My name is Yasmin, and I am a graduate student in the Department of History at UC Santa Barbara. Before joining UCSB, I was enrolled in the MA program in Sociology and Anthropology at the American University in Cairo for two semesters, and I hold a BA in Arabic Language, Literature, and Islamic Studies from Ain Shams University in Cairo. I study the modern history of the Middle East, with a focus on the social history of labor and bureaucracy, gender, and the life cycle of record-making. I approach these topics through archival and literary ethnography, public history methods, and critical digital humanities methodologies. My graduate research focuses on the social history of female clerks in modern Egypt.

I am also a community archivist in Cairo and an interdisciplinary researcher in the humanities and social sciences, with professional experience in designing and managing research-educational programs as well as grants administration. I have been fulfilling these roles for five years with Sard Center for History and Social Research (Shubra’s Archive). More broadly, my work brings together historical inquiry, participatory research and learning, and critical engaging with digital methodologies to make historical knowledge more accessible.

More to share soon! Feel free to connect if you’d like to discuss shared research interests, potential collaborations, or community archiving initiatives!