Lina Khatib

Lina Khatib
Born	1977 (age 46–47) Beirut, Lebanon
Occupation(s)	Professor, essayist and commentator

Lina Khatib (born 1977) is Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute at SOAS University of London, where she is MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies and Professor of Practice in the Department of Politics and International Studies.

Biography

Khatib lectured at Royal Holloway, University of London, 2003–09, then moved to Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law 2010–13 where she co-founded and led the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy. She then served as director of the Carnegie Middle East Center at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 2013–15, and was a Senior Associate at the Arab Reform Initiative 2015–16. She served as director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, where she is now an Associate Fellow, from 2016 to 2023. She writes for the London newspaper The Guardian.

Khatib is a practitioner in the cultural scene. Her music projects include co-founding and co-leading the World Metal Congress. As a visual artist, her work has been exhibited internationally, including in group shows like Newtopia: The State of Human Rights (Mechelen, 2012) and a solo show, 24 Hours on Hamra Street (London, 2018). She is developing a theatrical piece on politics and society in the Middle East.

Publications

• Filming the Modern Middle East: Politics in the Cinemas of Hollywood and the Arab World. I. B. Tauris. 2006. ISBN 978-0-85771-265-3.
• Lebanese Cinema: Imagining the Civil War and Beyond. I. B. Tauris. 2008. ISBN 978-0-85771-428-2.
• Image Politics in the Middle East: The Role of the Visual in Political Struggle. I. B. Tauris. 2012. ISBN 978-1-78672-462-5.
• Editor: Storytelling in World Cinemas. Wallflower Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-231-16204-3.
• With Ellen Lust: Taking to the Streets: The Transformation of Arab Activism. Johns Hopkins University Press. 2014. ISBN 978-1-4214-1313-6.