Dr. Oweidat is an academic specializing in the religions, cultures, and politics of the Middle East and North Africa. An intellectual historian, she serves as an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University and a Senior Non-Resident Middle East Fellow at New America. She is a 2021-22 Fellow at the Wilson Center. Dr. Oweidat holds a D.Phil. in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford (2014) as well as an M.A. in International Studies from the University of Wyoming and a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Jordan.
Dr. Oweidat’s first book, Reform and Its Perils in Contemporary Islam: The Case of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, is in the final stages of revision. The book explores the efforts of modern Muslim intellectuals to reconcile their religious identities with liberal values in the contemporary world.
Her second book, provisionally entitled A Million Clicks to Freedom: The Virtual Battlefield of Ideas in the Arab World, seeks to inform academics, policymakers, and the broader public about the largely unknown voices of reform in the digital Arab world who are utilizing new media to promote their ideas. These individuals are dedicated to a Middle East where human rights and liberal democratic principles are the norm rather than the exception, and they are skilled in using the internet and virtual spaces to advance their real-world aims. Having conducted research on the challenges posed by violent extremism for many years, Dr. Oweidat can attest to the fact that compelling counter-narratives and organic reform movements from the Arab world are consistently missing from many proposed policy solutions. Her new book directly addresses this lacuna.
Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Oweidat worked as a Research Associate at the RAND Corporation where she directed several projects. In 2007, she initiated and helped lead a research effort, Barriers to the Broad Dissemination of Creative Works in the Arab World, to examine Arabic resources that counter violent extremism, including fiction, non-fiction, cartoons and film that advance values of tolerance, pluralism and the ability to deal with ambiguity without violence. Dr. Oweidat also initiated an analysis of the grassroots Egyptian reform movement Kefaya (The Kefaya Movement: A Case Study of a Grassroots Reform Initiative, RAND, 2008). In addition, she conducted research on Islamic extremism and counter-terrorism strategies, the ideological evolution of al-Qaeda, Salafi jihadi networks, jihadi strategies in Iraq, Iranian ascendancy in the Arab world, and radicalization of Muslim youth.
Born and raised in Jordan, Dr. Oweidat was one of 25 international students to be awarded the prestigious Weidenfeld Leadership Program scholarship at the University of Oxford, Dr. Oweidat was also chosen in 2014 by the American Italian Council to participate in its Young Leaders Conference in Italy.
Dr. Oweidat is a board member of the Hindawi Foundation (www.hindawi.org), an NGO that seeks to contribute to the flourishing of knowledge in the Arab world by providing high-quality translations of key English texts, as well as important Arabic-language works, free of charge to the Arabic-speaking public. With a collection of over 2000 works, the library continues to grow to reach accelerating demand in the Arab world.
As a believer in the importance of informing the broader public, Dr. Oweidat regularly provides commentary on the Arab and Muslim worlds on various international Arabic and English news networks, including BBC World, CNN, Al-Jazeera Arabic, France 24, and National Public Radio. Dr. Oweidat also publishes opinion pieces on the Middle East Broadcasting Network’s platform, Min Zawiya Ukhra (From Another Angle).
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