Jasmin Habib is the Chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Waterloo, former Director of the PhD Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (2019-2022) and founding Director of the Global Engagement Seminar Program (2016-2019). She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology (McMaster University) and an M.A. in International Peace Studies (University of Notre Dame). Among her publications are Israel, Diaspora and the Routes of National Belonging (2019, 2nd ed) and America Observed: On an Anthropology of the United States. Her research and publications focus on the politics of empire and the practices of decolonization with primary interest in the experiences of war-affected refugees now living in Israel, Palestine, Canada and the United States; indigenous practices and relations of autonomy in North America; and the architecture of consent for contemporary state violence (systemic and direct). Her work is primarily ethnographic and collaborative. Her research methodologies and practices are informed by postcolonial, diaspora, indigenous and feminist theories of the state; and the theories of spatial and visual cultures of violence/non-violence. She was past-Editor of the Cultural Spaces Series at the University of Toronto Press and past-Editor-in-Chief and Anglophone Editor of Anthropologica, the flagship journal of the Canadian Anthropology.
Jasmin Habib
Professor, Political Science
Faculty
Faculty
RESEARCH CLUSTERS
RESEARCH CLUSTERS
Jasmin Habib
Professor, Political Science
Awards
- 2024 Outstanding Performance Award, University of Waterloo
- 2022 The Weaver-Tremblay Award in Canadian Applied Anthropology, Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA)
- 2021 Outstanding Performance Award, University of Waterloo
- 2018 Outstanding Performance Award, University of Waterloo
- 2017 Faculty of Arts Excellence in Service Award, University of Waterloo
- 2009 Outstanding Performance Award, University of Waterloo
- 2005 Merit Award, Wilfrid Laurier University
RESEARCH AWARDS (selected)
- SSHRC Partnership Grant. Migration and Food (MiFood) Project. (co-applicant, J. Crush, PI), (2021)
- SSHRC/CRSH. Les Possédés et leurs mondes 2.0. (collaborator, F. Laugrand, PI) (2018)
- SSHRC Partnership Development Grant. A Socio-Cultural Mapping of the Canadian Arab
Community (Principal Investigator) (2016) - SSHRC Standard Research Grant. Ethnography and Indigenous Co-Authorship: Multi-
Vocal Texts and a Monograph on James Bay Cree Visions and Practices of Relational Co-
Governance (co-PI, H.Feit) (2008) - SSHRC – Northern Development Research Program. Ethnographic Writing and
Indigenous Co-Authorship: Dialogues Among Anthropologists and James Bay Crees (co-PI, H. Feit) (2006)
Select Publications
Books
- Israel, Diaspora and the Routes of National Belonging. 2nd Edition with a New Introduction. University of Toronto Press (2019).
- America Observed: International Anthropology of the United States, co-edited with Virginia Dominguez, Berghahn Publishers (2017).
Edited Journal Volumes/Special Issues
- In press, The Other Border: Power, Culture and Politics and the Canada-US Border, Special Issue edited by Jasmin Habib and Jane Desmond, Review of International American Studies, Vol. 18, Fall/Winter 2025.
- “Who Shares the Land: Algonquian Territoriality and Land Governance”. Special Issue co-edited with Melanie Chaplier and Colin Scott, Eds, Anthropologica. 60 (1):1-166 (2017).
Chapters in Books
- “The Political Economy of Donald J. Trump”, co-authored with Michael Howard. In Reading Donald Trump: A Parallax View of the Campaign and Early Presidency. J. Kowalski, Ed. Evolving American Presidency Series. Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 103-125 (2018).
- “Introduction: Can the US Be Othered Usefully? On an International Anthropology of the United States.” Co-authored with Virginia Dominguez. In America Observed: On an International Anthropology of the United States. Virginia Dominguez and Jasmin Habib, Eds. Berghan Books, pp. 1-28 (2017).
- “Is It Un-American to Be Critical of Israel?: Criticism and Fear in the U.S. Context.” In America Observed: On an International Anthropology of the United States. Virginia Dominguez and Jasmin Habib, Eds. Berghahn Books. Pp. 51-78 (2017).
- “On the Matter of Return: Autoethnographic Reflections.” In Ethnographic Reflection in Israel: Poetics and Ethics of Fieldwork. Fran Markowitz, Ed. University of Indiana Press. Pp. 156-170 (2013).
- “Property Rites: Cultural Narrations of the Palestinian Catastrophe.” In Property Rights Contestation and Autonomy. William Coleman and Scott Prudham, Eds. University of British Columbia Press. Pp. 217-250 (2011).
- “Transnational Transformation: Cyberactivism and the Palestinian Right of Return.” In Renegotiating Community: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Global Contexts. Diana Brydon and William Coleman, Eds. University of British Columbia Press. Pp. 183-200 (2008).
- “‘We were living in a different country’: Palestinian Nostalgia and the Future Past.” In Mixed Towns, Trapped Communities: Historical Narratives, Spatial Dynamics, Gender Relations and Cultural Encounters in Ethnically Mixed Towns in Israel/ Palestine. D. Rabinowitz & D. Monterescu, Eds. Ashgate. Pp. 65-84 (2007).
Articles in Refereed Journals
- In press Jasmin Habib and Amir Locker-Biletzki, “Communist omed Veshar: On Israel’s Ron
Workers’ Choir.” Journal of Israeli History. doi:10.1080/13531042.2021.2097157 - “Shirat hano’ar h’kommunisti: exploring the cultural dynamics and influence in the songs of Israeli-Jewish Communist youth in Palestine/Israel”, coauthored with Amir Locker-Biletzki. Settler Colonial Studies. (2022)
- “Documenting Presence.” Special Issue: Who Shares the Land: Algonquian Territoriality and Land Governance. Melanie Chaplier, Jasmin Habib, and Colin Scott, Eds. Anthropologica. 60 (1):133-148 (2018).
- “Wall Art and the Presence of Absence.” Review of International American Studies (RIAS). Spring–Summer 11(1):175-189 (2018).
- ‘Hama ve nehederet [Hot and Wonderful]: Home, Belonging, and the Image of the Yored in Israeli Pop Music.” Co-authored with Amir Locker-Biletzki. Shofar: Interdisciplinary Journal for Jewish Studies. 36 (1):1–28 (2018).
- “On the Production of Knowledge and the Anthropology of Tourism.” American Anthropologist. December. 119:741–744 (2017).
- ‘Northern Affairs and Relations: An Interview with Gunther Abrahamson.” Anthropologica. 59(2):89-100 (2017).
- “Encounters and the Diasporic Art of Africa: An Interview with Allyson Purpura, Curator of African Art, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois.” Anthropologica. 56(1):229–237 (2014).
- “Boyce Richardson: Reflections on Activism and Filmmaking Among the Cree.” Anthropologica. 55(1):211-8 (2013).
Education
- Ph.D., Anthropology, McMaster University
- M.A., International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
- B.A. (Hons.), Sociology, Trent University