I am a Full Professor of Development Studies at York University. I write about social movements, authoritarianism, norm diffusion, and political economy in the Middle East and North Africa. I received my PhD in Political Science from McGill in 2013.

Lately my research has shifted toward critical fieldwork methods and digital governance. My latest book, Doing Research as a Native, came out with Oxford University Press in 2025, and I am currently co-editing a SSHRC-funded special issue on digital governance and datafication, forthcoming this summer in Surveillance & Society. I am also making an experimental documentary in Morocco on shifting social norms in the Maghreb.

My work has been supported by SSHRC, DAAD, the Abner Kingman Fellowship, York University, and others. I appear regularly on Radio-Canada to discuss current affairs in the MENA region and Sub-Saharan Africa.

My crowning achievement, however, remains entirely unrelated to any of the above: defeating five enormous Dutchmen at beach volleyball in Cuba, alongside a Québécois grandpa with no knee cartilage, said grandpa's reluctant teenage granddaughter, a dog of unspecified breed and unclear allegiance, and one cousin operating at approximately 0.18 BAC. Varadero, 2006.

I welcome graduate students working on norm diffusion, state-society relations, social movements, authoritarianism, and the political economy of the MENA region.

Research Interests

• SSHRC Connexion Grant - 2022-24
• SSHRC Connexion Grant *ranked first. - 2020-22
• German Academic Exchange Service - 2018

I am a Full Professor of Development Studies at York University. I write about social movements, authoritarianism, norm diffusion, and political economy in the Middle East and North Africa. I received my PhD in Political Science from McGill in 2013.

Lately my research has shifted toward critical fieldwork methods and digital governance. My latest book, Doing Research as a Native, came out with Oxford University Press in 2025, and I am currently co-editing a SSHRC-funded special issue on digital governance and datafication, forthcoming this summer in Surveillance & Society. I am also making an experimental documentary in Morocco on shifting social norms in the Maghreb.

My work has been supported by SSHRC, DAAD, the Abner Kingman Fellowship, York University, and others. I appear regularly on Radio-Canada to discuss current affairs in the MENA region and Sub-Saharan Africa.

My crowning achievement, however, remains entirely unrelated to any of the above: defeating five enormous Dutchmen at beach volleyball in Cuba, alongside a Québécois grandpa with no knee cartilage, said grandpa's reluctant teenage granddaughter, a dog of unspecified breed and unclear allegiance, and one cousin operating at approximately 0.18 BAC. Varadero, 2006.

I welcome graduate students working on norm diffusion, state-society relations, social movements, authoritarianism, and the political economy of the MENA region.

Degrees

Appointments

Professional Leadership

Op-eds and media interviews for: Jadaliyya (2022), TRT World (2022), Libération (2020), Radio-Canada (2018, 19, 24), The Economist (2016, 18), De Volkskrant (2019), Deustche Welle (2018), The Washington Post (2014, 15, 16, 17), Project of Middle East Political Science Podcasts (2016), CTV (2013), CP-24 (2013), V-Télé (2011), Foreign Policy (2010), El-Watan (2017), Lakome (2018, 2020), Yabiladi (2020).

Community Contributions

YUFA Recording-Secretary (2024-2027)
YUFA Steward Department of Social Science (2023-2026)
Secretary-General for the Rabat Social Science Institute (2019-2021)
Board Member, Green Campus Co-op (2014-2017)

Research Interests

Awards

• SSHRC Connexion Grant - 2022-24
• SSHRC Connexion Grant *ranked first. - 2020-22
• German Academic Exchange Service - 2018