Hello! My name is Rana Sharif and I am an interdisciplinary social scientist, educator, and researcher. My most recent project explores digital culture and new media technologies in the context of Palestine. I am particularly interested in how new media technologies offer Palestinians new ways to conceive of social and political possibilities otherwise foreclosed due to the logic of settler colonialism and militarization and occupation. Particularly, I explore the ways in which Palestinians, here in Los Angeles, in Palestine, and transnationally, use new media to chronicle and narrativize alternative ways of existing and the conditions of life, predicated on militarization and occupation, destruction, and resource expropriation. Additionally, I pay particular attention to the gendered dimensions of new media and digital platforms. I have spent a decade researching Palestine and Palestinian communities locally in Los Angeles as well as transnationally.
As an educator, I have taught in various departments including Communication Studies, Gender Studies, American Cultures, and Sociocultural Anthropology, as well as at various institutions. I served ten years on the board of the Palestinian American Women’s Association (PAWA) and am currently on the board of the ACLU-LA. I am also part of KPFK's SWANA Region Radio Collective.
