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Dr. Lucy El-Sherif Publishes and Presents Research on Dabke

March 1, 2026

Dr. Lucy El-Sherif, Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Justice Education, continues to share her research on dabke, Arab cultural production, and transnational political subject formation across multiple scholarly venues. 

October 2025: Meridians Publication & 25th Anniversary Symposium 

In October 2025, Dr. El-Sherif published her article, , in Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 24(2). In the essay, she asks: "What does it mean to dance a relationship to one stolen land, Palestine, from another stolen land, Haudenosaunee territory on Turtle Island?"

The article was one of 17 pieces selected from the journal’s twenty-five-year archive for presentation at its 25th anniversary symposium at Smith College, The symposium also featured a live dabke performance by a Dabke dance troupe, (Queens of Dabke), programmed in relation to her article, followed by a public conversation with the dancers.

A recording of Dr. El-Sherif's panel "Body Politic(s)" can be . 

A recording of the dable performance by Malikat Al Dabke can be

The article can be accessed here: .

 

Panel 2: Body Politic(s) at Meridians 25th symposium. Five panelists (left to right): Dr. L. Ayu Saraswati (medium-brown skin, floral blouse), Dr. Abosede George (dark-brown skin, green dress), Dr. Ana del Conde (light-brown skin, tan sweater), Dr. Catherine S. Ramirez (light skin, black top/scarf), Dr. Lucy El-Sherif (light-medium brown skin, patterned jacket). Stand before Meridians banner table with mics, laptops; wooden hall backdrop. Photo by Elie Pichanick. ​
Panel 2: Body Politic(s) at the Meridians 25th anniversary symposium. From left to right: Dr. L. Ayu Saraswati, Dr. Abosede George, Dr. Ana del Conde, Dr. Catherine S. Ramirez, and Dr. Lucy El-Sherif. Photo by Elie Pichanick.

February 2026: Invited Talk at the University of Ottawa 

On February 23rd, Dr. El-Sherif delivered an invited talk, at the Research Methodologies Lab at the University of Ottawa, hosted by the Laboratory for Engaged Research (LER).  

The talk extended the methodological and political concerns of her article while also speaking to her current book project, Dabke on Turtle Island. The book develops an analytic account of dabke across transnational sites, theorizing dance as a practice of survivance, ontological refusal and repair, and relational world-making under conditions of racialization and exile. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork with youth, community organizers, and cultural producers, the project challenges binaries between the political and the cultural. 

 

We congratulate Dr. El-Sherif on these significant scholarly contributions to theorizing Arab life and racialization on Turtle Island. 

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