Dr Maria Holt


PhD - Politics (2004): University of York. Thesis 'Testimonies of violence: A comparative study of the impact of violence and Islamic teachings on Palestinian and Shi'i women in conflict and post-conflict situations in Lebanon'.

MA - Middle East Politics (1988): University of Exeter. Dissertation 'The role of Islam in the Palestinian national struggle'.

BA (Honours): Political Science and Middle East & Islamic Studies (1987): University of Toronto.


I specialise in gender, war and violence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with a particular focus on Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon, the politics of Islamic resistance, and memory and displacement in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. My work is informed by ethnographic fieldwork in the region, which I have been conducting since the early 1990s. I have published extensively.


In brief

Research areas

Middle East politics; gender, conflict and violence in the Middle East and North Africa; Palestinian refugees in Lebanon; women, Islam and resistance; Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Skills / expertise

Many years of fieldwork research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, especially Lebanon