Sumayya Kassamali
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies
Sumayya Kassamali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies.
Kassamali is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the transformation of gender, race, religion and language in the context of transnational migration. Her current monograph, provisionally titled Black Beirut, examines the experiences of African and Asian migrant workers in Lebanon and considers the intersections of temporary labour, economic precarity and urban belonging in the Middle East.
Kassamali’s additional research and teaching interests lie in Third World internationalism, political violence and the Muslim diasporas of South Asia, East Africa and North America. She received her PhD in anthropology from Columbia University in 2017 and previously held postdoctoral fellowships at the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University (2017–2018), and the Center for the Humanities at Tufts University (2018–2020). Prior to starting her PhD, she received a master of arts degree in sociology and equity studies from the University of Toronto (2008).