University of California, Davis
Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology and
Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies
Anthropology Department, University of California,
One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616
Office 2-R Young (530) 752-1593, Fax (530) 752-8885
E-mail: [email protected]
Education
1962-66 State University of New York at Cortland. B.A. Social Science. Magna cum Laude.
1966-67 University of Pittsburgh. Anthropology. One year graduate work.
1967-75 Columbia University Anthropology. Ph.D. 1975. Thesis title: The Politicization of Religious Sects in Borj Hammoud, Lebanon.
Dr. Suad Joseph Abbreviated CV
Most of Dr. Joseph's anthropological field research has focused on her native Lebanon. Her early work investigated the politicization of religious sects in Lebanon leading up to the civil war in 1975. Questions of ethnicity and state, local community organization and development led her to consider the impact of women's visiting networks on local and national politics, and the relationships between local communities, community organizations and the state. Joseph developed a long-term research program on the interface of gender, family and state in the Middle East, with a focus on Lebanon, with comparative work in Iraq. Central to this research program has been her work theorizing culturally situated notions of "self", "rights", "citizenship" in the context of different political regimes and in the context of the pressures and processes of globalization. She is carrying out a long-term research project following a cohort of children in a Lebanese village, observing, as they grow, how they learn their notions of rights, responsibilities, nationality, citizenship; how these notions come to be gendered; and how the notions are transferred from family arenas into political/public arenas. The project includes analysis of citizenship, family, and transnational families, as some of these families migrated to the US and Canada over the course of the study. She leads a project analyzing the representation of Arabs, Muslims, Arab American, and Muslim Americans in major American print news media. Her latest work focus on developing culturally relevant concepts of “trauma” for the Arab Region.
She leads three collaborative projects for the University of California Davis Arab Region Consortium (UCDAR): Transforming Refugee Mental Health; Gendering STEM Education; Mapping the Production of Knowledge on Women and Gender in the Arab Region.
Dr. Joseph is the founder of the Middle East Research Group in Anthropology (which changed its name to the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association); founder and founding president of the Association for Middle East Women's Studies (AMEWS) and co-founder of its Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies; and founder and director of the Arab Families Research Group. She founded (in 2001) and directed (for 20 years) the University of California Davis Arab Region Consortium, including the American University of Beirut, the American University in Cairo, the Lebanese American University, Birzeit University, American University of Sharjah, and UC Davis. She was president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America in 2010-2011. She is co-founder and founding president of the Arab American Studies Association and co-founder of the Association for Middle East Anthropology. She founded the Training for Engaged Gender Research (TERG) and Muslim Women in the Media (MWM) groups.
She is General Editor of the prize-winning Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. She has edited or co-edited 12 books, and published over 100 articles in journals and books.
She has been a faculty at the University of California, Davis since 1976 where she is Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology and Women's Studies. She is the founder and founding Director of the Middle East/South Asia Studies Program at UC Davis. In 2014, she was awarded the UC Davis Prize – the largest undergraduate teaching and research prize in the United States. She was awarded the UC Davis Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship for 2020-2021. In 2024, she was awarded the Constantine Panunzio Award, a University of California systemwide award for scholars who have demonstrated distinction in research, teaching, and service post-retirement. She has also been awarded life time service awards from the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association and the Arab American Studies Association.
Recent Publications
2023 January: Reporting Islam: Muslim Women in the New York Times, 1970-2011. Ed. Suad Joseph. London: I.B. Tauris. Can be found here
2022 Handbook on Women in the Middle East. Eds. Suad Joseph and Zeina Zaatari. London: Routledge Press. Can be found here
2022 The Politics of Engaged Gender Research in the Arab Region: Feminist Fieldwork and the Production of Knowledge. Eds. Suad Joseph, Lena Meari, Zeina Zaatari. Can be found here
2022 Apr: “Tribute to Mona Abaza.” Global Dialogue. Can be found here
2022 Feb: “Self, Relation, and Gender Rights: (Un)bounding Rights and Personhood” by Suad Joseph. In Eds. Julia Roth, Alexandra Scheele and Heidemarie Winkel. Global Contestations of Gender Rights. Bielefeld University, Germany: Bielefeld University Press. Pp. 149-161. Can be found here
2022 Jan: “Whose Trauma? De-Colonizing PTSD and Refugee Mental Health Frameworks”. Harvard Medical School Primary Care Review by Suad Joseph, Nadine Hosny, Osama Tanous, Patrick Marius Koga. Can be found here
2021 Sept: Arab American Women: Intersectional Genealogies and Trajectories. In Arab American Women: Representation and Refusal. Edited by Michael W. Suleiman, Suad Joseph and Louise Cainkar. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
2021 Sept: “Arab American Gender Representations in the New York Times: 1851 Through 1919.” In Arab American Women: Representation and Refusal. Edited By Michael W. Suleiman, Suad Joseph and Louise Cainkar. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
2021 Sept: "Brothers and Sisters, Husbands and Wives: Love, Power, and Being an In-Law." In Ann Buchanan and Anna Rotkirch. Eds. Brothers and Sisters. Sibling Relationships Across the Life Course. Palgrave Macmilllan. Pp 105-121.
2021 July: Arab American Women: Representation and Refusal, edited by Michael Suleiman, Suad Joseph, Louise Cainkar, Syracuse University Press. Can be found here
2021 July: “Tribute to Michael Suleiman” In Arab American Women: Representation and Refusal. Edited by Michael W. Suleiman, Suad Joseph and Louise Cainkar. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
2021 Feb: “God, Workers, Women, and Self: Convergences, Accidents, and Other Uncertainties in Half a Century of Fieldwork in Lebanon” Ethnologie Francaise. LI. 2021.2:377-385, special issue on Anthropology in Lebanon
2020 Foreword. In Women Rising: Resistance, Revolution, and Reform in the Arab Spring and Beyond. Edited by Mounira Charrad and Rita Stephan. New York: New York University Press.
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures 2010-2020
2020 Volume I: Family, Law, Religion, and Theory
2020 Volume II: Body, Sexuality, and Health
2020 Volume III: Economics, Migration, and Refugees
2020 Volume IV: Colonialism, Education, and Governance
2021 Volume V Political and Social Movements
2021 Volume VI Arts and Artists
2021 Volume VII Knowledge Production and Representation
2021 Volume VIII Literary Studies, Media, and Communications
2021 Volume IX Cumulative Index
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. (EWIC) Volumes 1-6, 2003-2007. Leiden: Brill.
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures Online. (EWIC Online). Supplements #1-20, 2010-2020. Leiden: Brill.
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures 2010-2020. Volumes 1-4, 2020; Volumes 5-9 2021. Leiden: Brill.
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. Supplements #21– ongoing, 2021–present.
Edited and Co-Edited Books | |
| 2023 | Reporting Islam: Muslim Women in the New York Times, 1979-2011. London: I.B. Tauris |
| 2023 | Handbook of Middle East Women. Suad Joseph, Zeina Zaatari, eds. London: Routledge |
| 2022 | The Politics of Engaged Gender Research in the Arab Region. Feminist Fieldwork and the Production of Knowledge. Suad Joseph, Lena Meari, Zeina Zaatari, eds. London. I.B. Tauris |
| 2021 | Arab American Women: Representation and Refusal, edited by Michael Suleiman, Suad Joseph, Louise Cainkar, Syracuse University Press |
| 2018 | Arab Family Studies: Critical Reviews. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. |
| 2013 | Women and Islamic Cultures. Disciplinary Paradigms and Approaches: 2003-2013. Leiden: Brill. |
| 2010 | Framings: Rethinking Arab Family Projects. Rethinking Arab Family Projects |
| 2001 | Women and Power in the Middle East. Eds. Suad Joseph and Susan Slyomovics. Philadelphia: U. of Pennsylvania Press |
| 2000 | Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East. Suad Joseph, Ed., Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. |
| 1999 | Intimate Selving in Arab Families: Gender, Self and Identity. Suad Joseph, Ed., Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. |
| 1999 | Gender and Citizenship in Lebanon. Eds. Najla Hamadeh, Jean Said Makdisi, Suad Joseph. Beirut: Dar al Jadid Press. (In Arabic) |
| 1999 | Building Citizenship in Lebanon. Eds. Walid Moubarak, Antoine Messarra, and Suad Joseph. Beirut: Lebanese American University Press. (In Arabic) |
| 1978 | Muslim-Christian Conflicts: Economic, Political and Social Origins. Eds. Suad Joseph and Barbara L.K. Pillsbury. Boulder, CO.: Westview Press |
Links
Joseph elected President of the University of California Davis Emeriti Association
Joseph Awarded the MESA Jere L. Bacharach Lifetime Service Award
Association for Middle East Women's Studies (AMEWS)
Founder, 1984; Founding President, 1984-1986Arab Families Working Group (AFWG) Founder 2001; Founding and current Director
Middle East/South Asia Studies Program, UC Davis (ME/SA) Founder & Founding Director, 2004-2009
Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies (co-founder, 1980 and Director )
Middle East Studies Association (MESA) (President 2010-2011)
Association for Middle East Anthropology ( AMEA - Co-founder)
Arab American Studies Association (Co-founder and Founding President)
Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (Founder and current Gender Editor – 1998 to present )