Student list — Middle East Institute

Zahabiya Yayha

Zahabiya has completed a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Houston. In 2018, she spent time in Cairo studying Egyptian Arabic, where she immersed in the cultures and traditions that intrigue her most. This has led to her current research interests, which focus on a comparative analysis of gendered experiences through class, economic development, and religion analysis in Middle Eastern/South Asian communities. In her work, she explores previous anthropological scholarship and ethnographies to better understand behavioral patterns and the role of cultural relativism. Upon completing her master’s degree, she intends to work for an organization/firm in which she can apply her critical thinking and analytical skills.

ISMAGuest UserDecember 10, 20202020

Sumaiya Zama

Sumaiya Zama is an MA candidate for the Columbia and Aga Khan University dual degree in Islamic Studies and Muslim Cultures. She holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts in Boston in Political Science with minors in Africana Studies and Human Rights. As the youngest board member of the Praxis Project, a support intermediary organization serving communities of color, Sumaiya has dedicated both her free time and professional work to improving the material conditions of her community. Her interests include reading Islamic texts as liberation theology and learning from scholars in the field so that she may further develop its theory and praxis. Her academic interests are sparked by her background in youth work, civil rights, and community organizing, through which she explores how Muslim Americans, particularly young Muslim women, deploy the Islamic tradition to respond to life under a surveillance state.

Dual DegreeGuest UserDecember 9, 20202020

Toqa Badran

Toqa Badran, a native New Yorker of Egyptian heritage, is a candidate for the MA in Islamic Studies. Toqa completed her Bachelors degree here at Columbia with a double major in Political Science and Anthropology, and served as the college’s first Arab or female Muslim University Senator. Her academic and socio-political interests include linguistics, specifically with regards to languages within the Islamic world, revitalizing premodern world-views as methods of modern empowerment, and fighting for the freedom of occupied East Turkistan. She hopes to pursue a PhD after completing the MA program.