About
I am a researcher in the field of contemporary sound production and curation from the SWANA region. My current research examines how memory, autobiographical, and sensory aspects of urban living are reflected in sound and multimedia installations from Palestine, Egypt and Lebanon.
Drawing on ethnographic observations from Beirut, Cairo, and Berlin, my research looks at how musicians experience, remember, and care, for their city and fellow citizens in a place that evokes intense feelings of both belonging and alienation. The focus lies on cultural policy decisions and political dimensions of public life that inform the productive capacities of musicians, their archival initiatives and sonic outputs.
My AHRC-funded doctoral thesis Curating after world music: Contemporary and experimental practices between Lebanon and Germany at King's College London (2020-2023) was concerned with the representation of contemporary Arab arts and culture in Germany and artist-run Lebanese production sites working across Beirut, Berlin, and Mannheim.
I teach sound studies, critical theory, curatorial studies, and ethnomusicology in the Department of Music and the Department of Interdisciplinary Humanities at King's College London. I previously taught at the University of Oxford, Columbia University, and the University of Mannheim. This March, I will guest lecture on contemporary textile art and mixed media installation art from Palestine at Central Saint Martins (UAL).
Education
2020-2023
PhD in Ethnomusicology & Curatorial Practice, King's College London
2017-2018
MSt in Music, University of Oxford
2013-2017
BA in Musicology & Psychology, University of Heidelberg
Awards
2023
2021
2020
2020
Graduate Student Paper Prize (runner-up), Society for the Anthropology of Europe,
American Anthropological Association
Fieldwork Grant Award, British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE)
AHRC-funded PhD Scholarship (via LAHP)
Recognition Award, University of Oxford