Dr Cyma Farah

I am a global historian of the modern Middle East with a particular interest in French colonialism in the Levant. I completed my PhD (2023) in History and a graduate certificate in Women Gender and Sexuality at Rice University. I also hold a BA and MA in History from the American University of Beirut. Before becoming a postdoctoral Research Associate in the ERC-funded project ‘Moving Stories: Sectarianisms in the Global Middle East,’ I lived in Lebanon. I ventured into the world of academia after several years of work as a social studies teacher in Beirut, where I began my professional career.

Research Interests

My current research seeks to address the tension between the rational-legal discourse of High Politics during the French mandate over Lebanon and the seemingly chaotic circumstances of popular unrest. I examine this issue in a specific historical context that I believe has wider significance—the drafting of the 1926 Lebanese constitution and the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925-1927. Different themes emerge through this investigation. I am particularly interested in models of masculinity and femininity, revolt, rural history, and the various iterations of sectarianism and cross-sectarian solidarities under French colonialism. Due to my focus on the legal precepts of the sectarian system in the Lebanese constitution of 1926, much of my work is informed by questions on the genealogy and trajectory of sectarianism and secularism across borders. My research attempts to make room for a more humanistic understanding of people’s lived experiences under different legal systems and historical circumstances.