Global and International Studies Building, 3038
Ibrahim Gemeah is a historian of the modern Middle East and North Africa whose research examines the interplay between state formation, religion, secularism, and political authority in the twentieth century Middle East. His current book project, Islam and the Making of Nasser’s Egypt, explores how the Egyptian state under Gamal Abdel Nasser (1952–1970) sought to regulate Islam and its institutions, and how religious actors negotiated, resisted, and reshaped state power in moments of decolonization, authoritarian consolidation, and Cold War geopolitics. His work draws on extensive archival research in the Egyptian National Archives, al-Azhar Archives (Egypt), and the British National Archives, and speaks to broader questions about religion, power, and governance in the modern Middle East and Africa.
Dr. Gemeah is an Assistant Professor in the Department for Middle East Languages and Cultures (MELC) at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. He earned his B.A. in Islamic Studies from al-Azhar University (Egypt), an M.A. in International Studies from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in Middle East history from Cornell University. Before joining Indiana University, he was as a Humanities Research Fellow at New York University Abu Dhabi and a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the History Department at Duke University.
Courses Recently Taught:
– History of the Modern Middle East
– History of Global Jihad
– Middle Eastern Politics