Faculty

Sarah Gualtieri

Associate Professor of History and American Studies and Ethnicity

Contact Information
E-mail: gualtier@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-5374
Office: SOS 165

Education

B.A. History, McGill University
M.A. Middle East Studies, University of Chicago
Ph.D. Middle East History, University of Chicago

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests

Sarah Gualtieri holds a joint appointment in the Departments of History and American Studies and Ethnicity. She is a scholar of the modern Middle East whose work focuses on questions of race, gender, and migration. Her book "Between Arab and White" (University of California Press, 2009) examines the history of Arab racial formation in the United States with a particular focus on the problematic of “whiteness.” Specifically, the work explores how Arabs came to be officially classified as white by the U.S. government, and how different Arab groups interpreted, accepted, or contested this racial classification over the course of the 20th century. Gualtieri is now working on a project entitled "The Lebanese in Los Angeles: Migration and Transnationalism in a Multi-racial Landscape, " which has received funding from the American Council of Learned Societies and USC's Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences Fellowship. At USC, Prof. Gualtieri teaches undergraduate courses on Women and Revolution in the Middle East, the Modern Middle East, Race and Class in Los Angeles, Arabs in America, and a graduate seminar in Critical Studies of Whiteness. She served for two years as Faculty Advisor to the Middle East Studies Program at USC.

Research Specialties

Arab American Studies, Diasporas, Race and Ethnicity, Revolution and Occupation.

Funded Research

USC Funding

Advancing Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences . "Arab Angelenos: Syrian Immigrants and Inter-Ethnic Relations in Los Angeles, 1880-1945": This project explores the history of Syrian migration to Los Angeles, paying particular attention to the solidarities that developed with the Latino population in the city., $22,000, 2010-2011

Conferences and Other Presentations

Conference Presentations

""Arab Angelenos: Syrian Immigrants to Los Angeles, 1880-1945" ", Middle Eastern Migrants: New Perspectives, Lecture/Seminar, Paper, Princeton University, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizat, Invited, Spring 2011
""Who is an Arab? Religious Dimensions of a Pan-Ethnic Identity in the United States"", Organization of American Historians, Talk/Oral Presentation, Paper, New York City, Invited, Spring 2008

Publications

Book

Gualtieri, S. M. (2009). Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Read about this book here

Book Chapter

Gualtieri, S. M. (2008). Strange Fruit?: Syrian Immigrants, Extralegal Violence, and Racial Formation in the United States. pp. 22. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. Read about this article here

Book Review

Gualtieri, S. M. (2010). We are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades Against Muslim and Other Minorities. Journal of American Ethnic History.
Gualtieri, S. M. (2000). Elizabeth Thompson, Colonial Citizens: Republican Rights, Paternal Privilege and Gender in French Syria and Lebanon; Colonial Effects:The making of National Identity in Jordan. Radical History Review..

Journal Article

Gualtieri, S. M. (2004). Gendering the Chain Migration Thesis: Women and Syrian Transatlantic Migration. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. pp. 69-80.
Gualtieri, S. M. (2001). Becoming "White": Race, Religion, and the Formation of Syrian/Lebanese Ethnicity in the United States. Journal of American Ethnic History, University of Illinois Press. pp. 29-58.

Honors and Awards

American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship Recipient, Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowship, 2008-2009
USC Provost's Arts and Humanities Initiative ("Visions and Voices"), 2007-2008
USC Zumberge Research and Innovation Fund Award, 7/1/2006-7/1/2007
Fulbright Award, 1996-1997