Will Youmans
Panel 1: Regional Formations and the Nation
William Youmans is an Associate Professor at the George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs. Broadly interested in questions of transnationalism, power and communication, his primary research interests include global news, law and politics. His other areas of interest include researching terrorism, American international broadcasting, Middle East politics and Arab-American studies.
Hatim el-Hibri
Panel 2: State Policy, Industries and Media Landscapes
Hatim El-Hibri is an Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at George Mason University. His research and teaching interests focus on global and transnational media, visual culture, Lebanon and the Middle East, urban space, and media technology. His first book, Visions of Beirut: The Urban Life of Media Infrastructure, will be available from Duke University Press in June 2021.
Melani McAlister
Panel 3: Mediating the Sacred
Melani McAlister is Professor of American Studies and International Affairs at George Washington University. A cultural historian focused on the US in the world, she has recently published The Kingdom of God Has No Borders: A Global History of American Evangelicals (Oxford, 2018). She is also co-editor of volume 4 of the forthcoming Cambridge History of America and the World. Her other books include Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and US Interests in the Middle East (Univ. of California, 2005, o. 2001) and the forthcoming co-edited volume, Global Faith, Worldly Power.
Elliott Colla
Panel 4: The Politics of the Popular
Elliott Colla is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is author of Conflicted Antiquities: Egyptology, Egyptomania, Egyptian Modernity, and essays on modern Arab literature, culture and politics. He has translated works of contemporary Arabic literature, including Ibrahim Aslan’s novel, The Heron, Idris Ali's Poor, Ibrahim al-Koni's Gold Dust, and Rab‘i al-Madhoun's The Lady from Tel Aviv. The television adaptation of his 2014 novel, Baghdad Central, is streaming on Hulu.
