Dr. Patricia Sohn, Ph.D.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2564-9722. AKA: Patricia J. Woods (to 2017); Patricia W. Keitt (1988-1990, appears on some transcripts or documents).
Divorced. Image: Göteborg 2024 (EASR conference).
Professional Appointments
Visiting Faculty, Kathmandu University-Nepal Center for Contemporary Studies (KU-NCCS), Nepal, September 2025 for one year. Teaching and Research.
Associate Professor, Political Science and Jewish Studies, University of Florida, August 2010 - September 10, 2025. Field memberships: Comparative Politics (historical and institutional; micro-level; culture, state, and society); and Methods (pure qualitative and field methods). Affiliate Faculty, Center for Global Islamic Studies.
Visiting Scholar (faculty research), Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University (1.5 years, 2003-2004).
Assistant Professor, Political Science and Jewish Studies, University of Florida, August 2001-August 2010. Field memberships: Comparative Politics (historical and institutional; micro-level; culture, state, and society); and Methods (pure qualitative and field methods). Affiliate Faculty, Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research.
Education
University of Washington. Ph.D. 2001. Interdisciplinary, Near and Middle East Studies, Modern Middle East Politics track. Comparative Politics, Comparative Law and Society, Modern Middle East. Graduate Certificates: Comparative Law and Society Studies; Women's Studies (comparative gender politics).
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 1999-2000. Visiting Researcher, Department of Political Science (graduate student, Social Science Research Council IDRF and National Science Founation dissertation fellowship #9906136 Woods co-Pi) (no degree or classes; research period, access to Law Library at both Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University)
Tel Aviv University. January 1997 – June 1997. Visiting Scholar, Department of Sociology and Anthropology (graduate student, Social Science Research Council NMERTA fellowship) (no degree or classes; research period, access to Law Library)
Birzeit University. Summer 1995. Introductory spoken Palestinian Arabic.
University of Haifa. February 1993 - July 1994. Advanced Hebrew (level five plus introductory Hebrew literature); and advanced Arabic (University of Haifa called it intermediate Arabic; using the philological method it involved reading, deconstructing sentences, declining, some diagramming, and verb forms up to and past form XV; written only, rudimentary spoken skills).
University of Florida. M.A. 1991. Comparative Religion: Islam and Judaism.
University of Florida. B.A. 1989. Major, Comparative Religion: Judaism and Islam. Minor, Jewish Studies. Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi. (Keitt)
University of Paris I – the Sorbonne. February through June, 1987. Certificate in Intermediate French Grammar. (Woods)
American University of Paris. February through June, 1987. (Overseas courses, no degree; research in UNESCO archives on Arab-Israeli conflict documents.)
Collège International de Cannes; Cannes, France. January 1987. Intensive advanced-intermediate French language pre-program. International Program. (Overseas courses, no degree.)
Languages
Native speaker and writer: American English
Advanced: French, Hebrew, Arabic (rudimentary spoken in Arabic)
Elementary (first or second year): Palestinian colloquial Arabic, Turkish, German, Haitian Creole, Italian, and Spanish. Informally studying Filipino.
Language training locations: University of Washington, Seattle; University of Haifa, Israel; Bir Zeit University, West Bank; Paris-I-Sorbonne, France; University of Florida, Gainesville; Caye Mère French Catholic Girls Day School, Jacmel, Haiti (one year, 1977-1978); and/or private or other courses (Italian and Spanish).
Research Interests
Field research, political ethnography, and qualitative methods. Religion and Politics; Culture, Institutions, and Politics; Comparative Law and Society; and Gender. Middle East and North Africa; Israel; and Arab-Jewish coexistence, rights, and social mobilizing. Ritual politics and performativity in comparative and international perspective. East Asian popular film & television, perspectival politics, and messaging (Kazakhstan and East).
Professional Service
Fulbright Foundation National Screening Committee; National Science Foundation proposal reviewer; Social Science Research Council proposal reviewer; Association for Israel Studies Executive Board (2001-2005); Program Chair, Association for Israel Studies national and international conference (San Diego, 2003); Chair, Committee Member, or Discussant, Dissertation Workshop, Association for Israel Studies (2003-2005); Graduate Liaison officer (1995-1999); President and co-founder, Graduate Student Organization, Association for Israel Studies; Secretariat Liaison, Middle East Studies Association (1994-1995)
Awards
Alternate, Fulbright-Schuman Fellowship Program for a project on resistance to anti-Semitism in the region of Pisa, Italy, and in Denmark, 1938-1945, Fulbright Foundation, 2023
Certificate of Recognition, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, for three years of service on the Fulbright National Screening Committee for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, March 2016
University of Florida Humanities Faculty Enhancement Fellowship, 2015
University of Florida Provost Faculty Enhancement Opportunity Award, 2009
National Science Foundation, Law and Social Sciences Dissertation Grant (SES 9906136, Migdal PI, Woods Co-PI, 1999-2001)
Visiting Scholar, Department of Political Science, Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1999-2000)
Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship (1999-2000)
Dorot Foundation Travel Grant for research in Israel (September 1999)
Social Science Research Council Dissertation Workshop on States and Societies in the Middle East, Fellow, Marrakech, Morocco (July 1999)
University of Washington Graduate School Teaching Fellowship (Spring 1998)
Social Science Research Council Near and Middle East Predissertation Award (1996-1997)
Middle East Center Research Award, University of Washington (Summer 1995)
Hall-Ammerer-WRF Graduate Fellowship Award, University of Washington (1994-1997)
Phi Beta Kappa 1989, Phi Kappa Phi honor society 1989
University Service
Chair, Curriculum Committee, Department of Political Science, University of Florida, 2013-2024, excepting two semesters.
Member, Infrastructure Council (a Faculty Senate Council), 2022-2025
Faculty Screener, Fulbright Campus Interviews, University of Florida, Autumn 2023
Undergraduate Coordinator, Center for Jewish Studies, 2021-2023
Chair, Academic Policy Council (a Faculty Senate Council), 2018-2019
Member, Senate Steering Committee, University of Florida, 2018-2019
Member, Academic Policy Council (a Faculty Senate Council), 2022-2023, 2017-2020
Member, University Curriculum Committee, 2019-2022
Faculty Senator, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida, 2006-2007, 2015-2018, 2019-2022
Chair, Professional Development Leave Committee, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida, 2018-2019
Member, College Curriculum Committee, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida, 2014-2016
Pitched, co-organized, and achieved MOU with Hebrew University of Jerusalem in coordination with UFIC, 2014
Faculty Advisory Committee, “Aftermath: The Fallout of War – America and the Middle East.” Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, 2013-2016
E-Learning, Faculty Quality Assurance Committee, University of Florida, 2013-2015
Co-Coordinator and Founder, Near and Middle East Studies Working Group, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida, May 2006-2009
Organized major donor visit with Florida Foundation on behalf of Near and Middle East Working Group at request of UFIC Dean, Spring and Summer 2008
Madelyn Lockhart Faculty Development Award Committee, Center for Women and Gender Studies, University of Florida, Fall 2006
Publications
Books
1. 2022. Simone Raudino and Patricia Sohn, eds. Beyond the Death of God: Religion in 21st Century International Politics. University of Michigan Press. Sixteen chapters plus section introductions by religion and region.
2. 2017. SECOND EDITION. Patricia Sohn. Judicial Power and National Politics: Courts and Gender in the Religious-Secular Conflict in Israel, State University of New York Press. Significantly revised with two new chapters, and full data set from first national-level survey of women’s movement volunteers.
3. 2008. FIRST EDITION. Patricia Sohn. Judicial Power and National Politics: Courts and Gender in the Religious-Secular Conflict in Israel. State University of New York Press. Theoretical framework in law and society literature.
Dissertation and Thesis
4. Patricia Woods. Courting the Court: Social Visions, State Authority, and the Religious Law Conflict in Israel. University of Washington. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2001 (317 pages includes glossary, references, two appendices, and curriculum vitae). FULL TEXT here. Available in hardcover from ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
5. Woods, Patricia J. “Women and Feminism in Islam and Judaism : a Comparative Study of Two Feminist Thinkers, Judith Plaskow and Fatima Mernissi.” Thesis (M.A.), University of Florida, 1991 (225 pages including three glossaries, appendix, and bibliographical references).
Mini-Symposia (Journal Special Issues):
6. Lisa Hilbink and Patricia J. Woods, editors, “Judicial Empowerment in Comparative Perspective: Ideas and Interests,” a Mini Symposium of Political Research Quarterly, 62:4 (December 2009): 745-839. (introductory article by Patricia J. Woods and Lisa Hilbink)
7. Liora Israël, Patricia Woods, Jayanth Krishnan, Stephen Meili, Marie-Aude Beernaert, Katia Weidenfeld, Bruno Milly, and François Chazel, “La justice comme espace politique. Trois études de cas: Israël, Inde, Argentine” a special issue of Droit et Société 3:55 (2003): 595-780.
E-Textbook
8. Patricia Sohn, editor, Qualitative Comparative Politics: Formative Texts and Case Studies, Kendall Hunt Publishers (Higher Education Series), 2017; introductory chapter and chapter introductions by Patricia Sohn. 278 pages.
Articles and Chapters
9. 2003. Steven V. Mazie and Patricia J. Woods, “Prayer, Contentious Politics, and the Women of the Wall: The Benefits of Collaboration in Participant Observation at Intense, Multi-Focal Events” Field Methods 15:1 (February): 25-50.
10. 2003. Patricia J. Woods, “Normes juridiques et changement politique en Israël,” as part of a mini-symposium in Droit et Société 55:3 (December): 605-626.
11. 2004. Patricia J. Woods, "Gender and the Reproduction and Maintenance of Group Boundaries: Why the 'Secular' State Matters to Religious Authorities in Israel," in Boundaries and Belonging: States and Societies in the Struggle to Shape Identities and Local Practices, Joel S. Migdal, ed., Cambridge University Press.
12. 2004. Patricia J. Woods, "It’s Israeli After All: A Survey of Israeli Women’s Movement Volunteers" Israel Studies Forum 19:2 (April).
13. 2005. Patricia J. Woods, “Cause Lawyers and Judicial Community in Israel: Legal Change in a Diffuse, Normative Community” in The Worlds Cause Lawyers Make: Structure and Agency in Legal Practice, edited by Austin Sarat and Stuart Scheingold, Stanford University Press.
14. 2008. Patricia J. Woods and Scott W. Barclay, "Cause Lawyers as Knowledge Holders and Legal Innovators with And Against the State: Symbiosis or Opposition?" Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 45: 203-234.
15. 2009. Patricia J. Woods and Lisa Hilbink, “Judicial Empowerment in Comparative Perspective: Interests and Ideas,” introduction to a mini-symposium in Political Research Quarterly 62:4 (December): 745-752.
16. 2009. Patricia J. Woods, “The Ideological Roots of Israel’s Constitutional Revolution,” as part of a mini-symposium of Political Research Quarterly 62:4 (December): 811-824.
17. 2013. Patricia J. Woods, “The Politics of Fracture: Identity, Difference, and Fissures in the Image of a Singular, Unified Israeli State” in The Everyday Life of the State: A State-in-Society Approach, Adam White, ed. University of Washington Press.
18. 2016. Patricia J. Woods, “The Women’s Movement: Mobilization and the State” in Contemporary Israel: New Insights and Scholarship (Jewish Studies in the Twenty-First Century Series), edited by Frederick Greenspahn. New York University Press.
19. 2017. Patricia J. Woods, “Fault Lines” in The Cambridge Companion to Judaism and Law (Cambridge Companions to Religion Series), edited by Christine Hayes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20. 2022. Patricia Sohn and Simone Raudino, “Editors’ Introduction: Religion and Politics” in Beyond the Death of God: Religion in 21st Century International Politics, edited by Simone Raudino and Patricia Sohn. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
21. 2022. Patricia Sohn, “Global Trends in Religion and State: Secular Law and Freedom of Religion in Israel” in Beyond the Death of God: Religion in 21st Century International Politics, edited by Simone Raudino and Patricia Sohn. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Open Access Research or Policy Articles:
22. 2015. Colonel Haluk Karadağ and Patricia J. Woods, “Default Power in the MENA Region: Turkey as a Pragmatic Solution to the Post-Arab Spring Era” in International Relations and Foreign Policy 3:2 (December): 1-11.
23. 2015. Patricia J. Woods and Colonel Haluk Karadağ, “Rights or Riots? Regional Institutional and Cultural Legacies in the MENA Region, and the Case of Turkey” in Journal of Power, Politics, and Governance 3(1) (June): 63-79.
24. 2023. Patricia Sohn, "The Neo-Positive Value of Symbolic Representations and Ritual Politics: Reconsidering the South Korean Allegory in Popular Film, Asura: The City of Madness" in Religions (special issue, Peace, Politics, and Religion: Volume II) 14 (11): 1362.
Research or Policy, Open-Access Disciplinary Magazine (“website”):
25. 2021. Patricia Sohn, “Theatres of Difference: The Film ‘Hair’, Otherness, Alterity, Subjectivity and Lessons for Identity Politics” in E-International Relations: Articles, September 28 (Research).
26. 2022. Patricia Sohn, “The Color of Institutions: Unity, Morality, or Decay? A Personal Reflection” in E-International Relations: Articles, June 22 (Research).
27. 2023. Patricia Sohn, “United Moderate Religions vs. Secular and Religious Extremes?” in E-International Relations: Articles, April 3 (Research).
28. 2023. Patricia Sohn, “Inclusiveness, Pedagogy, Identity, Ideology, and the Epistemology of the Professor” in E-International Relations: Articles, May 13 (Pedagogy).
29. 2023. A. Patricia Sohn, Shadi Heidarifar and Sydney Polanin, “Religion and Secularism in Turkey, and the Turkish Elections” in E-International Relations: Articles, May 26. (Policy.)
B. Simultaneously published, 2023. Patricia Sohn, Shadi Heidarifar and Sydney Polanin, “Religion and secularism in Turkey and the Turkish elections” in Culturico.com: International Relations, Society & Culture, May 26. Simultaneously published in E-International Relations, Articles. (Policy.)
30. 2024. “Opinion – On Gerontology” in E-International Relations, Articles, October 10 (Policy).
31. 2024. “Opinion – Habitus and the 2024 US Presidential Election” in E-International Relations: Articles, November 10 (Policy).
32. 2025. “Opinion – Trump’s Coronation: The New Romanov Century” in E-International Relations, Articles, January 27 (Policy).
33. Patricia Sohn. 2025. “Opinion – Reflections on the Global Sex Trade and the War in Ukraine” in E-International Relations, Articles. March 7. (Policy.)
Book Reviews
34. 1995. Staughton Lynd, Sam Bahour and Alice Lynd, eds. Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians. (New York: Olive Branch Press, 1994) MELA Notes: Middle East Librarians Association (1995): 73-74. Reviewed by Patricia J. Woods.
35. 1996. Harvey Goldberg, ed. Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries: History and Culture in the Modern Era. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.) New Perspectives on Turkey 15 (Fall): 147-149. Reviewed by Patricia J. Woods.
36. 1997. Gad Barzilai, Wars, Internal Conflicts, and Political Order: A Jewish Democracy in the Middle East. (Albany, NY: State University of Israel Press, 1996.) Middle East Journal 51:3 (Summer): 448-450. Reviewed by Patricia J. Woods.
37. 1998. Yael Yishai, Between the Flag and the Banner: Women in Israeli Politics. (Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1997.) Israel Studies Bulletin 13:2 (Spring): 33-34. Reviewed by Patricia J. Woods.
38. 1999. Ilana Kaufman. Arab National Communism in the Jewish State. (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1997.) In Shofar 17:4 (Summer): 117-119. Reviewed by Patricia J. Woods.
39. 1999. Lila Abu-Lughod. Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.) In New Perspectives on Turkey 18 (Fall). Reviewed by Patricia J. Woods.
40. 2016. Kent F. Schull, M. Safa Saraçoğlu, and Robert Zens, eds. Law and Legality in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2016. Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies 1:1 (May) 83-88. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jims.1.1.08 Reviewed by Patricia J. Woods.
Articles or Interviews
41. 2008. Patricia J. `Woods, “Judicial Power and National Politics” in Secular Culture and Ideas, a publication of JBooks, lead article, July.
42. 2016. Interview – Prince El-Waleed M. Madibo, conducted by Patricia Woods. E-International Relations, December 3.
Curator (e.g., guest editor) and Founder, “Subaltern States” for E-International Relations (http://e-ir.info),
October 2016 to February 2019; approximately two articles per month for that period by self or contributors; solicited articles from, and language or style editing of, contributions from domestic and international scholars; approximately four blog dozen pieces by self. When blog page closed, all essays were moved to the Articles page. Highest number of views for any one, 14,089 views, as of May 6, 2025.
43. 2016. Patricia Sohn, “Introducing ‘Subaltern States’” in E-International Relations, October 20.
44. 2016. Patricia Sohn, “Times of Tumult: Discussing Islam and Feminism” in E-International Relations, October 20.
45. 2016. Patricia Sohn, “Income Inequality & Subaltern America: Thoughts for U.S. Election Day” in E-International Relations, October 27.
46. 2016. Patricia Sohn, “Explaining the Donald Trump Victory” in E-International Relations, November 9 (2,664 views as of May 6, 2025).
47. 2016. Patricia Sohn, “Pacifism, Just War and Civil Liberties in a Multicultural Age” in E-International Relations, November 11.
48. 2016, Patricia Sohn, “Methods War: How Ideas Matter within Political Science” in E-International Relations, November 24.
49. 2016, Patricia Sohn, “Inhabiting Orthodoxy: Discussing Islam and Feminism, Continued” in E-International Relations, December 9.
50. 2016. Patricia Sohn, “Fourteen Points on Local Courts in the U.S.” in E-International Relations, December 27.
51. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Mainstream Film and the Middle East” in E-International Relations, January 21.
52. 2017, Patricia Sohn, “The War of the Words: Trump and the Left” in E-International Relations, March 3.
53. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Symbolic Violence and Post-Election USA: A Parable” in E-International Relations, March 16.
54. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Want a Scapegoat? Blame Serbia! (a Satire)” in E-International Relations, March 31.
55. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Institutions Matter, Or, What I Learned Sleeping with Lions in Kenya” in E-International Relations, April 6.
56. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Has the U.S. Become a Single-Party Regime?” In E-International Relations, April 20.
57. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “The Faith and Good Works Party – In My (Utopian) Dreams” in E-International Relations, April 28.
58. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Bombing Syria, Isis, and How We Got Here” in E-International Relations, May 4.
59. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “What I Learned Fending off Wild Camels in Pamukkale (A Travelogue).” In E-International Relations, May 11.
60. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Which T.V. Show or Movie Does This World Most Resemble?” in E-International Relations, May 19.
61. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “The Village Knows Better, and Other Forms of Mob Rule” in E-International Relations, June 2.
62. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Will Trump Be to Palestinian-Israeli Peace What Nixon Was to the U.S and China?” In E-International Relations, June 8.
63. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “What Do We Mean by ‘Local People’? The Palestinian Case.” In E-International Relations, June 23.
64. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Is Trump the New Multicultural Internationalist?” in E-International Relations, July 21.
65. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “What Do Karl Marx, Napoleon, and the Majlis Have in Common?” in E-International Relations, September 29.
66. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Going Grassroots: Visiting the Foreign Locales of Arkansas and Southwest Texas” in E-International Relations, October 19.
67. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “The Nazi Movement Today: Our Cousins, Ourselves” in E-International Relations, October 26.
68. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Why Jerusalem Is the Capital of Israel – And Palestine” in E-International Relations, December 8 (6,458 views as of May 6, 2025).
69. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “10th Anniversary Post – Why Faculty Use Blogs” in E-International Relations, December 17.
70. 2017. Patricia Sohn, “Bounty≠Consumerism: An International, Aesthetic Christmas” in E-International Relations, December 24.
71. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “A 21-year old Reform Movement on the Brink of Success” in E-International Relations, January 26.
72. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “Why States-Rights States Can Take Responsibility for Their Own Catastrophes” in E-International Relations, February 23.
73. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “The Path to Authoritarianism: How do we get there?!” in E-International Relations, March 8.
74. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “Why Trump’s Meeting with North Korean Matters: The Asia-Middle East Connection” in E-International Relations, May 18.
75. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “N-of-1 Survey Finds Support for a Return to the Divine Right of Kings (A Satire)” in E-International Relations, May 22.
76. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “If There Was a Time to Support Reformists in Iran, It’s Now” in E-International Relations, May 24.
77. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “A Bit of Bedouin Perspective on World Politics Today” in E-International Relations, August 22.
78. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “Border Crossings: Our Criminals, Their Criminals, and ‘Good Fences’” in E-International Relations, September 1.
79. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “Fiction, Film & Empiricism: Comparative Politics as Action and Adventure” in E-International Relations, September 29.
80. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “International Travel is a Risky Business: Research, Study, & Proselytizing” in E-International Relations, October 21.
81. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “The Theatre of Politics: Politics as Oscar Broadway” in E-International Relations, November 2.
82. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “What is Nationalism? A Nation? A Nationalist?” in E-International Relations, November 16 (14,089 views as of May 6, 2025).
83. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “Courts: The Quagmire”in E-International Relations, November 30.
84. 2018. Patricia Sohn, “Habitus: Why Positive Law is Better than Originalism or Post-Modernism in Law” in E-International Relations, December 15.
85. 2019. Patricia Sohn, “Aquaman: A New Year Parable in Race and Ethnicity” in E-International Relations, January 12.
86. 2019. Patricia Sohn, “J’accuse! The Case for Pre-Modernism, or, the Rural-Urban Divide” in E-International Relations, January 25.
87. 2019. Patricia Sohn, “J’accuse! The Case for Traditional Capitalism” in E-International Relations, February 9.
88. 2019. Patricia Sohn, “A Rationale for Pluralism, The Rural, Remote Peasant” in E-International Relations, February 15.
89. 2019. Patricia Sohn, “Women Acquitting Themselves Well” in E-International Relations, February 15.
Independent Blog, The Arena: People and Politics
Articles by self and outside contributors, 2019-2021 (18 new essays, see thearenapeopleandpolitics.wordpress.com)
Conferences
Over 50 invited, workshop, conference papers presented and panels organized. See link.
Courses & Teaching
Great Teaching Certificate, University of Florida, February 2025; Student Focused Teaching Badge, University of Florida, February 2025; Digital Teaching Badge, University of Florida, January 2025; Four - Affordable UF Badges (e.g., affordable texts) for courses in 2023 and 2024
My courses often center upon the development of analytical reading and public speaking skills on academic texts and themes, as well as moving toward formal and professional writing (to the extent possible from the student’s starting point; e.g., analytical writing in political analysis, graduate and undergraduate). This teaching method draws upon a “great texts” approach.
Undergraduate:
1. Politics of the Modern Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (Comparative, Historical, Institutional, and Social; institutional arrangements between the central Ottoman imperial state, and a wide range of formations of local communities from sedentary villages, towns, and cities to rural agriculturalists to Bedouin and nomadic peoples; symbolic politics; religion and politics; Gerges, Qutb, and Nasser; youth politics and opportunities; women and politics)
2. Islam and Politics in the Middle East and North Africa (Comparative, Historical, Institutional, and Social; late-19th, 20th, and 21st centuries; religious-secular social, political, and legal dynamics; social and political mobilization; modernism and traditionalism; gender politics; the politics of space and boundaries [social, physical, and territorial]; veiling; public opinion, Islamic attitudes, and political attitudes; Islamic law and courts; social mobilization; and religious revival and piety; case studies in the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Tunisia, and region-wide)
3. Political Change and Legal Development (comparative judicial politics; state-society relations in the context of the judiciary; constitutional politics and bills of rights; judicial autonomy; and courts in Pakistan, Europe, Japan, Brazil, India, Israel, and several cases in the British Commonwealth)
4. Comparative Law and Courts (judicial institutions in comparative and international perspective, comparative judicial and constitutional politics, judicial autonomy, Weber on bureaucracy, judicial-executive relations, courts in Europe, MENA, China, Japan, and elsewhere)
5. Introduction to Comparative Politics (Historical, Institutional, Social, Social Theory, and Case Studies; development of the late-modern state [divine right of Kings to the nation-state]; the development of the late-modern economy [traditional to modern capitalism]; ethnicity and nationalism; several important revolutions; a few theory and method debates; authoritarianism, clientelism, and democracy; comparative judicial politics; and the domestic-level politics of several different countries, by case study, either in historical or contemporary terms, including England, France, Kyrgyzstan, and Egypt, and, more briefly, Chile, Israel, Indonesia, Russia, and Iran. Students can do group semester project on a country, by region: Europe; Africa; Latin America; MENA; South Asia; Southeast Asia; China; or Russia / former-Soviet Union / former-Soviet Bloc. Or, group semester project can be conducted by comparative politics theme with each student focusing on one country (not limited to region): case study research; democracy and civil society; national identity; ethnicity and ethnic politics; civil wars; social movements; political clientelism; comparative judicial politics; separation of powers / balance of powers / checks and balances; authoritarianism; and the welfare state in comparative perspective)
6. Politics, Fiction, and Popular Film (Asia, MENA, and Europe; identity politics; socio-political transformations in historical-institutional frame; inter-cultural, inter-generational, regional, and international interactions and dynamics; major historical-institutional and world-historical changes linked with individual, community, and national-level experiences as expressed in film, e.g., political phenomenology)
7. Identities and Transformation: Fiction and Film (Quest 1 UF Course: Humanities, Comparative and International, Asia, MENA, Europe, and additional regions; social theories relating to identities and state-society relations; individual, local, national, or regional identities and phenomena; world-historical, “structural” historical and political changes, such as feudalism to the rule of law, religion to secularism, traditional capitalism to modern capitalism, and local identities to nationalism; shifts in global power centers and their impact[s] upon individuals, communities, and the ways that people are able to [or are apt to] conceive of themselves, their communities, and their life choices; cross-cultural dynamics within and across communities and regions, including, “cross-cultural encounter;” sub-cultures; inter-generational tensions, coexistence, and issues relating to power sharing and autonomy; East/West dynamics; and the methodological theme, how can we find, or, what do we look for in order to identify when something is a question of identity?)
8. Culture and Politics: Jews and Muslims (political phenomenology: paradigmatic 20th century macro-level experiences, Comparative, Historical, and International, e.g., Gerges on Qutb and Nasser to R. Lau and Hannah Arendt on the Holocaust)
9. Judaism and Politics (Comparative and International; Judaism and law; Jewish feminism; several major sets of Jewish experiences of the 20th century, including North Africa, Europe, Latin America, and China; and several critical 20th century social theorists relating to issues of community, the Other, Subject and Object (Buber, Levinas, Said, Bourdieu)
10. Israel: Religion and Politics (liberal democracy, religion, and ethnic communities; women’s agency among Orthodox communities; prophetic and messianic movements; and the spirit of Jewish law)
11. Women and Politics in the Modern Middle East (late-19th century to recent decades; Morocco to Pakistan, emphasis on Iran, Egypt, and MENA broadly; women and space; veiling; women and religion; women and law; women and political freedoms, access to education and jobs, and women and the state as subjects and as objects)
12. Arab-Israeli Conflict A (Comparative-Historical beginning 1834, 1881, and 20th century; popular course, taught twice yearly for several years; 1910s as formative; inter-state wars; guerrilla wars; social mobilization; nationalism; peace process; and decline of the peace process); and B (Ideologies, taught once)
13. Israel: Politics and Society (judicial politics and constitutional jurisprudence; Kosher laws; government and politics of Israel; religion and politics; Supreme Court biography; kibbutz movement; and social movements)
14. Women and Politics in Israel (women, fertility, and the state; social and political mobilization; public office; religion and gender; and law & society)
15. Judaism, Law, and Society (Jewish law and communities in historical context; legal principles in Jewish law, Justice, Equality, Covenant; religious and secular contexts; judicial institutions; civil rights, human rights, and constitutionalism in Israel; judicial biography; and legal theory in context)
16. Israel: Law, State, and Society (new course Spring 2025: the long constitutional tradition, e.g., Claude Klein, and the 1992 constitutional revolution; judicial review of executive acts, 1969; judicial review of legislation, 1992; the spirit of Jewish law, secular and religious; and women's rights) (taught previously under a different title with similar and other themes)
17. The Rule of Law in the Middle East and North Africa (new course Spring 2025; the rule of law, definitions, social theory; religion and law; democratization and participatory politics; religious minorities; women's rights and freedoms; conservative religious feminism; "banditry"; and MENA courts and administrative authorities)
Graduate:
18. Modern Middle East Politics (Comparative, Historical, Institutional, and Social; migration and mobility [political-geographical]; revolutions and war, especially Iran, the Arab Spring, and Kurds; identities, ethnicity, social actors, and political institutions; gender politics, women’s mobilization, and veiling as symbol and spatial marker/boundary; East-West, traditional-modern, and competing ideas and epistemologies; authoritarianism, symbols, democratization; historical tribal confederations as well as contemporary formations; Islam: tradition, modernism, fundamentalism, spiritualism; political economy, re: business social actors, and youth & opportunities; social and spatial boundaries; micro-level and grassroots analysis)
19. Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective (Comparative, Historical, and International; Works in Religion; Social Theory, Qualitative Methods; Homo religious and axis mundi; the ritual process and implications for ritual and politics; religion and secularism in the Middle East and North Africa [MENA]; Catholicism in Italy; religion and state in China; messianism in Israel and Palestine; religion, secularism, and the state in comparative and international perspective; and case studies in religion and politics in the Sahel [Africa], South Asia, Europe, MENA, and East Asia [including China])
20. Case Study, Culture, and Politics (Comparative-Historical, Social Theory, Qualitative Methods; counts as a Methods course; exemplary fieldwork-based case study research relating to cultural,
political-ethnographic, discursive, social, and other qualitative research and analysis; linking case studies with scientific method and social theory; weapons of the weak and power; ritual politics; nationalism, official nationalism, and communities; and tribes, traditionalism, and religion versus [and within] modernist and secular politics; includes research conducted in the U.S., Southeast Asia, MENA)
21. Field Methods and Grant Writing (political ethnography: strategies, preparation, extents, and limits; in-depth interviews and life-stories methods, patterns, demographics; survey construction, short interviews, language, and sensitive questions; case studies and examples in classical field methods political science and cross-disciplinary; proposal writing for national-level, cross-disciplinary fellowships)
22. Law, State, and Society in Comparative Perspective (comparative judicial politics; state-society relations in the context of the judiciary; constitutional politics and bills of rights; judicial autonomy; and courts in Pakistan, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Israel, and several cases in the British Commonwealth)
23. Women and Politics (Comparative, Historical, and International; gender politics in comparative perspective; case studies, political ethnography; feminist ethnography; multiple themes; social theory; and multiple regions, including South Asia and MENA)
Graduate School Teaching and Assistantships
INDEPENDENT COURSES TAUGHT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: SIS 460, Law, State, and Society (created by me); SISME/NEARE 213 Introduction to the Modern Middle East (twice); and SISME 490, Women in the Contemporary Middle East, 1997 - 2001.
TEACHING ASSISTANT, University of Washington: SIS 202, Cultural Interactions (Lead TA); and SIS 200, States and Capitalism: Origins of the World System (twice), 1997 - 2000.
RESEARCH ASSISTANT, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Near and Middle East Studies (IPNMES), University of Washington, Summer 1998 appointment. Duties: conducted survey of faculty and graduate students; wrote program self-study submitted to the Graduate School November 1998; and was representative in charge of IPNMES conference funding for summer 1999.
GRADUATE ASSISTANT, Department of Religion, University of Florida, National Endowment for the Humanities Summer 1990 and Summer 1991 Institutes at UF on the topic, Teaching Religion(s) in the Public Schools. Teaching assistant in: The Islamic Heritage; The Jewish Heritage; and The Christian Heritage.
GRADUATE ASSISTANT, Department of Religion, University of Florida, August 1989-May 1991. Teaching assistant in: Introduction to Judaism; Introduction to Western Religions; Introduction to Islam; and Religions in Africa.
SPECIAL GRADUATE ASSISTANT, University of Florida, February 1991-May 1991. Technical editing and comparison of two translations of the Apocrypha, assisting a faculty member who was co-editor of, The Oxford Study Bible: Revised English Bible with Apocrypha, Oxford University Press, 1993.
Reviewer
Religion, State, and Society; Comparative Political Studies; Comparative Politics; Political Research Quarterly; Law and History Review; Israel Law Review; Law and Society Review; Perspectives on Politics; New England Journal of Political Science; Law and Social Inquiry; Studies in Law, Politics and Society; Signs; Middle East Journal; Politics and Religion; Journal of Church and State; American Political Science Review; Religions. Oxford University Press; University of Washington Press; University of Wisconsin Press; the American Judicature Society; and collegiate (faculty) fellowship competitions
Creative Works
Self-published several collections of short stories, plays, and poetry (currently out of print). One book of poetry considered for the 2013 Walt Whitman Poetry Prize / Award Conest, Academy of American Poets. One screen play and several musicals (songs and script or libretto, no musical score). First creative writing blog was named, Ruminations (after the Mawlana Rumi’s love poetry to the Divine). Past writing blog for the screen play maintained for some time; it had over 42,000 likes from around the world.
Hobbies and Interests
Creative writing, song writing, musicals, and poetry. Walking/hiking; swimming; bicycling; weight lifting; and equestrian sports. Feng shui; household art; Asian art; Asian hardwoods work; and ceramics. International fusion, Asian, and Mediterranean cuisines and cooking together with interest in cross-national food politics (informal international fusion cooking blog with over 8,500 followers, primarily from Asia), now dormant.
References and More Information
References and more information available upon request.
