Rabab Abdulhadi

Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi (born 1955) Colleen Flaherty of Inside Higher Education described her as "a controversial figure in an already controversial field".

She received a B.A. degree (1994) in women's studies from Hunter College. She then completed a M.A. degree (1995), a M. Phil. degree (1998), and a Ph.D. (2000) in sociology, all from Yale University. Abdulhadi's dissertation, under advisor Michele Dillon, was titled, "Palestinianness in Comparative Perspective: Inclusionary Resistance, Exclusionary Citizenship" (2000).

Career From 2004 to 2006, she served as the founding Director of the Center for Arab American Studies, and as an associate professor of sociology at University of Michigan–Dearborn.

In January 2007, she joined the faculty at San Francisco State University.

Abdulhadi has routinely come under fire by Zionist and pro-Israel groups such as the David Horowitz Freedom Center, the AMCHA Initiative, Campus Watch, and the Lawfare Project. Posters at SFSU have circulated multiple times, featuring caricatures of Abdulhadi's likeness in derogatory manner, as well as implying Abdulhadi was involved in terrorist organizations. In 2017, the SFSU Associated Students, Inc. (ASI), the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS), and the Black Student Union (BSU) have stood with Abdulhadi and expressed disappointment in how then-university President Leslie E. Wong, and the on-campus police handled the hate speech. Speaking in support of Abdulhadi, former San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar stated that such "well-funded campaigns are really harmful to the careers of great community activists and professors like Abdulhadi" and that these actions have a "chilling effect". This event was covered by US national media.

In 2019, Abdulhadi was co-hosting an online talk using SFSU's instance of Zoom by Palestinian political activist and member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Leila Khaled. The night before the event, the university informed Abdulhadi that Zoom would not allow SFSU to use Zoom for the talk, stating that the talk contravened the Zoom terms of service. Though the event was shifted on the scheduled day to YouTube, that shift only lasted for 23 minutes before YouTube shut down the stream, similarly stating it went against YouTube's terms of service. Facebook also shut down the event page, claiming violations of its policies.

In 2024, a guest speech from Abdulhadi at Wake Forest University was cancelled after the planned event received backlash from pro-Israel Jewish students and others. A petition to cancel her speech received over 8000 signatures, accusing Abdulhadi of supporting antisemitism and Hamas in the wake of the Gaza genocide. She delivered her lecture at a local church in Winston-Salem.

She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Awards Abdulhadi has received several awards from national and international academic, civic, and professional organizations in recognition for her work and community service. Notable awards include: 2004, New Century Scholarship, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board 2023, Jere L. Bacharach Service Award by the Middle East Studies Association, "recognizing her lifelong work for freedom and liberation" 2023, American Studies Association's Angela Y. Davis Award for Outstanding Public Scholarship Lucius Walker Community Organizing Award by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizing Annual Alex Odeh Memorial Award, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Courage Award, American Muslims for Palestine Community Leadership Award, American Muslims for Palestine

Publications Books

Articles and chapters