About
I am a historian of the modern Middle East and Africa, science and technology studies, and global studies. My dissertation, by focusing on colonial Egypt, explores the polysemy of the Egyptian railway and the agglomeration of social practices assembled in the production of a coherent yet fluctuating space of the transportation infrascturcture. I examine struggles over meanings, values, and preferred arrangements among colonial officials, Arab intellectuals, socially marginalized communities who variously perceived, conceived, and lived in the space of the railway. Their struggles gave rise to contending visions of Egyptian modernities, all of which sought to expand human possibilities and reshape social relations.
My broad academic interests include technology-induced social inequality, invigoration and melancholy of the global Left, and the (de)construction of the Third World.
Fields of Study
- Modern Middle East and Africa
- Science and Technology Studies (STS)
- Global History
- Colonialism and Nationalism
- Postcolonial Theory
