2013-2014 CIRS SFS-Q Faculty Fellow
Mohamed Zayani is an Associate Professor of Critical Theory at GU-Q and an Affiliate Faculty with the Communication, Culture and Technology Program.
His works include Networked Publics and Digital Contention: The Politics of Everyday Life in Tunisia (Oxford University Press, 2015); The Culture of Al Jazeera: Inside an Arab Media Giant (McFarland, 2007); The Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Critical Perspectives on New Arab Media (Pluto Press, 2005).
He is a recipient of numerous grants, including a Social Science Research Council grant, and a Member of the UNESCO Committee of Experts on Cultural Diversity.
Education: Ph.D. Indiana University
Zayani’s research interest lies at the intersection of cultural studies, communication studies and political science, with particular attention to the evolving dynamics of global communication. While anchored in the structural transformation of the media and communication environment of the Middle East and the Arab world, his work revolves around four main axes of inquiry: the dynamics of global flows and counter-flows, the shifting boundaries between traditional and new media, the political implication of social media, and the cultural anthropology of media.
Over the course of the year, Mohamed continued his close collaboration with CIRS on the center’s research on the role of the Arab media in the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings. This research initiative had been underway for the previous year, and Zayani was its central driving force.