The Department of Ethnic Studies UC Berkeley

Bio & Research Interests

AJ Al-Kurdi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality. His dissertation research examines how the self-organizing efforts of various racialized minority groups within contemporary LGBTQI activism shape and influence mainstream movements, legal frameworks, and public policies across Europe.

Education

Master of Arts in Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley, 2024

Master of Arts in Critical Gender Studies, Central European University, Vienna, Austria, 2021

Master of Laws in International and European Law, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France, 2018

Master of Arts in International Relations and European Integration, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, 2017

Publications

Al-Kurdi, A.J. “Familial Frictions: Intersectional Inequalities Faced by Romani Queer Women.” Critical Romani Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, Apr. 2022, doi:10.29098/crs.v4i1.119.

Al-Kurdi, A.J. “Contested Colonialities? Disputes and Transnational Linkages in Lebanese LGBT Movement-Building.” Vienna: Central European University, 2021. Print.

Al-Kurdi, A.J. “Diákok és kutatók elleni hadjárat Egyiptomban: a CEU-s diák letartóztatásának politikai háttere” [Campaign Against Activists and Researchers in Egypt: The Political Background of the Arrest of a CEU Student]. Mérce, 20 Feb. 2021.

(ant.) Al-Kurdi, A.J. “Rainbow Frontiers: Homonationalism and the European Union.” The European Journal of Politics and Gender (accepted)

(ant.) Al-Kurdi, A.J. “Diluting Intersectionality: Ethnicity, class and gender identity in an equal treatment case in Hungary.” International Journal of Discrimination and the Law (accepted)

(ant.) Al-Kurdi, A.J. “Palestinian Organizing in the Diaspora: Navigating Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Transnational Solidarity Movements.” In Oxford Handbook on Intersectional Approaches to Migration, Gender, and Sexuality, edited by Jean Beaman, Gökce Yurdakul, Liza Mügge, Sarah Scuzzarello, and Sirijit Sunanta, Oxford University Press (invited submission).

Courses Offered

Gender and Women Studies 111: Queer Politics of the Global South: Homonationalism, Pinkwashing and Imported Homophobia (Summer Session A 2024)

Courses Assisted

Ethnic Studies 11AC: Introduction to Ethnic Studies (Fall 2024)

Ethnic Studies 144AC: Racism and the U.S. Law: Historical Treatment of Peoples of Color (Summer Session D 2024)

Ethnic Studies N180 (Study Abroad in London, UK): Muslims in the West: Immigration, Refugees and Islamophobia (Summer 2024)

Interdisciplinary Studies 100A: Introduction to Social Theory and Cultural Analysis (Spring 2024)

Asian American Studies 128AC: Muslims in America (Fall 2023)

Ethnic Studies N180 (Study Abroad in Paris, France): Muslims in the West: Immigration, Refugees and Islamophobia (Summer 2023)

Gender and Women Studies 194B: Queering Leadership (Spring 2023; Spring 2024)

Gender and Women Studies 194A: Explorations in Topics of Gender and Sexual Diversity (Fall 2022; Fall 2023)

Awards & Fellowships

Davis Putter Scholarship Fund, 2024-25

Berkeley Empirical Legal Studies Fellowship, UC Berkeley, 2024-25

Institute of European Studies Graduate Research Grant, UC Berkeley, 2024

Edward Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowship in Canadian Studies, UC Berkeley, 2024

Hertelendy Endowment in Hungarian Studies, UC Berkeley, 2024

Human Rights Center Fellowship, UC Berkeley, 2024

Stevens Fund for Middle Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley, 2024

Open Society Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 2023

Center for Race and Gender Graduate Research Grant, UC Berkeley, 2023