Hind Ahmed Zaki

Assistant Professor

Department of Political Science and Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages

Hind Ahmed Zaki is an Assistant Professor of Political Science, with a joint appointment in the department of Language, Culture, and Literature. She is a specialist in comparative politics with a special emphasis in gender and politics and the Middle East and North Africa. Her research focuses on theories of state feminism, feminist movements, gender-based violence, and qualitative research methods. Her current book project focuses on the politics of women’s rights in Egypt and Tunisia in the period following the Arab spring. The book manuscript analyzes how historical constructions of women’s rights, as represented in institutions and narratives of state feminism, shaped feminist mobilization in the course of the Arab Spring, resulting in surprisingly empowering episodes of legal and political mobilization for women’s rights. The broader implication of these findings questions the assumption that democratic transition and gender justice go hand-in-hand. Her broader research interests include understanding different models of state feminism in the region and how they influenced the history and development and agenda of feminist movements in the Arab world.

Ahmed Zaki received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington in 2018; her MA in political science and gender studies from the American University in Cairo in 2008; and her BA in political science from Cairo University in 2001. Before joining UConn, she was the Harold Grinspoon Research Fellow at Brandeis University. She previously served as a postdoctoral research associate and postdoctoral fellow at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University. In addition to her academic work, Ahmed Zaki serves as a consultant to a number of local women’s rights organizations in Egypt and the broader Middle East.