معرفی
Suad Joseph is a Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, Davis, specializing in Middle East gender and family studies. Her research examines intersections of religion, politics, family, and state dynamics with a focus on gendered citizenship, children's rights, and culturally constructed notions of selfhood in Arab societies.
Education:
- Ph.D. in Anthropology, Columbia University (1975)
- Graduate Work in Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh (1966-67)
- B.A. in Social Science, State University of New York at Cortland (1966, Magna cum Laude)
Her scholarly work centers on how gendered notions of rights, responsibilities, and citizenship develop within family structures and transfer to public/political spheres. She investigates transnational family dynamics, critically analyzes media representations of Arab/Muslim Americans, and explores culturally specific frameworks of selfhood and identity formation in Middle Eastern contexts.
Her publications—including the seminal Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (2017)—demonstrate consistent interdisciplinary engagement across anthropology, gender studies, and political science. Recurring themes include family-state relations, religious-political intersections, and the gendered dimensions of citizenship, with particular attention to Lebanese communities and Arab diaspora experiences.
Major Awards:
- UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement (2014)
- Consortium for Women and Research Graduate Mentor Award
- Diversity Award (2010)
- Middle East Section of American Anthropological Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2016)
- Association for Middle East Women's Studies Lifetime Achievement Award (2016)
- Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award
Professor Joseph has mentored generations of scholars, receiving formal recognition for her graduate mentorship. For fifteen years, she has conducted international training workshops in research design and proposal writing for early-career academics. Her institution-building legacy includes founding the Association for Middle East Women's Studies and its Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, establishing critical infrastructure for scholarly exchange.
She founded the Arab Families Research Group and a six-university consortium to advance collaborative scholarship on Middle Eastern families. Through co-founding the Arab American Studies Association and Association for Middle East Anthropology, she created vital networks connecting scholars across national borders and disciplinary boundaries.
