rhetoric,” Middle East History and Theory Conference,
University of Chicago, May 2001.
INVITED LECTURES
“Boycott and Solidarity: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the 1968 World Youth
Festival,” University of Arizona CMES Lecture Series, Tucson, April 2015.
“Power of the Press: Arabic Media and the Creation of a Palestinian Counterpublic in
Israel, 1948-1967.” University of Mississippi, December 2010.
“The Marginal as Central: Arabic Literary Journals in Israel and the Development of a
Palestinian Public Sphere,” University of Arizona Sociology Department Friday
Lunch Oratory (Brown Bag) series, October 2009.
“Refugees in the Middle East: Palestinian Refugees,” Ninth Annual Southwest Graduate
Conference in Middle Eastern Studies, Tucson, March 2009
“Pressing for Return: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Discourse on Refugees, 19481958.” University of Arizona CMES/NES Lecture Series, February 2009.
“From Victims to Heroes: Arab Intellectual Discourses of Palestinian Israelis, 1948-70,”
University of Montana, Missoula, November 2007.
“The Generation Gap: Poetry, Resistance and Nationalism among Palestinian Israelis,
1948-67,” Cornell University, Ithaca, February 2007.
“On the Front Lines: The Arab ‘Discovery’ of Palestinian Citizens of Israel, 1967-1970.”
Rutgers University History Department, February 2007.
“Transnational Advocacy Networks in the Palestinian Context,” DePaul University,
Chicago, June 2004.
“Applying an Inclusive Security Paradigm to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,” Kennedy
School of Government, Harvard University, November 2002.
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Presenter, “Muslim American Women,“ First Methodist Church, Tucson, October 2015.
Presenter, “Muslim-Jewish-Christian Relations in Israel/Palestine,” UA Center for Middle
Eastern Studies Teachers’ Workshop, February 2015.
Presenter, “Converging and Diverging Narratives of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,” 3
week series, St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, Tucson, January-February 2015.
Presenter, “Palestinian and Arab Culture,” Mexicayoti Academy of Nogales, Tucson,
November 2014.
Public Lecture, “Palestine 101,” Global Justice Center, Tucson, November 2014.
Panelist, “Gaza and the United States: The Impact of U.S. Foreign Policy on the
Palestinians,” UA School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Tucson,
October 2014.
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Presenter, “Palestinians and the Current Crises in the Middle East,” UA Center for Middle
Eastern Studies Teachers’ Workshop, Tucson, September 2014.
Keynote Speaker, “Student Leaders: Youth at the Forefront of the Struggle for Palestine,”
Students for Justice in Palestine Community Event, Tucson, May 2014.
Discussant, “Habibi,” Human Rights Film Festival, Tucson, December 2012.
Public Lecture, “Peace in Palestine,” Tucson Rotary Club, November 2012.
Public Lecture, “Recent Elections in Egypt and Tunisia and the Prospects for PalestinianIsraeli Peace,” Tucson Jewish Community Center, December 2011.
Panelist, “What Does it Mean to be Post 9/11? Media, Privacy and Community,” panel
sponsored by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Arizona,
September 2011.
Panelist, “Winds of Change: Democracy or Dictatorship in the Middle East,” panel
sponsored by the Southwest Initiative on the Study of Middle East Conflicts,
University of Arizona, February 2011.
Public Presentation, “Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think,” film screening
sponsored by the University of Arizona Center for Middle Eastern Studies,
Gallagher Theater, January 2010.
Panelist, “Women’s Roles in Muslim Communities,” Conversations across Religious
Traditions Lecture Series, College of Humanities, University of Arizona, October
2007.
Keynote Speaker, “Defining the Ideal Muslim Woman in the 21st Century,” Islam
Awareness Week, University of Arizona, April 2007.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Article reviewer for: Journal of Palestine Studies, Feminist Formations
Panel Discussant, “Intertwined Interests? Islam and Institutions in the Middle East,”
University of Arizona Southwest Graduate Conference in Middle Eastern
Studies, April 2013.
Panel Organizer, “Trans-regional Media Networks and the Development of a Public
Sphere in the Twentieth-Century Middle East,” the American Historical
Association Annual Conference, Chicago, January 2012.
Panel Organizer, “Palestinian Intelligentsia in Israel: Negotiating Gender and
Nationalism Within and Beyond the State” the Middle East Studies Association
Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., November 2008
Panel Discussant, “Negotiating Family: Women and the Modern State,” the Middle East
Studies Association Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., November 2008
Co-coordinator, Middle East Summer Institute, Center for Middle Eastern Studies,
University of Arizona, June 2008.
Symposium Co-Chair, “In Perfect Harmony: Cultures, Dialogue and the Heart,”
Tucson, February 2008.
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Panel Organizer, “Palestinian National Identity and Resistance in the 20th Century:
Textual Approaches.” Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference,
Washington, D.C., November 2005.
Palestinian Delegate, Women Waging Peace Executive Program and U.S. Institute of
Peace Training Program, Women and Public Policy Program, Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard University, November 2002.
Co-Coordinator, Teach-in series on Middle East Peace Process, Norman Waite Harris
Memorial Foundation Fund, Center for International Studies, University of
Chicago, 2001-2002.
Member, University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies Speakers Bureau,
2000-2002
Coordinator, Middle East History and Theory Workshop and Conference, Council for
Advanced Studies, University of Chicago, 1999-2000.
UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL and DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEES
Honors Faculty Advisor, MENAS, 2013-present
Member, Graduate Committee, MENAS, 2012-2014, 2015-present
Member, Curriculum Committee, Near Eastern Studies/MENAS, 2009-present
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Near Eastern Studies, 2011-2012
Undergraduate Advisor, Near Eastern Studies/MENAS, 2008-2012
Member, Undergraduate Committee, Near Eastern Studies, 2008-2011
Member, Social Science Research Council Steering Committee, “Islam and the Media,”
University of Arizona Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 2009-2010
Member, University of Arizona Diversity Coalition, 2008-2009
Member, Steering Committee for “UA Discusses: Cultural Models and Stereotypes,” 20082009
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Middle East Studies Association
American Historical Association
Palestinian American Research Center
Association of Middle Eastern Women’s Studies
LANGUAGES
Native English
Near-native fluency in Arabic (reading and speaking)
Fair Hebrew and Spanish (reading and speaking)
Reading French