Professional Affiliation

Associate Professor of Arabic Studies, Director and PI of Flagship Culture Initiative, Core Faculty in Film Studies, University of Maryland

Wilson Center Project

War and Identity in Contemporary Popular Culture:  Russia, the Unites States and the Middle East after the Cold War

Project Summary

Through an exploration into the popular cultural products of modern war, this book project strives to uncover the interdependency of contemporary American, Middle Eastern and Russian identities and their reliance on war discourses. This project will be the first to offer a comparative perspective on cultural identity politics in Russia, the U.S. and the Middle East after the Cold War by bridging the two cultural contexts – war and new media – that continue to have a profound impact on modern identity politics. The book aims to contribute to the national conversation on the future of Russian/American/Middle Eastern relations.