Sara Rahnama

Sara Rahnama is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Program for the Study of the Middle East & North Africa at Morgan State University, specializing in colonial and postcolonial history with a focus on gender dynamics in Algeria. Her work bridges academic rigor with public engagement, appearing in venues such as Gender & History, The Washington Post, and The Conversation.

• Research Themes: Colonial gender roles, feminist movements, Islamic modernity, art history, and postcolonial resistance in North Africa.

Her acclaimed book The Future is Feminist: Women and Social Change in Interwar Algeria won prestigious awards, including the Nikki Keddie Book Prize and Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize. Recent publications explore Pan-African militant artists, rural women's labor, and intersections of Islam and racial capitalism.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Middle East Studies Association’s Nikki Keddie Book Prize
  • French Colonial Historical Society’s Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize