Joel Abdelmoez

Political Science

Main research areas

• Middle East politics
• Feminist activism
• Gender and sexuality
• Queer and trans theory

Teaching

• Introduction to Middle Eastern Studies
• Political Cinéma
• Globalisation, Conflict, Security and the State

Current research and teaching

My research focuses on contentious politics and feminist activism in the contemporary Middle East, focusing especially on Egypt and Tunisia. In my work, I combine feminist political theory and social movement theory with performance studies, and I am particularly interested in contemporary feminists' constructions of history, the temporality of transnational feminism, as well as feminists' international solidarity work. My research also deals more generally with the intersection of gender politics and media, both in terms of news media, social media and popular culture, and the use of digital tools for feminist activism. I have previously worked and published on techno-Orientalism and gender politics in Saudi Arabia, LGBTQ+ organizations in the Arab world, military masculinity in Egyptian media, and on the history of popular, nationalist "operettas" in Egypt.

My current teaching mostly focuses on gender and sexuality in the Middle East, and on popular culture and politics. I have previously taught courses on Middle Eastern and North African media, and gender and feminism in the Middle East, at Stockholm University, and have supervised BA students in both Middle Eastern studies and political science.