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POSTDOCTORAL
fellows
2024/2025
Amr
Khairy
Amr Khairy Ahmed holds a PhD in human ecology (Lund University). He researches social and cultural histories of energy and technology in nineteenth-century Egypt, from the interdisciplinary perspective of Anthropocene History. His PhD thesis “Egypt Ignited: How Steam Power Arrived on the Nile and Integrated Egypt into Industrial Capitalism (1820s-76)” presented a social history of the arrival of fossil fuels to Egypt, through industrialisation, agrarian production, debts, and colonialism across the nineteenth-century. His ongoing projects include questions of solar energy for agriculture in contemporary arid environments, and the conceptual history of macroeconomics and engineering in Egypt.
Yasmin
Shafei
Yasmin Shafei holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history from the American University of Beirut. She received her MA and BA in International Relations from the American University in Cairo. Her research focuses on intersections of colonial studies and the histories of medicine and mental health. Specifically, her dissertation explored primary documents at the National Archives in Egypt and the United Kingdom to investigate the impact of British colonial rule on the development of psychiatry and Egypt’s state asylums during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through an analysis of a wide range of primary sources, her dissertation also examined the lived experiences of both patients and their families, further interrogating the impacts of class and gender. Prior to embarking on her Ph.D. journey, she spent 15 years working with Oxfam and several United Nations agencies on regional issues related to refugees, gender, education, and health.
DOCTORAL
fellows
2024/2025
Yasmine
Hafez
Yasmine Hafez conducts ethnographic and archival research in an attempt to fill the gaps usually concealed in transboundary management discourses and practices, particularly related to the Nile River. She holds a Master of Arts (MA) degree with distinction in Conflict, Governance, and International Development from the University of East Anglia (UEA). In her master’s, she conducted fieldwork in Addis Ababa, where she focused on analysing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) through Ethiopia’s historical, economic, and social grievances, recognising the pivotal role these grievances played in shaping the socio-political aspects of the dam’s construction. Before that, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Political Science with double minors in Economics and Community Development from the American University in Cairo (AUC). For her PhD project at SOAS University of London, Yasmine shifted her focus to the lakes and wetlands in the Nile Basin countries after extensive fieldwork conducted in various fishing hubs around Lake Victoria in Uganda and Kenya and the transboundary wetland in-between, as well as in Egypt around the Delta Lakes, namely: Lake Burullus, Lake Mariout, and Lake Edko. Through her research, she delves into the colonial histories of these lakes, the neoliberal interventions that have shaped these water bodies, and the fishermen’s everyday experiences.
Youssef Ramez
Boktor
Youssef Ramez Boktor is a researcher with an interdisciplinary background that bridges the fields of Anthropology, Gender Studies, and Critical Geographies. He is now writing his dissertation for his Ph.D in Anthropology at The City University of New York (CUNY) looking at cultural and ecological transformations in Siwa Oasis.His research captures a moment of rapid economic, technological, and sociological changes in Siwa, shedding light on the life and struggle of the only Amazigh group in Egypt (Siwans) being displaced in place. His research investigates how the production and distribution of wealth and power are ultimately sourced from an ecosystem.
In 2017, Boktor was awarded the Magda Al Nowaihi Award for best contribution to Gender Studies at the American University in Cairo, for his MA thesis A Pill, a Cup of Tea, and a Cigarette: the Male Body in Egypt at the Age of Viagra.
