Nefissa Naguib

Nefissa Naguib is a Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo, affiliated with the Department of Social Anthropology. Her research focuses on culturally complex societies across the Mediterranean, Middle East, Brazil, Norway, and Spain. Key thematic interests include global moments, migrations, humanitarianism, history, maritime lifeworlds, food systems, and Islamic heritage. Regional expertise spans the Mediterranean, Middle East, and transoceanic connections.

Her monographs include Nurturing Masculinities: Men, Food and Family in Contemporary Egypt and co-edited volumes such as Reconceiving Muslim Men: Love and Marriage, Family and Care in Precarious Times, which challenge traditional gender norms in Arab societies. Current projects bridge anthropology, history, and global migration through initiatives like Out of the Blue (human and material migrations), We Have Given you Gardens (botany and Islamic heritage), and Feeling the Heat (environmental labor in the Middle East).

Nefissa leads the Feeling the Heat project and collaborates with the CMI Centre on Law and Social Transformation. She has directed programs like the Arab World Program and Cultures and Politics of Faith. Courses taught include advanced topics in food anthropology, Middle Eastern studies, and gender kinship.

• Research Highlights: Pioneering work on water as an agent of history, humanitarian practices in the Arctic, and transnational gender dynamics.
• Awards: Al Jazeera documentary nomination (2010) for War, Women, Welfare in Jerusalem.
• Grants: Research Council of Norway, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Norwegian Program for Development grants.

Labs/Teams: Core member of YALLA (politics and aesthetics of everyday life in MENA) and leads interdisciplinary collaborations.