Sumayya Kassamali

My current research focuses on migrant domestic work in Lebanon, and the broader transformation of social relations that accompanied the large-scale reliance on temporary African and Asian migrant labour in the Middle East. I am interested in thinking together logics of neoliberalism, privatization, gendered violence, and racialization in the context of the regional “sponsorship” system known as the Kafala system. In addition, my work examines the afterlife of precarious labour migration as it creates new forms of language, intimacy, and urban belonging, specifically in the city of Beirut.

In addition to my work on Lebanon, I have a longstanding interest in Third World internationalism, political violence and terrorism, and the Muslim diasporas of South Asia, East Africa, and North America. I have two long-term research projects to this end, one that examines the growing conservatism of Muslim youth in Canada, and one that examines the religious practices of South Asian diasporic communities in East Africa. I welcome graduate student supervisory inquiries related to any of these fields.

Education

Ph.D (Columbia University 2017)

Publications

"Understanding Race and Migrant Domestic Labor in Lebanon”, Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), 2021: https://merip.org/2021/07/understanding-race-and-migrant-domestic-labor-...

“The Kafala System as Racialized Servitude”, Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS), 2020: https://pomeps.org/the-kafala-system-as-racialized-servitude