Samera Esmeir

Samera Esmeir is an assistant professor in the Rhetoric Department at the University of California, Berkeley.  Her present research focuses on British rule in Egypt, particularly on the role played by imperial colonialism in the constitution of “universal humanity” and in the ways in which the human became inscribed within the teleology of modern law.  Professor Esmeir’s research interests also span issues around violence, war and the security state in regards to the contemporary Middle East, and legal history, including the colonial histories of “comparative law” and the legal history of treason in Israel.  In addition to a forthcoming book based on her historical study of colonial Egypt, her recent publications include “The Violence of non-Violence: Law and War in Iraq” (Journal of Law and Society, March 2007), “On Making Dehumanization Possible” (PMLA: The Journal of Modern Languages Association, October 2006), “In the Name of Security: Introduction” (Adalah’s Review, 2004), and “1948: History, Memory, Law” (Social Text 75, Summer 2003).  Professor Esmeir received a Ph.D. in Law and Society from New York University.  She has worked as a lawyer and co-founded and co-edited Adalah’s Review, a sociolegal journal published in Arabic, Hebrew and English, focusing on Palestinian rights in Israel.