Biography
Malaka joined the School of International Relations in January 2020. She was awarded her PhD in Middle East Politics, with no corrections, from the University of Exeter in 2019.
Malaka has previously taught at the University of Leeds and the University of Exeter. She has gained her Master’s from the University of Sheffield in Global Politics and Law (2014) and has a diploma in Peace Studies and Counter Extremism from in Lebanon (2016). She was recently awarded a fellowship at the American Political Science Association () and has multilingual skills in Arabic, Persian and Hebrew.
Geographically, her expertise is strongest in the Levant. She has also researched oral history in Palestine and refugeeism, peacebuilding, and displacement in the Arab region. Her research also examines the dynamics of prison hunger strikes, offers a typology of their forms and motives, and weighs the factors that affect their success or effectiveness. It draws on hunger strikes in world contexts, including England (the suffragette movement), Northern Ireland, and Turkey. It develops and revises theories of resistance, feminist theories of embodiment and subjection while also contributing a gender studies perspective often missing from the literature on resistance.
She has conducted multidisciplinary research in the Levant (especially Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon), North Africa (especially Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco), the Gulf region (especially Qatar), Turkey, South Africa, Britain, and Northern Ireland.
Qualifications
- BA in English, Palestine (Islamic University of Gaza)
- Diploma in Literature, Palestine (Islamic University of Gaza)
- MA in Global Politics and Law, UK (Sheffield University)
- Diploma in Peace Studies and Counter Extremism, Lebanon (Adyan Institute)
- PhD in Middle East Politics, UK (Exeter University)
I have supervised research projects on:
- "The unseen of the French colonial encounter in Tunisia";
- "The 2003 Invasion of Iraq and its implications for Britain and Iraq";
- "Portrayal of Afghan women in literature as victims of oppression";
- "Palestinian women and the fight for the homeland";
- "Racism in the Arab World: ‘blackface” use in comedy".
Professional Membership
- American Political Science Association
- The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) [also BRISMES Council member]
Seminars & Conferences (Selected)
- 02/07/2021 – British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), Virtual: Theorizing Hunger Strikes: Neither violent nor non-violent but pragmatic, active resistance.
- 13/06/2019 – the American University of Beirut: Lebanon: Intergenerational and Transgenerational Synergies in Palestinian Oral History.
- 02/04/2019 – the Afro-Middle East Centre, Johannesburg: South Africa: The Importance of Language in the War-Zone.
- 06/2018 - Festival of Voice conference, Cardiff: England: The Patriarchy of Occupation.
- 02/05/2018 - Queen’s University Belfast Negotiating Detention conference, Belfast: Northern Ireland: Imprisonment and Hunger Striking in North Ireland, Palestine/Israel, & Guantanamo.
- 24/03/2018 – Doctoral Students Conference, Doha: Qatar: The Rhythm of Resistance: documentary and drama films as cultural memory and dissent.
- 18/10/2017 – Annual Afro-Middle East Centre Conference, Johannesburg: South Africa: Inspiring a Palestinian State or Ending Occupation First?
- 25/02/2017– Basma Youth Conference, Istanbul: Turkey: Youth Understandings of Politics and Society.
- 02/2017 tour – Ireland (Maynooth University, University College Dublin, University of Dublin, & Queen’s University Belfast). Political Activism and International Relations in the War-Zone.
- 21/01/16 – University of Goldsmiths, London: England: Women in Resistance: Voices from Kashmir, Iraq, and Palestine.
- 28/11/15 – Université de M’hamed Bougara, Boumerdes: Algeria: Settler-Colonialism in Global Contexts.
- 20/02/15 - University of Essex: England: Social Movement Theory in Nonviolent Resistance.
- 30/12/14 - National School, Amman: Jordan: Two talks on leadership and politics.
- 31/10/14 - Sheffield University Students’ Union, England: Global Politics and Governance: A Comparative Perspective.
- 02/04/14 - The University of Toronto: Canada: Political Representation & Democracy.
Teaching
PhD supervision
- Abdulla Al-Kalisy
- Mohammed Almassri
- Anezka Ferreira
Selected publications
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Open access
Shwaikh, M., 22 May 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Third World Quarterly. Latest Articles, p. 1-22 22 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
-
Open access
Dader, K., Shwaikh, M., Shoman, H. & Hamdan, S., 7 Jan 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Palestine Studies. Latest Articles, p. 1-9 9 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Shwaikh, M., Oct 2025, Gaza: The story of a genocide. Bhutto, F. & Faleiro, S. (eds.). London: Verso
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Open access
Shwaikh, M. M. B., 15 Jun 2023, In: Global Studies Quarterly. 3, 2, 13 p., ksad030.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Shwaikh, M. M. B. & Gould, R. R., 31 Jan 2023, Washington, DC: ICNC Press. 112 p. (ICNC monograph series)
Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Open access
Shwaikh, M. M. B., 10 May 2022, In: Journal of Feminist Scholarship. 20, 20, p. 33-48 16 p., 3.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Shwaikh, M. M. B., 14 Sept 2020, (E-pub ahead of print) In: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. Latest Articles, 19 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Shwaikh, M. M. B. & Ruth Gould, R., 10 Jul 2020, In: Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly. 42, 4, p. 752-773
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Shwaikh, M. M. B., 12 Jun 2020, The Routledge handbook of translation and activism. Gould, R. R. & Tahmasebian, K. (eds.). London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, p. 129-144 (Routledge handbooks in translation and interpreting studies).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Shwaikh, M. M. B., 7 Nov 2018, In: Jerusalem Quarterly. 75, p. 78-90
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review