Fatima el Issawi has joined the Fellowship Program at the Media and Journalism Research Center. The focus of her research project at MJRC is to continue investigating the media activism nexus in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and how the notion of resilience in the dynamics between dissenting actors in media and activism can help independent practices in the region that, eleven years after the beginning of the 2011 Arab uprisings, faces unprecedented authoritarian resurgence.
Fatima el Issawi is a Reader in Journalism Studies at the University of Essex and Associate Professor in Journalism (in residence) at Northwestern University in Qatar. She led several research projects on the interplay between media and political change in the region. She recently completed the project “Media and Transitions to Democracy: Journalistic Practices in Communicating Conflicts- the Arab Spring” funded by the British Academy Sustainable Development Programme and looking at media’s impact on communicating political conflicts in post uprisings in North Africa. She is the author of “Arab National Media and Political Change” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and the co-editor of “The Unfinished Arab Spring: Micro-Dynamics of Revolts between Change and Continuity” (Gingko, 2020).
Fluent in English, French and Arabic, she holds a PhD in Media and Journalism Studies from Pantheon-Assas Paris II University. Her multifaceted background brings real-world expertise beyond academia and is reflected in a strong presence on prominent media platforms, including Al Jazeera English, France 24 TV, the New Yorker and The Independent, often publishing and commenting on current affairs and media policy in the region.
See more details about Fatima’s research project she will develop at MJRC on her fellowship page.