Rana B. Khoury
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rbkhoury.bsky.social
Rana B. Khoury
@rbkhoury.bsky.social
assistant prof of political science at Illinois researching wartime activism, displacement, humanitarianism, and all things Syria. mama to the greatest second grader. www.ranakhoury.com
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So excited to hold my book! You can do so too in November! Leila Khoury's cover art captures the story of a contentious movement becoming something like a civil society in the depths of Syria's war. @cornellupress.bsky.social designed it beautifully. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Cornell's got a winter sale, 44% all books! Code: 09WINTER

Great time to give loved ones, and yourself, a title or two from their excellent selection for the holidays. Perhaps even mine! (Their publications in conflict studies are top notch.)

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Civilizing Contention by Rana B. Khoury | Paperback | Cornell University Press
In Civilizing Contention, Rana B. Khoury asserts that to understand civilian and refugee activism in war, we must regard the international actors and organizations that enter the scene to help. When.....
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
November 10, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Excited/nervous to be giving a book talk tomorrow at Illinois. My 2nd grader anticipates it will be about 5% boring.

Come for the 95%!

calendars.illinois.edu/detail/779/3...
Book Talk: "Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria's War." Dr. Rana Khoury
calendars.illinois.edu
November 4, 2025 at 4:27 PM
In this symposium on Syria contributors paint nuanced, grim, but clear-eyed pictures of multiple transitional challenges. Comparisons to other cases and situation in poli sci lit remind us Syria's not terribly unique. Amazingly, they all suggest ways through the obstacles.
zenodo.org/records/1745...
MENA Politics, Fall 2025
zenodo.org
November 3, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Rana B. Khoury
3) A symposium on Syria's transition co-edited by @rbkhoury.bsky.social and Sefa Secen, featuring thought-provoking interventions from Tiina Hyyppä, Sumaya Malas, Salam Said, Emily K. M. Scott, Sefa Secen, and Ammar Shamaileh; and
October 29, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Reposted by Rana B. Khoury
I am delighted to share the fall issue of the APSA MENA section newsletter, co-edited by @sebnemgumuscu.bsky.social, @samershehata.bsky.social, and me, available for download here: zenodo.org/records/1745...
October 29, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Can folks suggest books or writings by Moroccan or Egyptian activists involved in social movements? For an undergraduate thesis student who is eager to learn how the people on the ground understood their own undertakings. English or Arabic. Thanks!
October 27, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Rana B. Khoury
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, and to support emerging scholars, I'd like to buy and mail copies to ten graduate students.

If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me!

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Civilizing Contention by Rana B. Khoury | Paperback | Cornell University Press
In Civilizing Contention, Rana B. Khoury asserts that to understand civilian and refugee activism in war, we must regard the international actors and organizations that enter the scene to help. When.....
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
October 17, 2025 at 1:55 PM
To celebrate the upcoming release of my book, and to support emerging scholars, I'd like to buy and mail copies to ten graduate students.

If you’re a grad student who’d like a copy, reply or DM me!

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Civilizing Contention by Rana B. Khoury | Paperback | Cornell University Press
In Civilizing Contention, Rana B. Khoury asserts that to understand civilian and refugee activism in war, we must regard the international actors and organizations that enter the scene to help. When.....
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
October 17, 2025 at 1:55 PM
I often encounter the idea that interviews are qualitative analysis, akin to comparative method or process tracing.

But I understand interviews as a method of data collection, for data to be used in comparative, within-case, or interpretive analyses.

What do you all think?
October 15, 2025 at 2:43 PM
So excited to hold my book! You can do so too in November! Leila Khoury's cover art captures the story of a contentious movement becoming something like a civil society in the depths of Syria's war. @cornellupress.bsky.social designed it beautifully. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
September 17, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Rana B. Khoury
Excellent dive into the possible future of the new Syria.

From "The People, Power, Politics" podcast in cooperation with @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
A conversation that grew out of work w @wendy-pearlman.bsky.social alongside Daniel Neep, hosted by @emilykmscott.bsky.social. Recorded 2 months ago, but holds up and helps think about roles of state and society in Syria's future.

open.spotify.com/episode/3yIo...

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Syria After Assad
Podcast Episode · New Books in Political Science · 08/29/2025 · 41m
podcasts.apple.com
September 9, 2025 at 2:57 PM
A published paper in a journal has cited a real chapter of mine, but in a hallucinatory way: a parenthetical citation is repeatedly used for content that is completely off the mark. Completely.

So.... that's disturbing.
September 1, 2025 at 3:15 PM
A conversation that grew out of work w @wendy-pearlman.bsky.social alongside Daniel Neep, hosted by @emilykmscott.bsky.social. Recorded 2 months ago, but holds up and helps think about roles of state and society in Syria's future.

open.spotify.com/episode/3yIo...

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Syria After Assad
Podcast Episode · New Books in Political Science · 08/29/2025 · 41m
podcasts.apple.com
August 29, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Rana B. Khoury
I would love for someone who has experience in a social movement to zoom into my undergrad class this fall and share.

Minimal prep: orient us 5-10 min, then Q&A. In past, we learned about participation in uprisings in Syria and Hong Kong, and US labor (during a strike!).

Thanks!
August 7, 2025 at 5:14 PM
I would love for someone who has experience in a social movement to zoom into my undergrad class this fall and share.

Minimal prep: orient us 5-10 min, then Q&A. In past, we learned about participation in uprisings in Syria and Hong Kong, and US labor (during a strike!).

Thanks!
August 7, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Folks, are you using or have you considered using AI for transcription of interviews? I haven't seen much discussion or info re how one protects the data through the many apps/sites/clouds. Like this is from OpenAI's transcribe to text privacy policy:
July 24, 2025 at 4:42 PM
The adoption of AI into Canvas is framed here as reducing faculty workload and making students' lives easier. Not about student learning.

A feature for creating "flashcards for students to review," e.g., ignores that making flashcards *is* the learning.

www.chronicle.com/article/inst...
Instructors Will Now See AI Throughout a Widely Used Course Software
New features integrated into Canvas include a grading assistant, a discussion-post summarizer, and even a way to pair assignments with generative AI tools.
www.chronicle.com
July 24, 2025 at 1:17 PM
The proofs are in. It has a website. It has blurbs from amazing scholars. So I guess my book is real, and @cornellupress.bsky.social must agree!

Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria's War is coming out later this year 🤓

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
Civilizing Contention by Rana B. Khoury | Paperback | Cornell University Press
In Civilizing Contention, Rana B. Khoury asserts that to understand civilian and refugee activism in war, we must regard the international actors and organizations that enter the scene to help. When.....
www.cornellpress.cornell.edu
July 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
👇call for Syria papers
POMEPS Call for Papers: Syria after Assad Workshop. We seek papers on topics related to understanding Syria today that will be discussed at a virtual workshop on Sept. 19th. The deadline to apply is July 21st. For more info on how to apply: pomeps.org/call-for-pap...
Call for Papers: Syria after Assad Workshop - Project on Middle East Political Science
The stunning collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024 has thrown up crucial questions about the future of Syria and the Syrian people. For example, is Syria transitioning mainly from fourteen yea...
pomeps.org
June 25, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Those emails with good news and updates from students and former students... they're sparkles and rainbows for profs ✨
May 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Rana B. Khoury
Incredible scenes in Syria as people celebrate the surprise lifting of US sanctions, the chief impediment to recovery after the fall of Assad. “There were fireworks over Damascus, and people danced in the streets.” Over to the Syrians. By @leloveluck www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Syrians rejoice after Trump pledge to lift crippling sanctions
For more than a decade, U.S. restrictions have barred nearly all trade with Syria. Now, Syrians are daring to hope for better lives.
www.washingtonpost.com
May 14, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Explain to me like I'm someone who doesn't subscribe to Orientalist tropes why it was the plane that broke them.
May 14, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Make Syria Great Again
May 13, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Rana B. Khoury
Upcoming Event | @natashahall.bsky.social joins @rbkhoury.bsky.social and Ibrahim al-Assil for a panel discussion at the Baker Institute about #Syrian displacement and return.

🕔 5:30 PM CDT
📆 April 29, 2025
📍 In-person at Rice University, online

Register: www.bakerinstitute.org/event/syrian...
Syrian Displacement and the Prospects of Return | Baker Institute
On Dec. 8, 2024, the world watched as Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell following the takeover of Syria by the opposition group led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham. The 2011 uprising and subsequent 13-year civil...
www.bakerinstitute.org
April 25, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Rana B. Khoury
As I pre-registered back in July, the public opinion thermostat is kicking in—Trump is making American immigration attitudes great again, again.

And to be honest, I don’t think it has much to do with Democratic messaging right now.
April 25, 2025 at 1:39 AM