Nadya Sbaiti

Assistant Professor

Nadya Sbaiti specializes in the social and cultural histories of the modern Middle East.  She is currently working on a book manuscript entitled, Gender, Education, and Nation in Mandate Lebanon that examines the central role of education to the formation of multiple national narratives and the production of history in Lebanon under French mandate.

Her publications include a forthcoming article on the cultural and political significance of language of instruction in French mandate Beirut (2009), as well as articles that guide researchers through Lebanon’s archival terrain. Additional research interests include spatial manifestations of colonial and national projects; colonial methods of social control through prisons and asylums; the production of history as both discursive and material practice; tourism and heritage; and contemporary popular culture (music, film, game shows, and reality television).  

Professor Sbaiti teaches two sequential surveys of Middle Eastern history, courses on women and gender in the Middle East, the history of education, aspects of colonialism and nationalism, as well as nonwestern urban history. 

In addition, she has served as co-editor of the peer-reviewed Arab Studies Journal since 2005 and helped produce the acclaimed documentary film, "About Baghdad" (2004). 

Phone: 413-585-3746
Office: Wright Hall 128
Email: nsbaiti@smith.edu
Office Hours: On Sabbatical 2009-2010

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