Omar Zahzah

Omar Zahzah is an Assistant Professor of Arab, Muslim, Ethnicities and Diaspora Studies (AMED) in the Department of Race and Resistance Studies (RRS) at San Francisco State University. He earned a B.A. in Comparative World Literature and Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles.

His research focuses on cultural resistance to securitization, surveillance, and policing by Black, Arab American, and Palestinian creatives. His broader interests include Arab American Studies, Black studies, post-colonialism, Indigenous studies, and settler-colonialism. He critiques institutional cooptation of radical movements and emphasizes cross-movement solidarity.

His upcoming book, Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle (Censored Press, 2024), examines digital colonialism in Palestinian liberation. He is also developing a monograph on security poetics in African American and Arab American literature.

Zahzah’s work has appeared in Arab Studies Quarterly and Centering the Margins: Reimagining the Field of Arab American Studies. As a scholar-activist, he previously served as Education and Advocacy Coordinator for Eyewitness Palestine and continues organizing for Palestinian liberation.