Dr. Amy Malek joins the School of Global Studies as assistant professor
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Media Contact: Kelli Norton | Communication Specialist | 405-744-5496 | kelli.norton@okstate.edu
The School of Global Studies is pleased to announce that Dr. Amy Malek, an internationally recognized scholar in migration studies and the Iranian diaspora, will join Oklahoma State University as an assistant professor in Global Leadership and Development.
She will also hold the endowed chair in Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies (IPGS). As the IPGS chair, Malek will provide oversight to the development of the program, especially the public outreach component.
“The School of Global Studies is delighted to have Dr. Malek join our faculty,” said Dr. Jami Fullerton, director of academic programs in the School of Global Studies. “We have seen a growing interest in our students for courses focusing on refugees and forced migration, global development, and globalization and culture. Being an established scholar in these areas, we do not doubt that Dr. Malek will be able to fulfill this demand and bring a unique perspective to these topics.”
Malek is a cultural anthropologist specializing in the intersections of migration, citizenship and culture in the Iranian diaspora. She earned her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) after completing a Master of Arts in Near Eastern studies from New York University. Malek comes to OSU from the College of Charleston and completing a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Sharmin & Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University.
Malek's peer-reviewed publications have appeared in journals such as the "International Journal of Cultural Studies," "Memory Studies," "Middle East Journal," and "Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East." Building on over a decade of multi-sited fieldwork, Malek's current book project is a transnational ethnography of the impacts of cultural policies on diasporic Iranian communities in Sweden, Canada and the United States.
"I'm very excited to join the School of Global Studies. I look forward to working with faculty and students across campus to leverage the strengths of OSU towards growing a strong and dynamic Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies program."
Founded in 2016, the IPGS program is a multi-disciplinary program that focuses on Iran and the Persian Gulf region and seeks to bring OSU faculty expertise to understanding the region's political, economic, cultural and ecological issues. Thanks to the generous gift of the Farzaneh Family Foundation, the program endows OSU faculty to conduct focused research and offer courses in this important region.
To learn more about Malek, visit her website at amymalek.com.