Ariella Azoulay

Ariella Aïsha Azoulay is a Professor of Comparative Literature and Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. Her work interrogates the intersections of photography, political philosophy, and decolonial praxis. She holds a PhD from Tel Aviv University (1997) and an MA from Université Paris VIII Saint Denis (1986).

Her research focuses on photography’s political ontology, colonialism, and human rights discourses. Key works include Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism (2019), Civil Imagination: The Political Ontology of Photography (2012), and The Civil Contract of Photography (2008). She has curated exhibitions such as The Natural History of Rape (2022) and Enough! The Natural Violence of the New World Order (2016).

• Research Interests: Colonial archives, visual politics, decolonial methodologies, Palestinian liberation, and anti-imperial frameworks.
• Awards: Infinity Award (2002).

Her teaching spans courses on colonialism, migration, and anti-colonial thought, including COLT 1815J: 1492 – Unlearning Single World Order and MCM 2100R: Potential History of Photography. She also directs film essays like Un-Documented: Undoing Imperial Plunder (2019) and The World Like a Jewel in the Hand (2022).