معرفی
Lila Abu-Lughod is the Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science at Columbia University, holding dual appointments in the Department of Anthropology and the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality. A leading scholar in Middle Eastern studies and feminist anthropology, her work critiques Western representations of Muslim women and interrogates the intersections of gender, nationalism, and power. She is a vocal advocate for decolonizing research methodologies and has pioneered critical analyses of humanitarian interventions, settler colonialism, and museum politics.
Her research interests focus on:
- Gender politics in Muslim-majority societies
- Settler colonial frameworks in Palestine
- Decolonial ethics in social science research
- Anthropology of media and cultural production
Abu-Lughod's most influential works include Do Muslim Women Need Saving? (2013) and a reissued edition of her classic Veiled Sentiments (1986/2013). She co-founded the Center for Palestine Studies at Columbia and serves on the board of The Palestinian Museum. Her recent scholarship emphasizes:
- Ethics of representation in ethnography
- Critical engagements with 'saving' discourses
- Comparative analysis of gender-based violence
- Indigenous turns in MENA social research
Her work extends beyond academia into public intellectualism, addressing urgent issues like:
- Militarization's impact on Palestinian women
- Weaponized humanitarianism
- Counterproductive 'feminist' foreign policies
