ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2024 – | Assistant Professor of American Culture, Department of American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2022 – 2024 | LSA Collegiate Fellow, Department of American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2020 – 2022 | Global American Studies Postdoctoral Fellow, Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University
2020 – 2022 | Lecturer, Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, Harvard University
EDUCATION
Ph.D., American Studies, George Washington University (2020)
M.A., American Studies, George Washington University (2016)
B.A., History, University of Florida: summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa (2014)
PUBLICATIONS
Book Manuscript
In progress. Solidarities of Liberation, Visions of Empire: Puerto Rico, Palestine, and American Global Power.
Under contract with UNC Press, Justice, Power, and Politics Series.
Refereed Journal Articles
2017. “In Solidarity: Palestine in the Puerto Rican Political Imaginary,” Radical History Review 128: 199-222. Awarded 2018 Honorable Mention for Outstanding Article in Latino Studies, Latin American Studies Association
Book Chapters
2021. “Puerto Rico, Palestine, and the Politics of Resistance and Surveillance at University of Illinois Chicago Circle,” Critical Dialogues in Latinx Studies: A Reader, eds. Ana Y. Ramos Zayas and Mérida Rúa. New York: New York University Press.
Book Reviews
2019. “Review of Mark Philip Bradley’s The World Reimagined: Americans and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century,” Journal of American Studies 53, no. 1: 308-309.
2016. “Review of Paul Thomas Chamberlin’s The Global Offensive: The United States, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the Making of the Post-Cold War Order,” Arab Studies Journal, 24, no. 1: 350-354.
Public History & General Audience Essays
2020. “Puerto Rican Freedom Dreaming: Solidarity and the Radical Protest Tradition,” Society and Space Online Forum.
2019. “‘You Have Living Legends Among You’: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Chicago Young Lords,” Kalfou: A Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies 6, no. 1: 127-132.
2018. “Puerto Rican Decolonization, Armed Struggle, and the Question of Palestine,” Middle East Report, 284, no. 47: 12-17.
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, & AWARDS
Fellowships
2022-2024 LSA Collegiate Fellowship, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2022-2023 Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dept. of Latina/Latino Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Declined
2020-2022 Global American Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University
2020-2022 A&S Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Alabama, Finalist – Withdrawn
2019-2021 Gaius Charles Bolin Fellowship, Williams College, Finalist
2019-2020 Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, Honorable Mention
2019-2020 Writing in the Disciplines Graduate Student Fellowship, GWU
2014-2019 Academic Excellence Graduate Student Fellowship, GWU
Grants
2019 Graduate Student Workshop Travel Stipend, PRSA
2019 Academic Excellence Summer Research Stipend, GWU
2018 Academic Excellence Summer Research Stipend, GWU
2018 Latino Studies Section Conference Travel Grant, LASA
2017 Evelyn Abdalah Menconi Research Travel Grant, Arab American National Museum
2017 Academic Excellence Summer Research Stipend, GWU
2016 Conference Travel Grant, CASAR, American University of Beirut
2015 American Studies Academic Excellence Research Stipend, GWU
2015 Jeffrey C. Kasch Foundation Research Grant, GWU
Awards
2022 Virginia Sánchez Korrol Dissertation Award, Puerto Rican Studies Association
2022 Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize, Harvard University
2021 Assistant Professor Workshop Award, Berkeley Latina Collective
2018 Outstanding Article in Latino Studies, LASA, Honorable Mention
2014 Andrew Family Undergraduate History Thesis Prize, University of Florida
2014 President’s Scholar Award, University of Florida
2012 Anderson Scholar, University of Florida
2012 Phi Beta Kappa, University of Florida
INVITED TALKS
2021. Panelist. “Demystifying the Academic/Alt-Ac Job Market,” Puerto Rican Studies Association and LASA Puerto Rico Section, October 13.
2020. “A Conversation with Dr. Sara Awartani,” Muslim American Studies Working Group & Latinx Studies Working Group, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, November 19.
2017. “Activating Puerto Rican & Palestinian Solidarities,” Undergraduate Puerto Rican History Lecture Course, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL. November 10.
2017. “Palestine in the Puerto Rican Political Imaginary,” Puerto Rican Nationalism: Politics, Identity, and Resistance: A Discussion with Contributors to RHR 128, Batey Urbano, Chicago, IL. November 9.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2022. “Weaponizing Solidarity: Puerto Rico, Palestine, and US Counterterrorism in the 1980s,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 4-6.
2022. “The Police State of Illinois?: Repression and Solidarity in Puerto Rican and Palestinian Chicago,” Puerto Rican Studies Association Biennial Conference, Holyoke, MA, October 14-16.
2021. “Weaponizing Solidarity: Puerto Rico, Palestine, and US Counterterrorism in the 1980s,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, Montréal, Québec, Canada, October 28-31.
2021. “The Police State of Illinois?: Repression and Solidarity in Puerto Rican and Palestinian Chicago,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 7-10.
2021. “Roundtable: Protest and Form,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 7-10.
2021. “Puerto Rico, Palestine, and U.S. Terrorist Imaginaries of the Late Cold War,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Annual Meeting, June 17-20.
2021. “Puerto Rico, Palestine, and Terrorist Imaginaries of the Late Cold War,” Latino Studies Association Biennial Conference, South Bend, ID [rescheduled due to COVID-19].
2018. “Solidarity Redux: Colonial Catastrophes and Contemporary Puerto Rican-Palestinian Visions of Liberation,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, November 8-11.
2018. “Solidarity Redux: Colonial Catastrophes and Contemporary Puerto Rican-Palestinian Visions of Liberation,” National Women Studies Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, November 8-11. [joint presentation with ASA].
2018. “Within a Global Frame of Palestinian Resistance: Puerto Rican Solidarities as Strategies of Decolonization,” Latin American Studies Association International Congress, Barcelona, Spain, May 23-26.
2018. “Puerto Rican Decolonization, Armed Struggle, and the Question of Palestine,” The Latin East International Conference, New York University, New York, April 26-29.
2018. “To Think and Operate as ‘Third World’: Puerto Rico, Palestine, and the Politics of Resistance,” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 4-7.
2016. “Two Occupied Nations, Two Diasporas, One Struggle: Palestine in the Puerto Rican Political Imaginary,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Denver, November 17-20.
2016. “‘We Salute You and We Make Your Revolutionary Slogans Our Own’: Puerto Rico, Palestine, and an Archive of Solidarity,” Puerto Rican Studies Association Biennial Conference, College Park, MD, October 27-20.
2016. “In Solidarity: Palestine in the Puerto Rican Political Imaginary,” Center for American Studies and Research, American University of Beirut: 6th International Conference, Beirut, Lebanon, January 13-16.
CAMPUS TALKS
2022. “Solidarities of Liberation, Visions of Empire: Puerto Rico, Palestine, and American Global Power,” Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, April 29.
2022. Moderator. “Approaches to Ethnic and Indigenous Studies: A Conversation with Sherman Jackson,” Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, April 21.
2021. Moderator. “Approaches to Ethnic and Indigenous Studies: A Conversation with Evelyn Alsultany,” Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, April 7.
2020. “Solidarities of Liberation, Visions of Empire: Puerto Rico, Palestine, and the U.S. Imperial Project,” Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, October 23.
WORKSHOPS
2021. “Solidarities of Liberation, Visions of Empire: Puerto Rico, Palestine, and American Global Power,” Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History Book Manuscript Workshop, Cambridge, MA, December 10.
2021. “Yesterday’s Terrorists: Human Rights, Solidarity, and the Complicated Position of Palestine in the Campaign to Free the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners, 1990-1999,” Berkeley Latina Collective Assistant Professor Workshop, June 4.
2019. “Terrorist Imaginaries, Security States, and Subverting Visions of Solidarity,” Puerto Rican Studies Association Graduate Student Workshop, Austin, TX, October 25.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Lecturer, Harvard University, Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights (ethnic studies program)
Spring 2021 & Fall 2021 – Race, Solidarity, and the Carceral State
Graduate Teaching Assistant, George Washington University, Department of American Studies
2020 Spring – Freedom in American Thought and Popular Culture
2019 Fall – World War II in History & Memory
2018 Fall – The American City
2018 Spring – Modern U.S. Immigration History
2017 Fall – Early American Cultural History
2017 Spring – Modern American Cultural History
2016 Fall – Early American Cultural History
TEACHING AWARDS
Spring 2022. Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching, Harvard University.
Fall 2021. Certificate of Distinction and Excellence in Teaching, Harvard University.
Spring 2021. Certificate of Distinction and Excellence in Teaching, Harvard University.
LIST OF THESES SUPERVISED
2021-2022. B.A., in Social Studies, Farah Afify, ““Radical & Muslim: Islamic Liberationist Thought in the Black Panther Party”
*Winner of the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
*Winner of the Alexis de Tocqueville Prize, Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, Harvard University
*Winner of the Kwame Anthony Appiah Prize, Dept. of African and African American Studies, Harvard University
*Winner of the Senior Thesis Prize in Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, Harvard University
*Winner of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Harvard University
PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP & SERVICE
2021-2022. Faculty Advisor, Muslim American Studies Working Group, Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, Harvard University
2020-2022. Reviewer, Undergraduate Thesis Prize Committee, Committee on Ethnicity, Migration, Rights, Harvard University.
2020-2021. Member of the Warren Center Postdoctoral Fellowship Committee, Harvard University.
EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIPS & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
2021. “Palestinian & Puerto Rican Solidarities w/ Dr. Sara Awartani,” interviewed by Joshua Smyer-DeLeon for Paseo Podcast.
2021. Moderator. “LANDFALL Discussion Series: Decolonial Case Study: Puerto Rico, Palestine, & Hawaii,” April 22.
2018. Archival Assistant & Consultant, Puerto Rican Cultural Center Community Archive Project, Chicago, IL.
2017-2018. Inaugural Member & Core Participant, The Latin East: New Perspectives on Latin America-Middle East Ties, a joint initiative by NACLA, MERIP, and Jadaliyya.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
American Studies Association (ASA)
American Historical Association (AHA)
Puerto Rican Studies Association (PRSA)
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR)
Latino Studies Association (LSA)
Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCIES
Spanish – reading (intermediate)
SARA AWARTANI, Ph.D. 