Academic interests
My academic interests include the Palestinian national movement, the socio-political life of refugee camps, politics and society in Lebanon, kinship, heavy metal, and Arabic language.
In 2021, I published the book The Palestinian National Movement in Lebanon: A Political History of the 'Ayn al-Hilwe Camp, which builds on extensive fieldwork in refugee camps in Lebanon and was shortlisted for the 2022 Palestine Book Awards.
Between 2019-22, I was a part of a project called Rebel Governance in the Middle East which explored the dynamic between rebel groups and kinship groups in different areas of the Middle East (and Africa). During this period, I conducted fieldwork in the Balata camp of Nablus in the West Bank. These endaveors resulted in a special issue which I co-edited together with project leader Dag Tuastad.
Since December 2022, I have worked as a senior lecturer in Middle East Studies and Arabic language at the Department of Culture, Religion, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (IKOS).
In September 2023, I began doing research on the heavy metal in Lebanon, and I am currently working on developing an academic project that investigates the metal subculture in the Middle East.
In the spring of 2026, I will be managing the course ARA 1020 (Arabic language B) at IKOS.
Appointments
Director, Centre for Islamic and Middle East Studies, Spring Term 2025.
Co-editor in chief Babylon - Nordic Journal of Middle East Studies (2017-2019)
Teaching and supervision
I have previously taught or taken part in teaching the following courses:
ARA 1010 - Arabic A
ARA 1020 – Arabic B
ARA 1030 – Arabic C
ARA 3010 – Arabic E
MØNA2504 – Culture and society in the Middle East
EXFAC03-MESA – Exfac for Midtøstenstudier
MØNA3000 – Bacheloroppgave i Midtøstenstudier
MES4000 – Theory, Methodology and Project Description in Middle East- and South Asia Studies
I have supervised the following theses:
Performing Statehood: The Palestinian Authority’s Management of the COVID19 Pandemic in the West Bank
Students Taking to the Streets: Mobilizing for a Secular Lebanon (as second supervisor)
Background and education
I was awarded my PhD in Middle East Studies at IKOS / The University of Oslo in 2018, where I also completed my masters’ thesis in 2014. I have studied Arabic language, among other places, at the University of Damascus (2010) and Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) in Beirut (2011). I have been a guest researcher at The American University of Beirut (AUB) (2015-16) and An-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine
