Sara Elbanna

Sara Elbanna is a master's student at Oxford University studying for an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies. I am Egyptian but immigrated to the United States at the age of 2 where I grew up in New York. I have previously studied the Middle East in Universities in both the United States and France and have found myself drawn to questions regarding political ecology, biopolitics, citizenry, and the nation-state model. My research questions and interests are all approached from a background in post-colonial theory/studies and I aim to engage my research questions from a decolonial perspective. It is important for me to consider the impacts of modernity, capitalism and borders on the lives and bodies of disenfranchised communities/those at the margins of systems of oppression, particularly in the Middle East. I hope to pursue a career in academia in order to further explore such questions. In my free time I love to explore other creative outlets (I do believe research can be considered creative) and spend my time drawing reading both fiction and non-fiction, watching films, journaling, and doing yoga.