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Center Members

Membership in the Center is open to all UNC students, faculty, and staff. To become a member of the Center, e-mail mideast@unc.edu.

Faculty
Name Department Area of Specialization
Shahla Adel Asian Studies Persian and Iranian Studies
Neel Ahuja English and Comparative Literature Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Studies (South Asian Diaspora)
Sahar Amer Asian Studies Arabic, European Orientalism
Urooj Amjad Environmental Sciences and Engineering/The Water Institute Israel-Palestine water management issues
Martine Antle Romance Languages and Literature Twentieth-century French studies, Franco-Arabic relations, African Francophone literature
Glaire Anderson Art History Early and medieval Islamic art, al-Andalus
Lorraine Aragon Anthropology Indonesia
Yaakov Ariel Religious Studies Judaism
Cemil Aydin History Modern Middle Eastern History and Modern Asian history, with an emphasis on the international and intellectual histories of the Ottoman and Japanese Empires
Farida Badr Asian Studies Arabic language and culture
Christopher Bail Sociology Muslim minorities in the West
Navin Bapat Political Science Terrorism and international relations
Ronald Bergquist Information and Library Science Library science
Emily Burrill Women’s Studies Gender and imperialism, women and the law in modern Africa and the Middle East; marriage practices in Mali
John Caldwell Hindi-Urdu Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Hindi-Urdu
Peter Coclanis International Affairs South/Southeast Asia
Michael Corrado Law School Comparative law
Lidewijde de Jong Classics Early Islamic archaeology of the Near East, particularly Syria and Lebanon
Ibrahim Duqum Prosthodontics Department, School of Dentistry Didactic, pre-clinical and clinical Fixed, Removable, and Implant Prosthodontics
Doria El Kerdany Asian Studies Arabic language, culture, film, and music
Mohamed Abou El Seoud Daivs Library Middle East Librarian
Bart Ehrman Religious Studies New Testament; early Christianity
Geni Eng Public Health HIV/AIDS prevention
Carl Ernst Religious Studies Middle East and South Asia
Raymond B. Farrow Kenan-Flagler School of Business
Emma Flatt History Persianate culture in South Asia
Tim Flood Kenan-Flagler School of Business Presentation skills, business writing, global communication, and American culture and business practices
Pika Ghosh Art History South Asian art and architecture
Banu Gökariksel Geography Turkey, Indonesia
Mustafa Gültekin Kenan-Flagler School of Business Turkey
Joseph Haj Playmakers Repertory
Theater
Theater, Palestine
Zeina Halabi Asian Studies Arabic Literature
Juliane Hammer Religious Studies Islamic studies
Adel Hanna Environmental Program Climate change
Nasser Isleem Asian Studies Arabic
Fatimah Jackson Institute of African American Research Anthropology
Charles Joukhadar Asian Studies Arabic language and culture
Zahra Kamarei Asian Studies Persian
Charles Kurzman Sociology Iran and Islamic movements
David Lambert Religious Studies Hebrew Bible
Priscilla Layne Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literature Literature, Film and Music (German/Turkey)
Christopher Lee History Africa, Afro-Asian relations, post-colonialism, the nation-state paradigm
David Leith Environmental Sciences and Engineering Environment (air); occupational health; technology
Jacqueline MacDonald Gillings School of Global Public Health Environment (general); environment (soil); environment (water)
Jodi Magness Religious Studies Middle East archaeology
Tim Marr American Studies U.S. Orientalism
Winifred F. Metz Library Film and media
Mabel Miguel Kenan-Flagler School of Business Turkey
Don Nonini Anthropology Malaysia
Julius Nyang’Oro African Afro-American Studies East Africa
Leena Nylander-French Environmental Sciences and Engineering Occupational Health
Anthony Oberschall Sociology Ethnic conflict in Israel/Palestine, Bosnia
Jim Peacock Anthropology Southeast Asia
John Pickles Geography Bulgaria-Turkey
Zlatko Plese Religious Studies Gnosticism, monasticism, early Christianity, Coptic studies
Shelli Plesser Asian Studies Hebrew
Barry Popkin Gillings School of Global Public Health Obesity economics and epidemiology
Howard Reisner Pathology
Andrew Reynolds Political Science State-building in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan
Omid Safi Religious Studies Islam, Iran, Turkey, Middle East
Kenneth Sams Classics Near Eastern archaeology
Mamarame Seck African & Afro-American Studies Wolof language and literature, Sufism
Bereket Selassie African & Afro-American Studies North-East Africa
Iqbal Sevea History Islam in South Asia
Yaron Shemer Asian Studies Arab and Israeli film studies, Hebrew language
Sarah Shields History Middle East
Jill Shires Library Music
Beverly A. Sizemore Director of International Programs, Law School Anthropology
Sara H. Smith Geography
Political and social geography, nationalism, health, South Asia
Hanna Sprintzik Asian Studies Hebrew
David Steffen Gillings School of Global Public Health Distance education, ethics, public health practice and systems, healthcare quality improvement, workforce development
Niklaus Steiner Center for Global Initiatives Refugees
Barbara Stenross Academic Advising Sufism
Jacob Stromberg Religious Studies Hebrew Bible
Afroz Taj Asian Studies Hindi-Urdu language and literature
Nilay Tanik Argon Statistics and Operations Research Design and control of queuing systems with applications to manufacturing and healthcare
Zeynep Tufekci School of Information and Library Sciences Social impacts of technology
John Van Aalst Pediatric and Craniofacial Plastic Surgery Pediatric plastic surgery; craniofacial surgery; cleft lip and palate
Rodney J. Vargas Study Abroad Office Latin America, Africa and the Middle East Programs Director
Dorothy Verkerk Art History Morocco
William Vizuete Gillings School of Global Public Health Air quality, atmospheric chemistry, air quality modeling
Ellen Welch Romance Languages Early modern Mediterranean studies and French-Arabic relations
Dale Whittington Environment Sciences and Engineering Middle East water resources
Nadia Yaqub Asian Studies Arabic
Karin Yeatts Gillings School of Global Public Health Epidemiology
Serhan Ziya Statistics and Operations Research Pricing and inventory control, pricing for service systems, revenue management and service operations; optimal control of queuing systems, health operations
Cangüzel Zülfikar Asian Studies Turkish and history of the Ottomans and Turkey
Fahir Zülfikar Disbursement Services Islamic business ethics
Students
Name Department Area of Specialization
Yousuf Al-Bulushi Geography (Graduate Student) Political Economy, Urban Geography, Social Theory, Globalization and Development, Southern and Central Africa
Kate Allman School of Education (Graduate Student) Arab-American students in the southern United States
Sumayya Ahmed School of Information and Library Sciences (Graduate Student) Information and its interaction with authority in North Africa
Isabella Archer Romance Languages/Franco-Arab Studies (Graduate Student) Franco-Arab studies, North Africa, Orientalism, art
Leila Armstrong Art History (Graduate Student) Medieval North African urbanism
Rose Aslan Religious Studies (Graduate Student) Islamic studies
Margo Balboni Peace, War, and Defense (Undergraduate) Arabic; French
Anna Bernard-Hoverstad Department of Romance Language and Literatures(Graduate Student) Francophone literature, Maghrebi authors, and films
Laurel Bradley Anthropology (Graduate Student) Israel
Ali Colleen Neff Communication Studies
(Graduate Student)
Senegal
Amanda B. Click School of Information and Library Science (ELIME-21 Fellow) Information Literacy in the Middle East
Nadia Dawisha Communication Studies (Graduate Student) Transnational Middle Eastern feminist studies
Christina Daltoso School of Information and Library Science (Graduate Student) information literacy and standards of information literacy in the Middle East
Ali Reza Eshraghi Communication Studies (Graduate Student) Middle East and Iran
Amanda Eglen Comparative Literature(Graduate Student) Middle Eastern Literature
Murat Es Geography (Graduate Student) Middle East and Europe
Brandon Gorman Sociology (Graduate Student) Political sociology, democracy, and gender
Wilson Greene Global Studies (Undergraduate) Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Jacob Hill School of Information and Library Sciences (Graduate Student) Digital humanities, digital libraries, and Arabic language search technology
Matthew Hotham Religious Studies (Graduate Student) Islam
Rolien Hoyng Communication (Graduate Student) Information technologies in Turkey
Atiya Husain Sociology (Graduate Student) Social movements, culture, Islam and race
Mohammad Ali Kadivar Sociology (Graduate Student) Middle East, Iran, Islam and Islamic reformist
movements
Marwa Yusuf Koheji Folklore (Graduate Student) Middle East Folklore
Anna Levett Comparative Literature (Graduate Student) 20th century Mediterranean literature, especially Turkish
Bryce Loidolt Political Science (Graduate Student) Political Islam
Matthew Lubin History (Graduate Student) Ottoman history
Matthew Lynch Religious Studies (Graduate Student) Islamic Studies
Sherine Mahfouz Journalism and Mass Communications (Graduate Student) Arab media
John D. Martin III School of Information and Library Sciences (Graduate Student) Digital Humanities in the Middle East /Islamicate World
Katie Merriman Religious Studies (Graduate Student) Islamic Studies, Islam in the US
Candace Mixon Religious Studies (Graduate Student) Islamic Reform and Sufism
Arta Osmanaj City and Regional Planning (Graduate Student) Economic & international development
Williams Rogers Perlmutter Trans-Atlantic Masters program(Graduate Student) Balkans and Turkey
Linda Quiquivix Geography (Graduate Student) Power, maps, Palestine
Rachana Rao Anthropology (Graduate Student) South Asian Islam
Safa Sajadi School of Law (Graduate Student) International Law, Middle East History and Poetry
Christopher Scanzoni Middle Eastern/Islamic Studies (Undergraduate) Islamic studies
Guy Shalev Anthropology (Graduate Student) Medical Anthropology: Palestinian Physicians in Israel
Natalia Suit Anthropology (Graduate Student) Qur’an as a physical object in Egypt
Nathan W. Swanson Geography (Graduate Student) Middle East, law, human rights
Tehseen Thaver Religious Studies (Graduate Student) Islamic studies
Didem Türkoğlu Sociology (Graduate Student) Culture and politics in Turkey
Haj Yazdiha Sociology (Graduate Student) Middle Eastern identity
Elena Yehia Anthropology (Graduate Student) Social movements in Lebanon and Mexico
Bahar Yolac Art History (Graduate Student) 18th century Ottoman female patronage in art