English

A History of Madness, Modernity, and the Middle East

Asfuriyyeh

Joelle Abi-Rached

Fiction

Poetry

Graphic Novels, Comic Books, Illustrated Books, and Manga

Biography or Memoir

Children's Book

Nonfiction

Palestine

Lebanon

Egypt

Syria

Iraq

Morocco

Saudi Arabia

Tunisia

Algeria

Türkiye

Iran

Jordan

Sudan

Yemen

Libya

United Arab Emirates

Kuwait

Oman

Bahrain

Art and Art History

Gastronomy

Feminism and Gender

Architecture and Urbanism

Philosophy

Anthropology and Society

Politics

Journalism and Media Studies

Psychology

Environment, Health, and Science

Literary Theory and Criticism

Religion and Spirituality

Business and Finance

Music

Political, Cultural, and Social History

Joelle is a Lecturer in History of Science at Harvard University as well as an Associate Researcher at Sciences Po (Médialab).Her research focuses on the politics of life, health, and wealth with a particular interest in the politics of health as it plays out in low and middle-income countries as well as in the Middle East. Her interests and perspective lie at the intersection of history, philosophy, ethics, medicine, and policy.Her recent book ‘Asfuriyyeh: A History of Madness, Modernity, and War in the Middle East (MIT Press, 2020) reconstructs the history of one of the first modern psychiatric hospitals in the modern Middle East and through it explores the complex relationships between pathology and modernity. The book received the 2019 Jack D. Pressman-Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Development Award in 20th Century History of Medicine or Biomedical Sciences bestowed by the American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM). Check her interviews on the publication of ‘Asfuriyyeh on The East is a Podcast and the Archipelago/Movement Radio.Along with Nikolas Rose, she also co-authored Neuro: The New Brain Sciences and the Management of the Mind (Princeton University Press, 2013). The book examines the “neuro-turn” and the salience of the new sciences of the brain in the governance and everyday life of neoliberal democracies. The book has been reviewed widely in many academic journals and magazines, such as the New Yorker.Since October 2019, when an unprecedented economic and political crisis erupted in Lebanon and more specifically since the tragic Beirut explosion on August 4, 2020 and the humanitarian crisis that ensued, she have also been involved in several civil society initiatives. More recently, since the Covid-19 pandemic crisis erupted, she have engaged in writing and activism with the implications of the crisis on individuals and societies. Her research and public engagement output can be consulted under “Media” and “Research”.She holds a Medical Doctorate from the American University of Beirut (2006), an M.Sc. in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics (2007), and a Ph.D. in History of Science from Harvard University (2017). She has been an invited researcher at the École normale supérieure and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Centre Alexandre Koyré). In 2017, She was elected to join Columbia University’s Society of Fellows.

Books by Joelle Abi-Rached

Joelle Abi-Rached has 1 distinct books on kotobli

Back to Joelle Abi-Rached page

context, diversity, and your next great read