international studies

Education

• Ph.D., Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin
• M.A., Arab Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
• B.A., Anthropology, Wellesley College

Bio

Faedah M. Totah, Ph.D., teaches courses on globalization, development, urbanism, and the Middle East. Her training is in sociocultural anthropology.

Her scholarly work focuses on gentrification, historic preservation, neoliberal urbanism, and urban refugees. She has lived and traveled widely in the Middle East. She spent over two years in Damascus, Syria exploring the social and economic impact of gentrification on the Old City. The results of this research were the subject of the book "Preserving the Old City of Damascus" published in 2014 by Syracuse University Press. She has authored several articles dealing with Syria and the Middle East. Currently, she is researching the relationship between Palestine and Syria and completing a manuscript on Palestinian urban refugees in the Old City of Damascus.

Select Publications

• Totah, F. M. (2020). Palestinian refugees between the city and the camp, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 52(4): 607-621.
• Totah, F. M. (2019). The Syrian war and those who remain. Anthropology Now 11(3):12-20. Published online 10 June 2020.
• Totah, F.M. (2018). The Palestinian cause in Syrian nationalism. Dialectical Anthropology 42(4):429-441.
• Totah, F. M. (2014). Preserving the Old City of Damascus. Syracuse University Press.
• Totah, F. M. (2014). Nothing has changed: Social continuity and gentrification in the Old City of Damascus. Anthropological Quarterly, 87(4), 1195-1221.