Visiting Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and Media StudiesAffiliation:Visiting Education: PhD University of Westminster; MA Zayed University; BA Zayed University
Research Areas: Feminism, Patriarchy, Media Studies, News Sociology, Gender Politics, Women Empowerment, Anthropology, Journalism, Press Freedom, Media Ethics, and Media Law
Noura Al Obeidli is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and Media Studies in the Division of Arts and Humanities within the Interactive Media Program at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). Through her research work as an emerging ethnographer and academic professor, she observes the journalistic practices and newsroom norms to highlight specific themes including gender dynamics, tribal patriarchalism, and the media culture in the Emirates.
Prior to joining academia, she worked as a PR professional for ten years, in which she developed promotional marketing plans, created crisis communications policies, and managed stakeholder relationships. Through her work and interests in gender equality and feminism, she has published numerous news features about empowered Emirati women in male-dominated sectors such as aviation and engineering, lectured at undergraduate level on gender politics, organized campaigns to raise awareness on women’s health and welfare, and received professional internships on news reporting at Al Rai News Centre in Kuwait and The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in England.
Courses Taught
Media depictions of the Middle East have transnational ramifications on political discourse and cultural identification around the globe. This seminar explores the cultural politics of such representations, beginning from the premise that representation itself is a contested site. Students will examine film, visual culture, and literature to ask how "the real" is mediated for various audiences. How can key dilemmas be best approached, such as the clash between theological taboos and notions of freedom of expression in recent controversies about Danish cartoons and Charlie Hebdo? Can readings of texts, films, and digital spaces see beyond familiar negative stereotypes or positive public images? The seminar will be organized around significant themes, concepts, and questions, including the exotic and the imperial imaginary; travel and the Holy Land; gender and national allegory; the representation of the "real"; religious taboo and visual representation; antiquity in contemporary popular culture; memoir and the post/colonial gaze; and dislocation and diaspora in the transnational reception of Middle Eastern cinema, art, and culture.
Students cannot take CCEA-UH 1078X if they have completed CCEA-UH 1094X
Previously taught: Fall 2 2018, Fall 1 2019, Spring 2024, Fall 2024
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks Noura Al Obeidli
-
MW 14:10 - 15:25
Taught in Abu Dhabi
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks Noura Al Obeidli
-
MW 14:10 - 15:25
Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
Core Curriculum > Cultural Exploration and Analysis
Core Curriculum > Islamic Studies
Majors > Arab Crossroads Studies > Society and Politics
Majors > Film and New Media > Media Studies Courses
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the distinctive historical and political developments of media from an Emirati context, and engage in focused dialogue to develop critical assessment of the relation between media, culture, gender, and politics in the Emirates. This course is also designed to expose students to a range of cultural, theoretical, and comparative research undertaken in the field of media practices in the Arab Gulf States and the Middle East to acquire the theoretical tools necessary to understand the cultural context and political role of media in the Emirates. As this course advances, students will be prompted to problematize the role the state plays in media and in the representation of Emirati women in this field, and think through the role traditional and new media have played in shaping the journalistic experiences inside the newsroom, and in shaping public opinion in the Emirates.
Previously taught: Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024
Spring 2025;
14 Weeks Noura Al Obeidli
-
TR 14:10 - 15:25
Taught in Abu Dhabi
Fall 2025;
14 Weeks Noura Al Obeidli
-
TR 14:10 - 15:25
Taught in Abu Dhabi
This course appears in...
Minors > Gender Studies > Social, Political and Cultural Structures of Gender Courses
Pre-Professional Courses > Media, Culture and Communication