Rana Baker

Rana Baker is a Lecturer in the History of the Middle East at King's College London, based in the Department of History and the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. Her work bridges history, political economy, and Science and Technology Studies (STS), focusing on debt, land, and money in modern Egypt, using Ottoman-Egyptian sources to re-examine Middle Eastern studies frameworks. She holds a PhD from Columbia University's Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies and an MA from SOAS, University of London.

• Education: PhD (Columbia University), MA (SOAS, University of London)

Her research explores transformations in material and spiritual abundance in 19th-20th century Egypt, analyzing colonial-era financialization of land and credit. Current projects include a book on prosperity's historical dynamics in Egypt.

She is a core member of multiple interdisciplinary initiatives at King's, including the History and Political Economy Research Group, the Critical Global Capitalism Studies Collective, and the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. These groups focus on rethinking capitalism's intellectual trajectories, global historical methodologies, and policy engagement.

• Key affiliations: History and Political Economy Research Group, Critical Global Capitalism Studies Collective