Ilana Feldman

Ilana Feldman is a Professor of Anthropology, History, and International Affairs at George Washington University, and former Vice Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs. Her research focuses on Palestinian experiences of displacement, citizenship, and humanitarianism, with a regional specialization in the Middle East. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Key works include Governing Gaza (2008), Police Encounters (2015), and Life Lived in Relief (2018), which examine bureaucracy, security, and refugee politics. She has been recognized with the 2017 GW Distinguished Scholar Award for her contributions to anthropological scholarship.

Her teaching spans courses on human rights, Middle Eastern anthropology, and security studies. She co-edited In the Name of Humanity (2010), exploring the intersections of threat and care in governance. Her research bridges historical and contemporary analyses of colonial legacies, state formation, and the lived realities of Palestinian refugees in camps and diasporas.

Recent publications address humanitarian law, decolonial feminist praxis, and global academic freedom struggles. Her work critiques international humanitarian frameworks while advocating for nuanced understandings of Palestinian agency and resistance. She actively engages public anthropology, linking academic research to contemporary political debates about occupation, displacement, and solidarity movements.