Gehad Abaza is a PhD student in the Anthropology program at the University of California Santa Barbara. She received an MA in Sociology-Anthropology and a BA Honors Political Science from the American University in Cairo (AUC). Before starting her PhD, she worked as a journalist and photographer in Egypt, writing for local and regional outlets such as Daily News Egypt, Middle East Eye, The National UAE, Al-Monitor, and more. Her research interests include questions of migration, citizenship, and state-sponsored violence in the Middle East and the Caucasus.