Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi (born 1955)[1] is a Palestinian-born American scholar, activist, educator, editor, and an academic director. She is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Race and Resistance Studies, and the founding Director of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (AMED) at San Francisco State University (SFSU).[2][3] Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Education described her as "a controversial figure in an already controversial field".[4]
She received a B.A. degree (1994) in women's studies from Hunter College.[7] She then completed a M.A. degree (1995), a M. Phil. degree (1998), and a Ph.D. (2000) in sociology, all from Yale University.[8] Abdulhadi's dissertation, under advisor Michele Dillon, was titled, "Palestinianness in Comparative Perspective: Inclusionary Resistance, Exclusionary Citizenship" (2000).[9][10]
Career
From 2004 to 2006, she served as the founding Director of the Center for Arab American Studies, and as an associate professor of sociology at University of Michigan–Dearborn.[5][6][11]
In January 2007, she joined the faculty at San Francisco State University.[5] Since her hire in 2007, Abdulhadi has been the only faculty within her department, much of which has been supplemented by student research assistants, visiting scholars, and lecturers over the years.[5] In 2018, Abdulhadi formally filed a lawsuit and complaints, and has stated she was promised two faculty positions, at her time of hire.[4][5][12]
In 2017, the mayor of Jerusalem was to give a speech on the SFSU campus, and was met with student protests.[2] A group of Jewish students accused the school of encouraging antisemitism, led by Abdulhadi and her "anti-Zionist statements".[2][15] Speaking in support of Abdulhadi, former San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar stated that such "well-funded campaigns are really harmful to the careers of great community activists and professors like Abdulhadi" and that these actions have a "chilling effect".[16] The issue went to court and 2018, a federal judge found no evidence of discrimination.[17] This event was covered by US national media.[18]
In 2019, Abdulhadi was co-hosting an online talk using SFSU's instance of Zoom by Palestinian political activist and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Leila Khaled. The night before the event, the university informed Abdulhadi that Zoom would not allow SFSU to use Zoom for the talk, stating that the talk contravened the Zoom terms of service.[19] Though the event was shifted on the scheduled day to YouTube, that shift only lasted for 23 minutes before YouTube shut down the stream, similarly stating it went against YouTube's terms of service.[20] Facebook also shut down the event page, claiming violations of its policies.[19] The United States government considers The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to be a terrorist organization.[3] The Leila Khaled event added to the tense national news debate on the "boundaries and consequences of freedom of expression",[19] and had SFSU President Lynn Mahoney fielding questions about her support and/or lack of support for the Middle Eastern studies program.[21][22]
Abdulhadi has received several awards from national and international academic, civic, and professional organizations in recognition for her work and community service. Notable awards include:
2004, New Century Scholarship, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board[24]
2020, Georgina M. Smith Award by the Association of American University Professors[25]
2023, Jere L. Bacharach Service Award by the Middle East Studies Association, "recognizing her lifelong work for freedom and liberation"[24]
^ abcFlaherty, Colleen (March 21, 2022). "Palestinian scholar accuses SFSU of broken contract promise". InsideHighered.com. Retrieved 2023-11-15. Abdulhadi may be an especially easy target, as she's a controversial figure in an already controversial field.
