Nadje Sadig Al-Ali (born 1966; ar, نادية صادق العلي) is a German-Iraqi academic of

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

and Middle East studies and feminist activist. She is currently the Robert Family Professor of International Studies at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

and director of Middle East Studies at Brown's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. From 2010 to 2018, Al-Ali taught at

SOAS University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

as a professor of gender studies.

Life

Nadje Sadig Al-Ali was born to an

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i father and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

mother in Germany. She did not learn Arabic as a child, and has not lived in Iraq; in a 2006 article she expressed discomfort with the "essentializing and simplistic" way the term ‘Iraqi’ has been ascribed to her "by the Western media, academia and Iraqi women alike." Al-Ali was raised in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

, Germany, where she lived until the age of 18. She attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

where she earned a BA from the Middle East Studies Department. In 1989, she moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt, where she completed her MA at The American University in Cairo. During this time, she became involved in the Egyptian women's movement.

Career

In 1994, Al-Ali moved to London to begin work towards her doctorate at

; she received her PhD in Social Anthropology from SOAS 1998. Al-Ali served as Professor of Gender Studies at SOAS from 2010 to 2018 and chaired the Centre for Gender Studies from 2017 to 2018. She served as President of the Association of Middle East Women's Studies (AMEWS) from 2010 to 2012. Alongside her academic career, Nadje Al-Ali is a political activist and was a founder of the

Iraqi British British Iraqis are British citizens who originate from Iraq. The three main ethnicities within the British Iraqi community are Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, according to a publication by the International Organization for Migration. There are also sm ...

organisation Act Together: Women's Action for Iraq in 2000. She is also a member of the London branch of Women in Black, a worldwide network of women who are against war and violence. Many of her publications reflect the lives of Iraqi women and recent struggle to voice their opinions during the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Bibliography

* ''Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present'' (2007) * ''New Approaches to Migration'' (2002) * ''Secularism & the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women’s Movements'' (2000) * ''Gender Writing/Writing Gender: The representation of women in a selection of modern Egyptian literature'' (1994). * ''What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq'' (with Nicola Pratt, 2009)

References

1966 births Living people University of Arizona alumni Cairo University alumni Egyptian emigrants to England Egyptian people of Iraqi descent {{Iraq-writer-stub