Staff profile
Affiliation | Telephone |
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Assistant Professor (Research) in the Department of Geography |
Biography
I am an interdisciplinary scholar in between politics, Urban and Political Geography, and Middle East studies. I write about questions of memory, archiving, (geo)poetics of space, infrastructure and affective and material aspects of cities. My doctoral research included investigating the archives of national Egyptian architects who were designing plans for post-colonial/post-independence Cairo. My post-doctoral research focused on the aesthetics and poetics used to represent and depict Arab cities after 2011, neighbourhood storytelling and memory in Coventry, and Space and Memory work in Egypt. I am firmly guided by a postcolonial framework in my research and political commitments, and I am inspired by decolonial and feminist approaches in teaching and research.
I am currently a British Academy fellow, conducting the research project "When the city stands still" (2023-2025). Prior to the fellowship, I worked as a Lecturer in the Geohumanities in RHUL, a Lecturer of Human Geography in Durham University, and a Teaching Fellow in the School of Global Studies, Sussex University. I have a broad teaching experience in Social, Cultural, Urban and Political Geography as well as research-led teaching in Geographies of Development and Critical Geographies of the Middle East.
In the past, I have co-convened the Warwick Political Geography group (Warwick, 2015-2018). I co-initiated the Geography and Middle East North East network (2020-2021) with Dr Olivia Mason in Durham and Newcastle Universities. We currently convene this network alongside Dr Joanna Allan (Northumbria) and Dr Mark Griffith (Newcastle). I am also one of the editorial team of Arab Urbanism, a bi-lingual open access platform that publishes on urban questions in the Arab World.
Research interests
- Cities
- Middle East
- Postcolonial geographies
- Affect
- Poetics
- Built environment and infrastructure
- Geohumanities
Publications
Authored book
- Spon End: A Local Guide
Nieuwenhuis, M., Nassar, A., & Leach, C. (2019). Spon End: A Local Guide. Independent Publishing Network
Book review
- Yahia Shawkat 2020: Egypt's Housing Crisis: The Shaping of Urban Space. Cairo/New York: The American University in Cairo Press
Nassar, A. (2021). Yahia Shawkat 2020: Egypt's Housing Crisis: The Shaping of Urban Space. Cairo/New York: The American University in Cairo Press. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 45(3), 579-580. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.13022 - Social Housing in the Middle East: Architecture, Urban Development, and Transnational Modernity. Kivanc Kilinç and Mohammad Gharipour, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2019). Pp. 330. $85.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780253039842
Nassar, A. (2020). Social Housing in the Middle East: Architecture, Urban Development, and Transnational Modernity. Kivanc Kilinç and Mohammad Gharipour, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2019). Pp. 330. $85.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780253039842. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 52(3), 603-604. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743820000537 - Endurance in the city victorious (Book review forum: Improvised Lives: Rhythms of Endurance in an Urban South)
Nassar, A. (2020). Endurance in the city victorious (Book review forum: Improvised Lives: Rhythms of Endurance in an Urban South). Dialogues in Human Geography, 10(1), 78-80. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820619895888 - Egyptian Revolutions : Conflict, Repetition and Identification by Amal Treacher Kabesh
Nassar, A. (2018). Egyptian Revolutions : Conflict, Repetition and Identification by Amal Treacher Kabesh. Emotion, Space and Society, 29, 71-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2018.07.007 - Amale Andraos, Nora Akawi and Caitlin Blanchfield (eds.) 2016: The Arab City: Architecture and Representation. New York: Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, Columbia University Press
Nassar, A. (2017). Amale Andraos, Nora Akawi and Caitlin Blanchfield (eds.) 2016: The Arab City: Architecture and Representation. New York: Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, Columbia University Press. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 41(2), 376-378. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12478
Chapter in book
- Cairo Up! Infrastructures of Security and Desire
Nassar, A. (2024). Cairo Up! Infrastructures of Security and Desire. In Cairo Securitized Reconceiving Urban Justice and Social Resilience (233-246). American University in Cairo Press
Journal Article
- To be called forth by a speck of dust
Nassar, A. (online). To be called forth by a speck of dust. Dialogues in Human Geography, https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206241240202 - An open letter to the SJTG and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG): The War on Gaza, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and a Palestinian literary event
Griffiths, M., Hughes, S., Mason, O., Nassar, A., & Currie, N. P. (2024). An open letter to the SJTG and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG): The War on Gaza, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and a Palestinian literary event. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 45(1), 6-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjtg.12527 - Objects, memories, and storytelling: experiments in narrating ideas of home
Nassar, A., Madbouly, M., Ezzat, A., Abazeed, A., Abdelrahman Soliman, N., Agha, M., El Khachab, C., Elwakil, A., Mourad, L., & Taha, M. (2023). Objects, memories, and storytelling: experiments in narrating ideas of home. City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, 27(5-6), 1030-1051. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2023.2254166 - Decentring whiteness in engaging Muslim geographies
Nassar, A. (2023). Decentring whiteness in engaging Muslim geographies. Dialogues in Human Geography, 13(3), 359-362. https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206231178802 - Kites, billboards and bridges: Reading the city’s curfew through the glitch
Nassar, A. (2023). Kites, billboards and bridges: Reading the city’s curfew through the glitch. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 41(4), 726-744. https://doi.org/10.1177/02637758231196414 - Encountering Berlant part two: Cruel and other optimisms
Anderson, B., Awal, A., Cockayne, D., Greenhough, B., Linz, J., Mazumdar, A., Nassar, A., Pettit, H., Roe, E. J., Ruez, D., Salas Landa, M., Secor, A., & Williams, A. (2023). Encountering Berlant part two: Cruel and other optimisms. The Geographical Journal, 189(1), 143-160. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12493 - Review forum War and the city : urban geopolitics in Lebanon
Carpi, E., Fawaz, M., Fregonese, S., Ingram, A., Nassar, A., & Mason, O. (2023). Review forum War and the city : urban geopolitics in Lebanon. Political Geography, 100, Article 102777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102777 - Fragment(s) of Memor(ies): The Enduring Question of Space and Storytelling
Madbouly, M., & Nassar, A. (2021). Fragment(s) of Memor(ies): The Enduring Question of Space and Storytelling. Égypte/Monde arabe, 13-26. https://doi.org/10.4000/ema.14734 - Geopoetics: Storytelling against mastery
Nassar, A. (2021). Geopoetics: Storytelling against mastery. Dialogues in Human Geography, 11(1), 27-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043820620986397 - Geopoetics as Disruptive Aesthetics: Vignettes from Cairo
Nassar, A. (2021). Geopoetics as Disruptive Aesthetics: Vignettes from Cairo. Geohumanities, 7(2), 455-463. https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566x.2021.1913436 - To stand by the ruins of a revolutionary city
Nassar, A. (2020). To stand by the ruins of a revolutionary city. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 52(3), 510-515. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020743820000689 - Feeling (y)our way in the dark: An interview with Jenny Perlin
Perlin, J., Nieuwenhuis, M., & Nassar, A. (2019). Feeling (y)our way in the dark: An interview with Jenny Perlin. Emotion, Space and Society, 33, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2019.100596 - Staging the State: Commemoration, Urban Space and the National Symbolic Order in 1970s Cairo
Nassar, A. (2019). Staging the State: Commemoration, Urban Space and the National Symbolic Order in 1970s Cairo. Middle East Critique, 28(3), https://doi.org/10.1080/19436149.2019.1633747 - Where the dust settles: fieldwork, subjectivity and materiality in Cairo
Nassar, A. (2018). Where the dust settles: fieldwork, subjectivity and materiality in Cairo. Contemporary Social Science, 13(3-4), 412-428. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2017.1418521 - Dust: perfect circularity
Nieuwenhuis, M., & Nassar, A. (2018). Dust: perfect circularity. Cultural Geographies, 25(3), 501-507. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474017747252 - ‘Being’ in Al-Azhar Park: Public Spaces in Cairo
Nassar, A. (2013). ‘Being’ in Al-Azhar Park: Public Spaces in Cairo. The Open Urban Studies Journal, 6(1), 65-74. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874942901306010065
Newspaper/Magazine Article
- Unmaking Route 10
Ezzat, A., Nassar, A., & Albahar, I. (2025). Unmaking Route 10
Other (Digital/Visual Media)
- Dust, desert and storytelling: Thinking with the grain of geography
Nassar, A. (2024). Dust, desert and storytelling: Thinking with the grain of geography. [Blog post] - Graphite geography
Nassar, A. (2024). Graphite geography. [Printed exhibition book "Etymologies of Foam and Dust"]. 2 October 2024 - 15 December 2024 - Palestine: Spaces and Politics Introductory Curriculum
Qaddumi, D., Abusaada, N., Al-Shihabi, M., Azzouz, A., Henni, S., Judeh, L., Marei, F., Nassar, A., & Jabary Salamanca, O. (2024). Palestine: Spaces and Politics Introductory Curriculum - Cement
Nassar, A. (2023). Cement. [I-PEEL] - Foreword: Attending to Infrastructure, Thinking from within the Blackout
Jabary Salamanca, O., & Nassar, A. (2023). Foreword: Attending to Infrastructure, Thinking from within the Blackout. [Arab Urbanism] - Essential Readings on Cities and Materiality: The Making and Unmaking of Urban Space in the Middle East and North Africa
Nassar, A. (2022). Essential Readings on Cities and Materiality: The Making and Unmaking of Urban Space in the Middle East and North Africa - A GEOPOETICS OF DUST
Nassar, A. (2022). A GEOPOETICS OF DUST. [Website]