معرفی
Jessica Winegar is Professor of Anthropology and Middle East and North African Studies at Northwestern University, where she holds the Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Chair in Middle Eastern Studies and serves as Director of the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. She is a core member of Northwestern's Program in Middle East and North African Studies, which offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Winegar earned her PhD from New York University in 2003.
Her research examines cultural politics in the Middle East and North Africa, with special focus on Egypt. She investigates how social arenas like art worlds, education, and political protest simultaneously embody liberating potential and reproduce hierarchies of gender, class, race/ethnicity, and generation. Key research areas include material/visual culture, aesthetics, state power, social movements, Islam, and the politics of higher education.
Winegar's publications consistently explore intersections of culture, power, and revolution in Middle Eastern contexts. Her scholarly articles demonstrate sustained focus on Egyptian political transformations, Islamic cultural practices, artistic expression under authoritarianism, and critical analyses of Western representations of the region. Recent work examines counter-revolutionary aesthetics and humor as political resistance.
Awards and Fellowships:
- Albert Hourani Book Award and Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication Award for Creative Reckonings (2007)
- Fulbright Fellowship
- American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship
- Howard Foundation Fellowship
- Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship (Princeton)
- National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
- Social Science Research Council Grant
- Mellon Foundation Grant
- Postdoctoral Fellowships: UC Berkeley, Cornell University, School for Advanced Research
- Public Voices Fellow, Op-Ed Project
She is currently developing her book Counter-Revolutionary Aesthetics: How Egypt's Uprising Faltered, supported by major grants. While not accepting new primary advisees for 2025-2028, she continues committee service. Winegar maintains active public engagement through op-eds and media commentary on Middle Eastern politics and academic freedom.
