MEET THE TEAM

Christy Khairallah – Co-President

Year: U3
Program: Honours English Literature, Minor in Political Science
Countries: Lebanon, Canada
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: The experience of dispossession in diasporic Arab communities and how this influences transnational political engagement/activism.

Hakim Sarray – Co-VP Finance

Year: U3
Program: Joint Honours in Economics and Political Science
Countries: Tunisia, Canada
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: The history of Islamic theology; what people believe, and why those beliefs change across eras.

Luice Quief – Co-VP Finance

Year: U3
Program: Political Science Major and Hispanic Studies & International Development Minor
Country: France
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: International intervention/involvement in the MENA region.

Sonia Oulamine – VP Internal

Year: U3
Program: Political Science
Countries: Morocco, United States
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: Insurgent militantism in West Africa and infrastructure development.

Leenah Qasrawi – Co-VP Media

Year: U3
Program: Honours World Islamic and Middle East Studies, Major in Political Science
Countries: Palestine, Jordan, Canada, Saudi Arabia
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: The gendered politics of nationalism in MENA, and how women’s labour, sacrifice, and endurance function as sites of national continuity under occupation and displacement.

Maria Hamdaoui – Co-VP Media

Year: U3
Program: English Literature and Communication Studies
Country: Algeria
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: Arabic dialects and class.

Saad Dannaoui – Website Manager

Year: U3
Program: Computer Engineering
Country: Lebanon
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: The role of nostalgia and inherited memory in shaping diasporic identity among MENA youth raised entirely outside their homeland.

Gaïa Irrmann – VP External

Year: U2
Program: Honours Political Science, Major in World Islamic and Middle East Studies
Country: France
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: The interpretation of terrorist groups by Western media, especially regarding the Kurds.

Tia Haider – Editor-in-Chief of Crossroads

Year: U3
Program: Major in English Literature, Minor in Political Science & WIMES
Countries: Lebanon, Kuwait
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: Intergroup dynamics in postcolonial settings (specifically pertaining to the Levant): What remnants of coloniality continue to inform socio-political, day-to-day dynamics within societies, and how do we see this manifest in a larger sense in a nation’s political framework?

Alya Mernissi – Debates Co-Chair

Year: U4
Program: Political Science and Psychology Double Major, Minor in Physiology
Countries: Morocco, Canada
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: The “Years of Lead” in Morocco.

Léonie Prato – Debates Co-Chair

Year: U2
Program: Joint Honours in Political Science and World Islamic and Middle East Studies
Country: France
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: The aftermath of conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

Naji El-Khouri – VP Academics

Year: U4
Program: Software Engineering & Applied AI
Country: Lebanon
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: The effect of 20th and 21st century external events on internal relations amongst Lebanese people.

Julnar Aizouki – VP Academics

Year: U3
Program: Joint Honours Political Science and World Islamic and Middle East Studies
Country: Canada
MENA Niche Topic of Interest: Modern Syrian history, protecting antiquities, and the development of surveillance capitalism in the region.