Meet Dr. Hala Ghoneim!

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Dr. Hala Ghoneim

Dr. Hala Ghoneim is currently a professor of Arabic at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Along with the Beginning and Intermediate levels of Arabic, Dr. Ghoneim teaches World of Ideas and Contemporary Islamic Thought and Practice, and is currently working on creating a course on Middle Eastern literature and cinema.

Dr. Ghoneim grew up in Egypt and received her B.A. degree in English Literature and Translation from the University of Ain Shams in Cairo, Egypt. She then went on to receive both her M.A. and Ph.D. from the Department of African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Since joining the UW-Whitewater staff in 2007, Dr. Ghoneim has since become an Associate Professor in the Department of Languages and Literatures. She has received the following awards and recognitions during her time teaching at the university:

• International Award for Excellence for The New Directions in the Humanities Journal Collection for her article entitled Indigenization and Modernization: The Invention of a Truly Egyptian Drama, June 2020

• Recognized at the Women in Leadership Recognition Ceremony, March 14, 2019

"I come from a family of educators. Both of my parents taught at high schools in Egypt and held several administrative positions in the Department of Education and one of my two sisters is a university professor. We understood the value of education as a tool for personal growth and economic independence at an early age. Education is transformative, and one must share what one learns with others. I loved languages in general, and I particularly infatuated with Arabic language and literature. I continue to learn and teach for the same reason: To educate myself and to share my education with others. I learn a lot from my students who continue to amaze me every day."

Currently, Dr. Ghoneim is working on finalizing the publication of her article entitled "Echoing Postcolonial Arabic Literature: Reading Sonallah Ibrahim's August Star," which explores the peculiarities of environmental postcolonial writing. Along with this, she is working on two articles that examine postcolonial women's writing and post-Arab Spring Egypt. They are entitled "Nawal El Saadawi's The Fall of the Imam: Writing Dissidence" and "Flirting with the Just Despot: Reem Bassiouney's Mamluks Triology," respectively.

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3116 Laurentide

Whitewater, Wisconsin 53190, USA

(262) 472-5060

ghoneimh@uww.edu