Sondra Hale is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Gender Studies at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
(UCLA); former Co-editor of the ''
Journal of Middle East Women's Studies'' and former Co-Chair, Islamic Studies. Her regional interests are in Africa and the Middle East, focusing mainly on Sudan and Eritrea (where she has done research on women who were former guerrillas of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front).
Education
Prof. Hale was educated at UCLA, where she received her B.A. in English Literature, M.A. in African Studies and a Ph.D. in Anthropology. She has taught at the
University of Khartoum
The University of Khartoum (U of K) ( ar, جامعة الخرطوم) is a public university located in Khartoum, Sudan. It is the largest and oldest university in Sudan. UofK was founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902 and established in 19 ...
(Sudan), at
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bo ...
, and at California State Universities at
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporated ...
and
Northridge.
Publications
Prof. Hale has published many articles and book chapters on the topics of gendered war, conflict, and genocide; social movements; international gender studies; gender and citizenship; diaspora studies; cultural studies, and boycotts and academic freedom.
Hale is the author of the book ''Gender Politics in Sudan: Islamism, Socialism, and the State''.
Hale has co-edited an e-book on feminist art, ''From Site to Vision: The Woman’s Building in Contemporary Culture'', which will be published by
Otis College of Art and Design
Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...
in 2011. Hale co-edited ''Sudan’s Killing Fields: Perspectives on Genocide'', with Laura Beny.
Recent journal articles of hers appeared in ''
Urban Anthropology
Urban anthropology is a subset of anthropology concerned with issues of urbanization, poverty, urban space, social relations, and neoliberalism. The field has become consolidated in the 1960s and 1970s.
Ulf Hannerz quotes a 1960s remark that t ...
'', ''Cultural Dynamics'', ''Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies'', ''
Feminist Economics
Feminist economics is the critical study of economics and economies, with a focus on gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis. Feminist economic researchers include academics, activists, policy theorists, and practition ...
'', ''Northeast African Studies'', ''
Amerasia Journal
''Amerasia Journal'' is a triannual peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of ...
'', and ''New Political Science'', among others. She has also published important articles in ''
Ufahamu
''Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies'' is a graduate-student run, peer-reviewed academic journal published at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It was established by the UCLA African Activist Association in 1970 and named after ...
''.
Books where her chapters have appeared are: ''Gender, War and Militarism''; ''Women and Globalization in the Arab Middle East''; ''Gender and Citizenship in Muslim Communities''; ''Race and Identity in the Nile Valley'', and ''Female Circumcision and the Politics of Knowledge''.
Her other work in progress is on the
politics of memory Politics of memory is the organisation of collective memory by political agents; the political means by which events are remembered and recorded, or discarded. Eventually, politics of memory may determine the way history is written and passed on, h ...
, gender and perpetual-conflict situations, and political organizing in exile.
Activism and critical reception of her position on FGM
Prof. Hale is an activist academic who was a co-founder of Feminists in Support of Palestinian Women; founder and coordinator of the Darfur Task Force; founder and coordinator of California Scholars for Academic Freedom; and co-founder of U.S. Committee for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Hale’s activism also includes various anti-war/anti-occupation activities (Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon), and civil rights/human rights issues.
In an article about Hale's long lasting "self-imposed silence" regarding the issue of
Female Genital Cutting
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...
or FGM, Ellen Gruenbaum discussed both Hale's "cautionary reasons" for not writing about this subject for many years, as well as ways to positively engage in the discussion of this practice.
Awards
In addition to various teaching awards Prof. Hale was given the Fair and Open Academic Environment Award from UCLA (popularly known as the “diversity award”) and has received awards from National Science Foundation, American Association of University Women, National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright, and others. She has chaired or directed three Women’s Studies Programs, including UCLA’s.
Books
*
*(with
Terry Wolverton
Terry Wolverton (born 1954) is an American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor. Her boo''Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building'' a memoir published in 2002 by City Lights Books, was named one of the "Best Books of 2002" by the Lo ...
''From Site to Vision: The Woman's Building in Contemporary Culture'' 2004.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Sondra
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
21st-century American anthropologists
American women anthropologists
American feminists
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Academic staff of the University of Khartoum
American women academics
21st-century American women