Laure Salma Assaf
Assistant Professor of Arab Crossroads Studies, Anthropology and Social Research and Public Policy
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: PhD Paris Nanterre University
Research Areas: Arabian Peninsula; United Arab Emirates, Youth, Migration, Hierarchies, Social change, Anthropology
Laure Assaf is an anthropologist and a specialist of Middle Eastern studies. Her research interests focus on youth, urbanity, and migration in contemporary Emirati society and the broader Gulf region.
She was trained in anthropology at Paris Nanterre University and in Arabic at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris. She is currently working on a book manuscript derived from her PhD thesis, entitled Arab youths of Abu Dhabi: Status categories, urban sociability and the shaping of subjectivities in the United Arab Emirates (2017).
She is also an Associate Researcher at the French Center for Archeology and Social Sciences (CEFAS) in Kuwait.
Courses Taught
-
How have anthropologists encountered, written about, and produced the ''Arab world'' over the past century? Beginning with early Western travelers' imaginaries of Arabia and ending with a reflection on the role of anthropology in the Arab world (and more globally) today, this course provides an introduction to the anthropological project and to the everyday realities of people living in the region. Through ethnography, literature, film and fieldwork, we will explore such topics as Orientalism and its legacy; constructs of youth, gender, family and tribe; poetry and mediation; generational and social change; oil, development and globalization; transnational labor, migration and diaspora; Indian Ocean networks; pilgrimage and piety; the Islamic Revival; faith, medicine, and bioethics; displacement and dispossession; refugees and human rights; and the Arab uprisings.
Previously taught: Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
-
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks
Marwa Koheji - MW 11:20 - 12:35 Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
- Core Curriculum > Islamic Studies
- Majors > Arab Crossroads Studies
- Majors > Social Research and Public Policy > Society and Culture
- Minors > Anthropology
- Minors > Arab Crossroads Studies
- Minors > Arab Music Studies > Arab Crossroads Electives
-
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks
-
Roughly one third of the Middle East population today is between 15 and 29 years old - a demographic "bulge" which has brought Middle Eastern youths at the forefront of media and government concerns both at the regional and global scale. But from the figure of the young jihadist to that of the Arab spring revolutionary, dominant perceptions of these youths often fall into highly polarized archetypes. Moving the focus away from politics and religion, this course explores the everyday worlds of Middle Eastern youths and the complex interactions - with institutions, peers and family members - which characterize their daily lives. By analyzing multiple youth cultures divided along the lines of gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or social class, students will address the diversity of Middle Eastern youths and question the universality of age categories. A large space will also be devoted to the voices of Middle Eastern youths themselves, from Egyptian literature and Emirati cinema to Moroccan hip-hop. These cultural productions will allow students to look at the way Arab youths use globalized artistic genres to address regional issues and express their fears, hopes and desires.
Previously taught: Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
Laure Assaf - TR 12:45 - 14:00 Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
- Core Curriculum > Islamic Studies
- Majors > Arab Crossroads Studies > Society and Politics
- Majors > Social Research and Public Policy > Society and Culture
- Minors > Anthropology
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
-
The spring semester of the ACS Senior Capstone is composed of the student working in close consultation with a faculty member on their capstone project. It is expected that the student will meet weekly with their advisor.
Prerequisite: ACS-UH 4000
Previously taught: Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
Justin Stearns - Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
- Majors > Arab Crossroads Studies
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
-
The boundaries between “nature” and “culture” might once have seemed clearly defined: they underlay, for example, the distinction between the objects of the natural sciences and those of the humanities and social sciences. Today, however, these boundaries appear more unstable than ever. Claims about biological determinism and cultural construction are increasingly complex and contested. At the same time, ecological and planetary events foreground our interconnectedness with our environment, and with the various species that inhabit the Earth.
Structured around fundamental problems that challenge the nature-culture divide, this course explores how we need to move beyond this dualism to better understand the contemporary world, through case-studies located at the crossroads between anthropology, biology, ethology, and philosophy. We will first address how the nature-culture dualism plays a crucial role in relationships of domination, by assigning racial or gendered “others” to the realm of nature. In the second part of the class, we will explore how our relationship with animals and landscapes is both informed by, and challenges, the nature-culture dualism.Prerequisite: Must be an NYU Abu Dhabi student and have not completed the Core: Colloquium requirement.
Previously taught: Spring 2024
This course appears in...
- Core Curriculum > Colloquia
-
The spectacular development of Gulf cities in the second half of the 20th century was accompanied by great demographic and social change. This course, conceived as an introduction to the field of Gulf studies, explores the transformations of Gulf urban societies in the modern and contemporary periods, as well as their social, political, and urban consequences. With a critical approach to both official historical narratives and dominant analytical paradigms such as the rentier state theory, we will rely on social history and anthropology to explore social processes at the scale of the city. We will contrast the production of space through urban planning and its institutional actors with the way city-dwellers appropriate and shape the materiality of urban space in their daily lives, from street corners to upscale shopping malls. We will explore the linguistic, ethnic, and religious diversity of Gulf cities' inhabitants - both nationals and foreign residents - through looking at historical and contemporary migrations and the complex questions they raise in terms of belonging and citizenship. From there, we will examine how social change has affected gender roles and brought about transformations in marriage and family life which have become a major topic of concern for governments.
Previously taught: Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2022, Fall 2023
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
Laure Assaf - TR 15:35 - 16:50 Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
- Core Curriculum > Islamic Studies
- Majors > Arab Crossroads Studies > Society and Politics
- Majors > Social Research and Public Policy > Society and Culture
- Minors > Anthropology
- Minors > Arab Music Studies > Arab Crossroads Electives
- Minors > Urbanization
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
-
During this yearlong course, students develop a research question and design and analyze quantitative or qualitative data sets relevant to social research and/or public policy.
Prerequisite: Declared SRPP major and senior standing
Previously taught: Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
Luca Maria Pesando - Taught in Abu Dhabi -
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks
John O’Brien - M 17:30 - 20:00 Taught in Abu Dhabi -
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks
Stephane Helleringer - M 17:30 - 20:00 Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
- Majors > Social Research and Public Policy
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
-
During this yearlong course, students develop a research question and design and analyze quantitative or qualitative data sets relevant to public policy.
Prerequisite: SRPP-UH 4000
Previously taught: Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
Stephane Helleringer - M 17:30 - 20:00 Taught in Abu Dhabi -
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
Taught in Abu Dhabi -
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks
John O’Brien - M 17:30 - 20:00 Taught in Abu Dhabi -
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks
Zeynep Ozgen - Taught in Abu Dhabi -
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks
Zeynep Ozgen - Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
- Majors > Social Research and Public Policy
-
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks