I came to Evergreen in 1996 as faculty of third world feminist studies, after serving as a Fulbright scholar in Palestine. My work in liberatory education is informed by decades of team teaching and scholarship in the fields of decolonial feminisms, global studies, and multicultural literature. I have co-edited two collections, Gender, Politics and Islam and Intersections: Gender, Nation and Community in Arab Women's Novels, and written numerous essays for journals and anthologies. I was associate editor for Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society and the Brill Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. At Evergreen, I served as Dean of Faculty Hiring and Development and Interim VP of Inclusive Excellence and Student Success, before returning to the faculty. I am a longtime organizer with the Arab American community and feminist, antiwar, and antiracist groups, and a current board member of the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice.
Education
Ph.D., English, University of Washington, 1993; M.F.A., Fiction Writing, University of Washington, 1989; B.A., English, University of California, Berkeley, 1983.
Teaching Style
My teaching is rooted in feminist pedagogy--engaged, interactive learning across cultural contexts. My programs center people’s histories and narratives suppressed by systems of colonialism, empire, heteropatriarchy, and capitalism, and their theories and movements toward life-affirming alternatives. These include intersectional movements for racial, gender, and economic justice, decolonization and human rights in the US and Middle East. I also enjoy working with students to cultivate skills in analytical and creative writing, reclaiming their own histories.