For me, there was an initial personal connection and family history coupled with my professional interests as a social scientist. First, I am part of the Palestinian diaspora; I was born and raised in Chicago in the United States.
Mariam F. Alkazemi and Claudia E. Youakim
Claudia E. Youakim is an affiliate scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She serves as the Deputy Director of Knowledge Management and Research at the Center for Inclusive Business and Leadership (CIBL) at the American University of Beirut.
Mariam F. Alkazemi is an assistant professor at the Robertson School of Media and Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Her Arab media research appears in Journalism, Health Communication and Communication Law & Policy, among over twenty other publications.