Kathryn Libal, Ph.D.
Profile Summary
Kathryn Libal, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work and Human Development and Family Studies Program. Kathryn has taught graduate courses on global societies and cultures, human rights in global perspective, politics and cultures of Asia; and gender and development. Her areas of specialization include women and children’s rights movements; human rights; gender and the family; social welfare and the state; social and family policy; globalization; Islam; Middle East and Central Asia; Middle Eastern diasporas (in Europe and the US).
Education
- Ph.D. - University of Washington, Anthropology, 2001
- M.A. - University of Washington, Anthropology, 1993
- B.A. - Lewis and Clark College, Honors in Comparative Religion, 1990
Research Interests
Women and Children’s Rights Movements
Human Rights
Gender and the Family
Social Welfare and the State
Globalization
Islam
Middle East and Central Asia
Middle Eastern diasporas (in Europe and the US)
Research and Scholarship Links
- coming soon
Contact
-
Phone:
(860) 570-9043
E-mail: kathryn.libal@uconn.edu
Room:
Professional Experience
Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor, Human Development and Family Studies and the School of Social Work, University of Connecticut, 2007-present
Assistant Professor in Residence, Women’s Studies Program, Anthropology, & Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut, 2004-2007
Lecturer, Women’s Studies and International Studies Programs, University of Kansas, 2002- 2004
Visiting Adjunct Lecturer, Women’s Studies Program and Anthropology, University of Kansas, 2001-02
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Anthropology, University of Washington, 1997-2000
Publications
Articles, Books, and Book Chapters
Libal, K. (under review). Toward a social history of gender, family, and reproduction in the early Turkish republic. Turkish Studies Journal. Submitted April 4, 2008.
Harding, S. & Libal K. (under review). War and the public health disaster in Iraq. In M. Singer & G.D. Hodge (Eds.), The war machine and public health. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Submitted July 6, 2008.
Libal, K. & Harding, S. (forthcoming, February 2009). Challenging US silence: International NGOs and the Iraqi refugee crisis. In S. Martinez (Ed.), International migration and human rights: The global repercussions of US policy. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Libal, K. (2008). Staging Turkish women’s emancipation: Istanbul, 1935. Journal for Middle East Women’s Studies 4, 1, 31-52.
“Women, Gender and Childhood: Social Practices, Pre-Modern and Modern: Ottoman Empire,” Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, Suad Joseph, General Editor, Brill. 2006
“Women, Gender and Childhood: Social Practices, Pre-Modern and Modern: Turkey,” Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures, Suad Joseph, General Editor, Brill. 2006
“Motherhood in the Late Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic,” Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures , Suad Joseph, General Editor, Brill. 2005
“‘The Child Question’: The Politics of Child Welfare in Early Republican Turkey.” In Poverty and Charity in Middle Eastern Contexts. Edited by Mine Ener, Michael Bonner, and Amy Singer, pp. 255-272. Binghamton: State University of New York Press. 2003
“The Robust Child: Discourses on Childhood and Modernity in Early Republican Turkey.” In Symbolic Childhood. Edited by Daniel Cook, 109-130. New York: Peter Lang. 2002
“Children’s Rights in Turkey,” Human Rights Review, October-December. 2001
2000 “The Children’s Protection Society: Nationalizing Child Welfare in Early Republican Turkey.” New Perspectives on TurkeyAutumn, Vol. 23, pp. 53-78.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Libal, K. & Harding, S. (2007). The politics of refugee advocacy and humanitarian assistance. Middle East Report244, 18-21.
Harding, S. & Libal, K. (2007). Social development in Iraq: Reversing community disintegration and middle-class flight. In A. Awotona (Ed.), Proceedings of an international conference on rebuilding sustainable communities in Iraq: Policies, programs and projects (pp. 208-223). Boston: College of Public and Community Service, University of Massachusetts.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Book manuscript, National Futures: State-Making, Reproduction, and Child Welfare in Turkey. This project examines the intersection of state-making, family, and reproduction in the 1930s, with a focus on reformist national elite and state efforts to secure population growth and ensure maternal and child welfare as key strategies to build “national strength” and maintain sovereignty.
Grants and Sponsored Programs
Humanitarian and Human Rights Dimensions of the Iraq War. Submitted to the Human Rights Institute Grant for Campus Events to support two campus-based events on the Greater Hartford Campus. Grant period: Spring 2009. Kathryn Libal (PI). Funded: $2,350.00.
Toward an Ethnographic Understanding of Non-governmental Politics, US Refugee Policy, and Iraqi Refugees. Submitted to the UCONN Foundation, Large Faculty Grant Program, 2/08. Kathryn Libal (PI). Grant period: June 1, 2008-May 31, 2009. Funded: $12,460.00.
The Gender of Humanitarian Narrative: Genealogies of Humanitarian/Human Rights Reportage, Outreach and Campaigning. Submitted to the Human Rights Institute, Foundations of Humanitarianism, and Humanities Institute competition for workshop support, 3/08. Samuel Martinez (Co-PI), Kathryn Libal(Co-PI), & Emma Gilligan (Co-PI). Grant period: August 2008-May 2009. Funded: $10,500.00.
Human Rights Research Grant Recipient, Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut: “The Politics of Educating Girls in Turkey: Human Rights, State Building, and the European Union,” summer travel and research, 2007, $2500
Co-awardee of a Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Conference Grant, $1500 to support travel of an international participant to the 2006 AAA meetings
Travel award of $350, Human Rights Institute, travel support for participation in conference on “Sharia, Reformist Thought, and Human Rights,” Oslo University, September 19-21, 2005
Co-Awardee (with Samuel Martinez, PI), Anthropology through Film, General Education Course Development Grant, University of Connecticut, 2005-06
Center for Teaching Excellence, Teaching Grant, University of Kansas, 2003
Title VI New Course Development Grant, Center for East Asian Studies, University of Kansas, 2003
Presentations, Conferences and Lectures
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Responding to the Iraqi refugee crisis: The strengths and limits of NGO advocacy and humanitarian assistance, contributed paper presented at the annual meetings of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, Portland, OR, September 13, 2008
The forgotten crisis: Iraqi refugees as collateral damage. Invited presentation at Lewis and Clark College, September 11, 2008
The politics of advocacy and policy-making for Iraqi refugees, contributed paper presented at the biennial meetings of the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration, Cairo, Egypt, January 10, 2008
Annual meetings of the Middle East Studies Association, Montreal, November 18, 2007
“Popular Education and Women as Mother-Citizens in the Early Turkish Republic,” invited participant in the symposium on “Eurasian Women and Self-Reliance: Religion and Education in the Contemporary World,” California State University, Long Beach, March 22, 2007
Invited participant for “thematic conversation” round-table on “Modern Turkish Social History: New Approaches and Sources,” Middle East Studies Association meetings, Washington DC, November 20, 2006.
“The Turkish Women’s Union and the Politics of Turkish Women’s Emancipation in the Inter- War Era,” Middle East Studies Association meetings, Boston, MA, November 19, 2006
Invited participant for “thematic conversation” round-table on “Modern Turkish Social History: New Approaches and Sources,” Middle East Studies Association meetings, Washington DC, November, 2005.
“Toward an Ethnography of Legal Pluralism in Turkey,” Research seminar on Sharia, Reformist Thought, and Human Rights, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, Oslo University, Oslo, Norway, September 20-22, 2005.
“International Dimensions of the Women’s Rights Movement in Early Republican Turkey,” Turkey at the Crossroads: Women, Women’s Studies and the State, co-sponsored by Towson University’s Institute for Teaching and Research on Women and Middle East Technical University, May 27-June 3, 2005.
“Motherhood and Nationalism in Early Republican Turkey (1920s-1930s),” New England Historical Association Meetings, Weston Massachusetts, April 16, 2005.
“Pronatalism, Motherhood, and Nation-Building in Early Republican Turkey,” invited participant to the Roundtable on Women, Family, and Modernization Projects in the Middle East in the 19 th and 20 th Centuries, University of Chicago, February 4-5, 2005.
“Reconsidering Early Republican Feminism and the Dissolution of the Turkish Women’s Union, 1935,” Middle East Studies Association Meetings, San Francisco, November, 2004.
“‘Will Bush Be A Real Cowboy?’ Expressing Dissent over War in Iraq in a Mid-Western US Town,” American Anthropological Association Meeting, Chicago, November 19, 2003.
“Pronatalism, Motherhood, and the State in Early Republican Turkey,” The Middle East Studies Association Meeting, Anchorage, November 7, 2003.
“‘The Child Question’: The Politics of Child Welfare in Early Republican Turkey,” Invited participant to National Endowment for the Humanities conference on Poverty and Charity in Middle Eastern Contexts, Ann Arbor, May 4-6, 2000.
“Giving to Children of the Urban Poor in Early Republican Turkey (1928-1940),” Middle East Studies Association Meeting, November 20-22, 1999.
“National Futures: Time and the Child in the Making of the Turkish Nation-State,” American Anthropological Association Meeting, Chicago, November 17-20, 1999.
“Narrating the Future: The Figure of Youth in Republican Turkey,” Social Science History Association Meeting, Fort Worth, November 10-13, 1999.
“The Robust Child: Discourses on the Child and Modernity in Early Republican Turkey,” Middle East Studies Association Meeting, Chicago, IL, December 3-6, 1998.
“The Robust Child: Generative Discourses on Proliferation and the Child in Early Republican Turkey ,” paper in AAA Invited Session: “Toward a Critical Anthropology of Population: Where Have We Come from and Where Are We Going,” American Anthropological Association Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, December 2-6, 1998.
“Contested Symbols of Youth and Nation: Oppositional Interpretations of a Secular Holiday in the Republic of Turkey,” American Ethnological Society, Toronto, May 7-10, 1998.
“Celebrating Youth, Celebrating the Nation: The May 19th Youth and Sport Holiday in the Republic of Turkey, 1936-1946,” Middle East Studies Association Meeting, San Francisco, December 4, 1997.
“The Role of ‘National Sovereignty and Children’s Holiday’ in Turkish Children’s Construction of National Identity,” American Anthropological Association Meeting, San Francisco, November 20, 1996.
SELECTED OTHER PRESENTATIONS & LECTURES
“Economic Rights in the General Comments of United Nations Treaty Monitoring Bodies,” Economic Rights Group, Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut, February 23, 2007
“Toward a Research Agenda on Historicizing and Theorizing the Economic and Social Rights of Women and Children” (1915-1945), Economic Rights Group, Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut, April 17, 2006
“Reconsidering Early Republican Feminism and the Dissolution of the Turkish Women’s Union,” Spotlight on UConn Faculty presentation, Women’s Studies Program, October 18, 2004
“‘Shame on the Woman Who Ignores the Calling to Motherhood’: On Pronatalist Discourses, Motherhood, and Nation-State Building in Early Republican Turkey,” Hall Center Gender Seminar, November 4, 2003
Honors, Fellowships and Distinctions
Women’s Studies Leadership Award, Univ. of Connecticut, 2007
Finalist, Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award, Univ. of Washington, 1998
Honors, First Year Comprehensive Examination, Anthropology, Univ. of Washington, 1991
Abay Prize for outstanding study in Introductory Kazakh, Univ. of Washington, 1991
Rena Ratte Award, for highest scholastic achievement of graduating senior, Lewis & Clark College, 1990
Fellowships
Alvord Fellowship in the Humanities, University of Washington, 2000-01
Institute of Turkish Studies, Dissertation Writing Award, 1998-99
FLAS Fellowship, Middle East Studies Center, 1997-98
Stout Fellowship, University of Washington, 1997-98
Fulbright-Hayes Dissertation Fellow, 1996 (declined)
IIE Fulbright Scholars Award to Turkey, 1995-96 (declined)
Social Science Research Council Dissertation Research Fellow in Near and Middle Eastern Studies, 1995-96 (declined)
American Research Institute in Turkey Dissertation Fellowship Award, 1995-96 (declined)
Funding from FLAS, SSRC, and a variety of University of Washington grants provided full support for studies from 1992-1995.
Outreach and Service
University Service
University of Connecticut
Panelist, “Family Life and Global Warming,” sponsored by the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, September 24, 2008.
Workshop presenter, “Human Rights,” for the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program, University of Connecticut, Office of International Affairs, July 30-31, 2008 (7 hours total).
Reading Group, Humanities Institute/Human Rights Institut), University of Connecticut, (2005-present
Co-Director, Gender Seminar, University of Kansas, 2003-04.
Professional Service (selected)
Member, Economic Rights Reading Group and the Politics and Culture of Humanitarianism
Project member, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) grant, Co-PIs Boris Bravo-Ureta and Elizabeth Mahan (2006-2008)
Collaboration with Menoufia University (MU) to create a masters program devoted to the study of women and development; traveled to Menoufia University in March 2006 and March 2007 to collaborate on workshops on women’s and children’s rights, family, and development.
Co-Organizer and Chair for Presidential Invited Session at the American Anthropological Association’s 2006 meetings; Double panel titled, “Debating Anthropological Practice and National Security: Past, Present, and Across Borders,” San Jose, CA in November 2006.
Organizer, panel titled: “Middle Eastern Feminisms, Nationalisms, and Transnationalisms (1900-1950),” Middle East Studies Association meetings, Boston, November 2006.
Participant-observer in the 2006 Summit on the Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, American University, Washington DC, May 18-20, 2006.
Participant in the research conference and course titled, “Islamic Law, Reformist Thought, and Human Rights,” hosted by the Norwegian Human Rights Institute, Oslo University, Oslo Norway, September 20-22, 2005.
Participant in a faculty development workshop on Women’s Rights in Turkey, sponsored by Towson University and Istanbul University, Istanbul and Bodrum, Turkey, May 27-June 3, 2005.
Co-Organizer for panel entitled, “Gender, Social Change, and the State in Turkey (1920s- 1930s),” Middle East Studies Association Meetings, November 2004.