Is a Ph.D. student in Human Geography at the University of Toronto with a background in architecture and design. My research explores access to land and food in the Middle East. I am particularly interested in socio-spatial organizations of rural agrarian communities, investigating how gender and religion shape processes of food production, access to land, and relationship to nature. My work is situated at the intersections of feminist political ecology and feminist political geography, sub-disciplines that allow for a multi-scalar analysis of a region entangled in geopolitical conflicts.

Research Project

My doctoral research examines how agrarian development initiatives approach food insecurity and rural gender disparity in a landscape of protracted wars in Lebanon. I draw on feminist political ecology and feminist political geographies to historicize and critically examine contemporary development programs and unpack the geopolitical and biopolitical powers that intersect at the scales of the agricultural field and the domestic sphere of the home. I began conducting my preliminary research in Lebanon from June 28 until October 11, 2023, during which I carried out archival research at the American University of Beirut (AUB) archives, the online repository of the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University (LAU), and the Orient-Institut Beirut. During this time, I also established relations with local NGO groups. I will begin fieldwork after my maternity leave in Spring 2025. The archival research will be supplemented with critical discourse analysis of development reports vis-a-vis interviews with policy implementors and beneficiaries.