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Linda Herrera

Professor

Biography

Linda Herrera received her PhD in Comparative and International Education from Columbia University, MA in Anthropology/Sociology from the American University in Cairo, and BA in Middle East Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at UIUC in 2011, she was Senior Lecturer in International Development Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam and convenor of the Children and Youth Studies specialization. Prior to that, she lived in Egypt for 17 years and worked in international development and social science research capacity programs for the MENA region. She has researched, written about, and taught courses on education and power in the MENA region, qualitative research methods (with a focus on critical ethnography and oral history), international development policy, youth and generations, childhood in global context, the social effects of technological change, and critical democracy and citizenship education.  She has served as an international education advisor in Egypt, and was director of the Education 2.0 Research and Documentation Project (2019-2023). Her books (as single author, editor, and co-editor) include, Educating Egypt: Civic values and ideological struggles (American University in Cairo Press, 2022), Global Middle East: Into the twenty-first century (University of California Press, 2021), Revolution in the age of social media: The Egyptian popular insurrection and the internet (Verso, 2014), Wired Citizenship: Youth learning and activism in the Middle East (Routledge, 2014), Being young and Muslim: New cultural politics in the global south and north (Oxford University Press, 2010), and Cultures of Arab schooling: Critical ethnographies from Egypt (State University of New York Press, 2006). She has also curated the YouTube channels Critical Voices in Critical Times, Democracy Dialogue, and Education 2.0.

Research Interests

Linda Herrera is a social anthropologist with regional expertise in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with longstanding interests in  education and power, youth and generations, childhood in global context, and the social effects of technological change. Her work interrogrates these topics through a wider lens of global change, critical pedagogy, and movements for critical democracy. 

Education

Anthropology/Sociology, MA, American University in Cairo
Comparative and International Education, PhD, Columbia University
Middle East Studies, BA, University of California, Berkeley

Additional Campus Affiliations

Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Professor, Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Professor, Center for African Studies

Highlighted Publications

Herrera, L. (2022). Educating Egypt: Civic Values and Ideological Struggles. (1 ed.) American University in Cairo Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2k88tm5

Bayat, A., & Herrera, L. (Eds.) (2021). Global Middle East: Into the Twenty-First Century. (The Global Square; Vol. 3). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1h9dk55

Herrera, L. (2014). Revolution in the Age of Social Media: The Egyptian Popular Insurrection and the Internet. Verso.

Herrera, L. (2014). Wired Citizenship: Youth Learning and Activism in the Middle East. (Critical Youth Studies). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203747575

Herrera, L., & Bayat, A. (2010). Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural Politics in the Global South and North. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369212.001.0001

Herrera, L., & Torres, C. A. (Eds.) (2006). Cultures of Arab Schooling: Critical Ethnographies from Egypt. SUNY Press.

Herrera, L. (2017). It's Time to Talk about Youth in the Middle East as The Precariat. Middle East - Topics & Arguments, 9, 35-44. https://doi.org/10.17192/meta.2017.9.7061

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Recent Publications

Herrera, L. (2022). Educating Egypt: Civic Values and Ideological Struggles. (1 ed.) American University in Cairo Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2k88tm5

Bayat, A., & Herrera, L. (Eds.) (2021). Global Middle East: Into the Twenty-First Century. (The Global Square; Vol. 3). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1h9dk55

Bayat, A., & Herrera, L. (2021). Global Middle East-Introduction. In A. Bayat, & L. Herrera (Eds.), Global Middle East: Into the Twenty-First Century (pp. 3-21). (The Global Square; Vol. 3). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520968127-004

Herrera, L. (2021). Cosmopolitan Middle East? An Interview with Seyla Benhabib. In A. Bayat, & L. Herrera (Eds.), Global Middle East: Into the Twenty-First Century (pp. 319-330). (The Global Square; Vol. 3). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520968127-027

Herrera, L. (2018). Media and the Arab Family. In S. Joseph (Ed.), Arab Family Studies: Critical Reviews (pp. 437-448). (Gender, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East). Syracuse University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1pk860c.30

View all publications on Illinois Experts