Susanna Ferguson

Susanna Ferguson is an Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at Smith College. She specializes in the history of women, gender, and intellectual life in the Eastern Mediterranean, with a focus on intersections between gender, science, and political thought in the 19th- and 20th-century Arab world.

• Education: Ph.D. and M.A. from Columbia University, M.A. from New York University, B.A. from Yale University.

Her research examines how gendered discourses shaped modern Arab political concepts like democracy, civilization, and sovereignty. She is the author of Labors of Love: Gender, Capitalism, and Democracy in Modern Arab Thought (2024) and has published in Modern Intellectual History, Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, and other journals.

Recent projects analyze plant knowledge in Arabic-Ottoman contexts around Beirut and Jerusalem. Her work reveals continuities in gendered labor, colonial legacies, and the biological dimensions of nationalism. She co-curates the Ottoman History Podcast series on Women, Gender, and Sex in the Ottoman World.

Scientific Awards:
• Student Government Association Faculty Teaching Award (2024)

She teaches courses on Middle East history, Arab feminism, theories of revolution, migration, and science in the region. Her scholarship bridges history, gender theory, and postcolonial studies.