Graduate Students
Lisa Bhungalia
Ph.D. Student
lbhungal@maxwell.syr.edu
EDUCATION
In progress:
Ph.D. Geography, Syracuse University
Doctoral Advisor: Don Mitchell
Working dissertation title: 'From the American People': A Geography of U.S. Counterinsurgency in Palestine
Research Interests: Political and cultural geography, state theory and statelessness, humanitarianism, counterinsurgency, sovereignty, North Africa and the Middle East
Dissertation Committee: Alison Mountz, Jennifer Hyndman, Osamah Khalil, Tom Perreault
2005
M.A. Humanities and Social Thought, New York University
Advisor: Dr. Sofia Shwayri
Thesis title: Urbicide in the West Bank: The Politics of Development and Demolition (1967-Present)
2000
B.A. English, Ohio State University
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed Articles
2012 “Im/Mobilities in a ‘Hostile Territory’: Managing the Red Line.’” Geopolitics 17(2): 256-275.
2010 “A Liminal Territory: Gaza, Executive Discretion and Sanctions Turned Humanitarian.” GeoJournal 75(4): 347-357.
Online Publications
2012 “’From the American People’: Sketches of the US National Security State in Palestine.” Jadaliyya, 18 September.
PRESENTATIONS & CONFERENCES
Forthcoming “The Lesser Evil? On the Question of Violence and Aid in Palestine’s Colonial Present,” paper to be presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, April
2012 “Between Military and Humanitarian: Geographies of U.S. Counterinsurgency,” paper presented at the Middle East Studies Association, Denver, CO, November
2012 “Aid as Civilian Counterinsurgency,” paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New York, NY, February
2012 Panelist, “Challenges of Qualitative Methods in ‘Illiberal’ Contexts,” panel discussion at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New York, NY, February
2011 “Fragmentary States: Aid and the Contours of the Political in Contemporary Palestine,” paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, November
2011 “Earning Sovereignty: USAID and the Security-Economy Nexus in Palestine,” paper presented in the Department of Geography Seminar Series, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, November
2011 “Someone Else’s State: U.S. Foreign Assistance Ten Years After,” paper presented at the Middle East and Beyond Symposium, Local Events, Global Contexts: Thinking about 9/11 Ten Years After, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, September
2011 “Strategies for Living, Struggles over How to Live: Negotiating USAID and the Politics of Liberal Governance in Palestine,” paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, April
2011 Panelist, “Interrogating Humanitarian Practice,” panel discussion at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, April
2011 “Soft Power and Paint: Negotiating the U.S. State through Aid in Palestine,” presentation for the Conversations in Conflict Studies Series at the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC) at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, NY, March
2008 “A Liminal Territory: Gaza, Executive Discretion and Sanctions Turned Humanitarian,” paper presented at the Critical Geopolitics Conference, Durham, UK, September
2008 “Quarantining of Gaza: Violence, Biopolitics and International Law,” paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, April
2008 Panelist, “Geographies of Detention and Confinement Panel: Challenges of Fieldwork,” panel discussion at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, April
2008 Panelist, “What's Activist? The Next Generation Talks Praxis,” panel discussion at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, April
2008 Co-organizer and panel co-chair, “Beyond Walls and Cages: Linking Immigrant Rights and Prison Abolition Movements,” panel discussion at the Left Forum, New York, NY, April
2007 “Urbicide in the West Bank: Politics of Development and Demolition (1967 – Present),” paper presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2012 Maxwell Dean's Summer Research Award, Maxwell School of Syracuse University
2011 Maxwell Dean's Summer Research Award, Maxwell School of Syracuse University
2010-11 PARC Fellowship for Dissertation Research, Palestinian American Research Center through the Council of American Overseas Research Centers
2010 Pari S. Ahmadi Scholarship, Middlebury College, Arabic Language School
2010 Yabroudi Middle Eastern Studies Research Grant for Arabic, Maxwell School, Syracuse University
2010 John T. Palmer Fund, Dissertation Research Grant, Maxwell School, Syracuse University
2008-10 National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant, National Science Foundation
2009 Perryman Fellowship for Arabic at the American University in Cairo, Arabic Language Institute
2008 Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs Goekjian Summer Research Grant, Maxwell School, Syracuse University
2008 Maxwell Dean's Summer Research Award for dissertation research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University
2007 Moynihan Middle Eastern Studies Summer Research Grant for preliminary dissertation research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University
2007 Maxwell Dean's Summer Research Award for preliminary dissertation research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University
2006-09 Graduate Research and Teaching Assistantship Award, Syracuse University
TEACHING AND RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIPS
Instructorships
Fall 2011 Primary Instructor, Geography 300: Geography of the Middle East, Department of Geography, Syracuse University
Spring 2011 Primary Instructor, Geography 300: Geography of the Middle East, Department of Geography, Syracuse University
Graduate Research and Teaching Assistantships
2012-13 Graduate Research Assistantship, Department of Geography, Syracuse University
Fall 2008 Teaching Assistant to Jennifer Hyndman, Geography 273: Global Political Economy, Department of Geography, Syracuse University
2007-08 Research Assistant to Don Mitchell, Department of Geography, Syracuse University
Spring 2007 Research Assistant to Alison Mountz, Department of Geography, Syracuse University
Fall 2006 Teaching Assistant to Don Mitchell, Geography 272: World Cultures, Department of Geography, Syracuse University
Non-University Teaching and Professional Experience
2005-06 Youth Coordinator and Researcher, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Queens, NYC
2002-03 Humanities Teacher, Cases High School, New York City Board of Education, Brooklyn, NYC
2001-02 English Teacher, Morris High School, New York City Board of Education, Bronx, NYC
FIELDWORK RESEARCH AND LANGUAGE TRAINING
2011 Middlebury Arabic School, Middlebury College, United States
2009-11 Palestine/Israel, conducted thirteen months of dissertation field research in the West Bank and Israel
2010 Middlebury Arabic School, Middlebury College, United States
2009 Birzeit University, Center for Development Studies, Researcher and co-author of a United Nations-commissioned report on development and conflict
2009 Cairo, Egypt, American University in Cairo, Arabic Language Institute
2008 Damascus, Syria, Damascus University, Arabic Language Institute, Dalalah Institute, Modern Standard Arabic Intensive
2007 Palestine/Israel, Conducted pre-doctoral research on development and humanitarian interventions in the West Bank
2003 Palestine/Israel, Conducted master’s research on the transformation of Palestinian urban spaces in the West Bank from 1967 to the early twenty-first century
ACADEMIC SERVICE
2012-2008 Reviewer for the journals: Annals of the Association of American Geographers; Geopolitics; Gender, Place and Culture; Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers; Area; Geografiska Annaler B; Territory, Politics, Governance
2011 Graduate Student Representative on the Department of Geography Graduate Committee, Syracuse University
2006-07 Reviewer for the Maxwell Review, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University
SYNERGISTIC ACTIVITIES
2009-10 Researcher and writer, Dalia Association, Ramallah, Palestine
2007-09 Board member, Desis Rising Up and Moving, NYC
2007 Antipode Summer Institute for the Geographies of Justice participant
2005-06 Board member of the North Star Fund Community Funding Board, NYC
2005-06 Researcher and Campaign Coordinator, Desis Rising Up and Moving, NYC