Lila Abu-Lughod
Encyclopedia
Lila Abu-Lughod is a Palestinian-American professor of Anthropology
and Women's and Gender Studies
at Columbia University
in New York City. A specialist on the Arab world, her seven books, most based on long term ethnographic research, cover topics from sentiment and poetry to nationalism and media, from gender politics to the politics of memory.
She graduated from Carleton College
in 1974, and obtained her PhD from Harvard University
in 1984. Carleton College awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2006.
Abu-Lughod has taught at Williams College
, Princeton University
, and New York University
, and first became known for her research on the Bedouin
from the Awlad 'Ali tribe in Egypt. Her work is strongly ethnographic and has focused on three broad issues: the relationship between cultural forms and power; the politics of knowledge and representation; and the dynamics of gender and the question of women’s rights in the Middle East. Her first book, Veiled Sentiments, is about the politics of sentiment and cultural expression in a Bedouin community in Egypt. It is best known for its arguments about the complexity of culture. An article from the book received the Stirling Award for Contributions to Psychological Anthropology. Her second book, based on fieldwork in the same community is framed as a feminist ethnography. It uses individual's stories to make an argument for “writing against culture.” It received the Victor Turner Award. Her third ethnography, Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt, is a media ethnography that contributes to the anthropological study of nations and nationalism. It explores the tensions between the social inequalities that bedevil nations and the cultural forms, like television soap operas, that try to address them.
In 2001, she delivered the Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture at the University of Rochester
, considered by many to be the most important annual lecture series in the field of anthropology. She was named a Carnegie Scholar in 2007 to research the topic: "Do Muslim Women Have Rights? The Ethics and Politics of Muslim Women's Rights in an International Field." She was inspired to pursue this research after writing an article that has been much reprinted. It is titled "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?" She has held research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Fulbright, and the Mellon Foundation, among others.
She is the daughter of the prominent Palestinian academic Ibrahim Abu-Lughod
and of Janet L. Abu-Lughod, a leading American urban sociologist.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and Women's and Gender Studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City. A specialist on the Arab world, her seven books, most based on long term ethnographic research, cover topics from sentiment and poetry to nationalism and media, from gender politics to the politics of memory.
She graduated from Carleton College
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
in 1974, and obtained her PhD from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1984. Carleton College awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2006.
Abu-Lughod has taught at Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, and first became known for her research on the Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
from the Awlad 'Ali tribe in Egypt. Her work is strongly ethnographic and has focused on three broad issues: the relationship between cultural forms and power; the politics of knowledge and representation; and the dynamics of gender and the question of women’s rights in the Middle East. Her first book, Veiled Sentiments, is about the politics of sentiment and cultural expression in a Bedouin community in Egypt. It is best known for its arguments about the complexity of culture. An article from the book received the Stirling Award for Contributions to Psychological Anthropology. Her second book, based on fieldwork in the same community is framed as a feminist ethnography. It uses individual's stories to make an argument for “writing against culture.” It received the Victor Turner Award. Her third ethnography, Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt, is a media ethnography that contributes to the anthropological study of nations and nationalism. It explores the tensions between the social inequalities that bedevil nations and the cultural forms, like television soap operas, that try to address them.
In 2001, she delivered the Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
, considered by many to be the most important annual lecture series in the field of anthropology. She was named a Carnegie Scholar in 2007 to research the topic: "Do Muslim Women Have Rights? The Ethics and Politics of Muslim Women's Rights in an International Field." She was inspired to pursue this research after writing an article that has been much reprinted. It is titled "Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?" She has held research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Fulbright, and the Mellon Foundation, among others.
She is the daughter of the prominent Palestinian academic Ibrahim Abu-Lughod
Ibrahim Abu-Lughod
Ibrahim Abu-Lughod was a Palestinian academic, characterised by Edward Said as "Palestine's foremost academic and intellectual" and by Rashid Khalidi as one of the first Arab-American scholars to have a really serious effect on the way the Middle East is portrayed in political science and in...
and of Janet L. Abu-Lughod, a leading American urban sociologist.
Publications
- Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory with Ahmad H. Sa'di, (Columbia University Press 2007) ISBN 978-0231135788
- Local Contexts of Islamism in Popular Media (Amsterdam University Press 2007) ISBN 978-9053568248
- Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt (University of Chicago Press 2004) ISBN 978-0226001975
- Media Worlds: Anthropology on New Terrain (Editor) (University of California Press 2002) ISBN 978-0520232310
- Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society (University of California Press 2000) ISBN 978-0520224735
- Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East (Editor) (Princeton University Press 1998) ISBN 978-0691057927
- Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories (University of California Press 1993) ISBN 978-0520083042
Further reading
- Profile of Lila Abu-Lughod at the Institute for Middle East Understanding
- Columbia University Department of Anthropology Faculty
- Lila Abu Lughod: My Father's Return to Palestine Winter-Spring 2001, Issue 11-12 Jerusalem Quarterly (Accessed 28 Jan. 2008)