EDUCATION
Ph.D. Communication (2019)
School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Dissertation Title: Willing the Impossible: Reconciling the Holocaust and the Nakba Through Photograph-based Storytelling
M.A. Modern Middle Eastern History (2006)
Department of History, Simon Fraser University
Thesis Title: The Development of Pan-Arab Broadcasting Under Authoritarian Regimes – A Comparison of Sawt al-Arab (“Voice of the Arabs”) and Al Jazeera News Channel (Click on title to download.)
B.A. Communication (major)/Middle Eastern and Islamic History (minor) (2004)
School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Diploma in Radio Broadcast Communications (1998)
British Columbia Institute of Technology
PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Assistant Professor, Media and Communication (August 2024 – present )
School of Culture, Media, and Society, University of the Fraser Valley
Postdoctoral Fellow in Social Justice and Decolonization (September 2021 - August 2024)
Transforming Inquiry into Learning and Teaching (TILT; formerly ISTLD), Simon Fraser University
Term Lecturer (September 2022 to July 2024)
School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
PUBLICATIONS (Click on the article title to download.)
Books
Musleh-Motut, N. (2023). Connecting the Holocaust and the Nakba Through Photograph-based Storytelling: Willing the Impossible. Palgrave Macmillan.
Refereed Journal Articles
Refereed Web-based Publications
Musleh-Motut, N. (2016). Witnessing in Palestinian-Israeli Peacebuilding. Center for Empathy in International Affairs. Available at http://www.centerforempathy.org/witnessing-in-palestinian-israeli-peacebuilding.
Other Publications
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Grants
Teaching and Learning Development Grant, Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines (ISTLD), Simon Fraser University ($5000) (2020)
Project: Transitioning Social Justice Pedagogy & Learning Online: Successes, Challenges & Future Opportunities
Major Awards
Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) ($20,000) (2013/2014)
COGECO Graduate Scholarship in Communications, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($12,640) (2012)
Minor Awards
Travel and Minor Research Award, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($700) (2015)
Travel and Minor Research Award, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($700) (2015)
Travel and Minor Research Award, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($1000) (2014)
Travel and Minor Research Award, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($700) (2014)
President’s PhD Scholarship, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($6,250) (2013)
Shahrgon Annual Graduate Award in Critical Independent Journalism Studies for the Promotion of Citizenship and Democracy, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($2,000) (2012)
Graduate Fellowship, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($6,250) (2012)
Graduate Fellowship, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($6,250) (2011)
Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University ($4,000) (2010)
Graduate Fellowship, Department of History, Simon Fraser University ($6,000) (2005)
Honours
Second Prize, Middle East and Islamic Consortium of British Columbia Student Conference (2012)
First Prize, Middle East and Islamic Consortium of British Columbia Student Conference (2009)
INVITED TALKS
Guest Speaker: “Reconciling the Holocaust and the Nakba through Photograph-based Storytelling.” Anthropology 332: Oral Traditions. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC: October 19, 2020.
Guest Speaker. “Willing the Impossible: Reconciling the Holocaust and the Nakba.” History 1125: The Modern Middle East. Douglas College, New Westminster, BC. November 7, 2019.
Guest Speaker. “Willing the Impossible: Reconciling the Holocaust and the Nakba.” History 1125: The Modern Middle East. Douglas College, New Westminster, BC. March 15, 2018.
Presenter. “Empathy and Beyond: Witnessing the Holocaust and the Nakba Through Photograph-based Storytelling.” Empathy Neuroscience: Translational Relevance for Conflict Resolution Conference. London, England: March 7, 2016.
Workshop Organizer/Leader. “Politico-Ethical Engagement and Witnessing Through Family Photograph-based Storytelling.” The Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, Concordia University. Montréal, QC: September 23, 2015.
Guest Speaker. “Reconciling Contending Collective Memories of the Holocaust and the Nakba.” History 1104: World History Since 1945. Douglas College, New Westminster, BC. March 11, 2015.
Guest Speaker. “Being a Child of Palestinians in Diaspora – The Effects of the 1967 Arab/Israeli War.” History 335: Arab-Zionist Relations. University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC: May 28, 2009.
Guest Speaker. “Orientalism and the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict – Exploring Silenced Historical Perspectives.” International Relations 109. University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford, BC: January 26, January 29, and June 15, 2009.
Guest Lecturer. “An Introduction to the Life and Reforms of Atatürk the Founder of Modern Turkey.” History 106: Western Civilization from the Reformation Era to the 20th Century. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC: March 31, 2005.
CONFERENCE ACTIVITY/PARTICIPATION
Workshop Organizer/Facilitator. “Exploring Pathways to Decolonial and Justice Educational Futurities via Teaching and Learning.” International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) Annual Conference. Kelowna, BC: Forthcoming November 2022.
Presenter. “Worldliness and the Oppositional Public Intellectual: The Rewards and Challenges of Facilitating Palestinian/Israeli Peacebuilding Inside and Outside the University.” 13th Annual Cultural Studies Association (CSA) Conference. Riverside, Greater Los Angeles Area, CA: May 21-24, 2015.
Presenter. “Reconciling the Traumas of the Holocaust and the Nakba: Peacebuilding Through Photograph-based Digital Storytelling.” XVIII Annual International Oral History Association Conference. Barcelona, Spain: July 9-12, 2014.
Panel Organizer/Panel Chair/Presenter. “Reconciling the Holocaust and the Nakba: Ethical Engagement and Witnessing Through Photograph-based Storytelling.” Annual Canadian Communication Association (CCA) Conference. Victoria, BC: June 5-7, 2013.
Presenter (Second Prize). “Memory, Storytelling, and Publicness: An Arendtian Approach to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict.” Middle East and Islamic Consortium of British Columbia 4th Annual Student Conference. Vancouver, BC: March 24, 2012.
Presenter. “The Alternative Comic as Radical Media: A Visual and Documentary Analysis of Joe Sacco’s Footnotes in Gaza.” International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) Conference. Vancouver, BC: July 6-8, 2011.
Presenter. “Negotiating Palestine Through the Familial Gaze: A Photographic (Post)memory Project.” Annual Canadian Communication Association (CCA) Conference. Fredericton, NB: June 1-3, 2011.
Presenter (First Prize). “The Holocaust and the Nakba: Contending Collective Memories in the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict.” Middle East and Islamic Consortium of British Columbia 1st Annual Student Conference. Vancouver, BC: May 9, 2009.
Presenter. “Remembering and Forgetting: The Polysemous Nature of the Memorialization of Shaykh ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam (d 1936).” Qualicum Graduate Conference. Qualicum, BC: January 29, 2005.
CAMPUS OR DEPARTMENTAL TALKS
Guest Lecturer. “Willing the Impossible: Reconciling the Holocaust and the Nakba.” Sociology/Anthropology 203: Violence in War and Peace. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC. Forthcoming Summer 2020.
Presenter. “Reconciling the Holocaust and the Nakba: Accepting the Challenge of Willing the Impossible.” Graduate Research for Social Justice: A Dialogue with Sheila Watt-Cloutier. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC. February 25, 2020.
Converser/Respondent. Conversations with Unusual Suspects: On the Sensorial, Art, and Ethnography – Atomic Childhood Around 1980. The Centre for Imaginative Ethnography (CIE) and the Institute for Performance Studies (IPS), Simon Fraser University. Vancouver, BC: October 13, 2016.
Workshop and Roundtable Participant/Final Report Author. Know the Ledge We’re On: From Accountability to Activist Research. The Centre for Policy Studies on Culture and Communities, Simon Fraser University. Vancouver, BC: April 17, 2015.
Roundtable Participant. Researching Empire, Race, and Colonialism; the Margins or the Centre of Communication Studies? Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication’s 40th Anniversary Conference. Vancouver, BC: June 8, 2013.
Guest Lecturer. “Joe Sacco’s Palestine: Comics Journalism as a Documentary Medium.” Communication 322: Documentary Media. Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC: April 3, 2012.
Guest Lecturer. “An Introduction to the Life and Reforms of Atatürk the Founder of Modern Turkey.” History 106: Western Civilization from the Reformation Era to the 20th Century. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC: March 31, 2005.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Limited Term Lecturer
News Discourse as Political Communication (Fall 2020), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Race and the Media (Summer 2020; Spring 2020; Summer 2019; Fall 2018; Summer 2018; Spring 2018; Fall 2017), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Media Democratization: From Critique to Transformation (Fall 2019), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Women and New Information Technologies (Fall 2019), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Development Communication (Spring 2019), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Sessional Instructor
Introduction to Communication Studies (Summer 2022), Social, Cultural and Media Studies, University of the Fraser Valley
Introduction to Communication Theory (Fall 2018), Mass Communication, Columbia College
Introduction to Intercultural Communication (Summer 2018; Winter 2018), Mass Communication, Columbia College
Race and the Media (Summer 2017; Spring 2017; Fall 2016; Summer 2016), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
News Discourse as Political Communication (Fall 2016; Fall 2015; Summer 2015; Fall 2014), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Evaluation Methods for Applied Communication Research (co-taught) (Summer 2017; Spring 2017; Spring 2015), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Colonialism, Culture, and Identity (Spring 2016; Spring 2014), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Women and New Information Technologies (Summer 2014; Fall 2013), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Teaching Assistant
Everyday Communication (Summer 2013; Fall 2010; Spring 2006), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
The Cultural Production of Popular Music (Fall 2012; Summer 2012; Summer 2011), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Communication in Conflict and Intervention (Spring 2013), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Design and Method in Qualitative Communication Research (Spring 2012), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Empirical Methods for Communications Research (Fall 2011), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
Modern Middle East (Fall 2005; Fall 2004), Department of History, Simon Fraser University
Western Civilization from the Reformation Era to the 20th Century (Spring 2005), Department of History, Simon Fraser University
Tutor Marker
Race and the Media (Spring 2016; Fall 2015; Summer 2015; Spring 2015; Fall 2014; Spring 2014; Spring 2013), School of Communication, Simon Fraser University
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Research Office, Generalist, BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (March 2021 - August 2021)
Project Manager General Education, Vice President Academic - Strategic Initiatives, Simon Fraser University (October 2020 - February 2021)
Research Assistant to Sheri Fabian, Director, Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines (ISTLD), Simon Fraser University (March 2020 - present)
Research Assistant to Zoë Druick, Undergraduate Chair, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University (Spring 2011)
Research Specialist/Historical Researcher, The History Group Inc. (September 2006 – August 2010)
Research Assistant to Robert A. Hackett, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University (September 2003 – May 2004)
Research Assistant to Catherine A. Murray, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC (April 2002 – December 2002)
DEPARTMENT/UNIVERITY SERVICE (Simon Fraser University)
Member of the Equity, Community, and Care Working Group (November 2022 – present), Faculty of Communication, Art, and Technology, Simon Fraser University
Member of the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Community of Practice (November 2022 – present), Office of the Vice-President, People, Equity, and Inclusion, Simon Fraser University
Graduate Student Representative, Aboriginal Communication and Media Studies Search Committee, School of Communication (2016-2017)
Committee Member, Graduate Admissions Committee, School of Communication (2015)
Guest Speaker, SSHRC Workshop, School of Communication (2014 and 2013)
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT/OUTREACH
Former member of the Board of Directors for Peace It Together – a Vancouver based initiative that brings together Palestinian and Israeli youth from overseas to build and promote peace through joint dialogue, filmmaking, and community engagement – from March 2013 until the organization dissolved in October 2015.
Former member of the fundraising committee for the Maple Ridge branch of the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA) from January 2012 to June 2014.
Former steering committee member, core facilitator, and volunteer for Peace It Together’s 2004 cohort (see above).
RELATED PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
Fundamentals of OCAP© Course, First Nations Information Governance Centre and Algonquin College Corporate Training, online (June 2021).
Standard Digital Storytelling Workshop, Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, CA (December 11-13, 2013).
NON-ACADEMIC COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE
Manager, Entertainment Division, Nextlevel.com Inc. (July 1998 – January 2001)
On-air Shift Producer (Operator), CFOX 99.3 FM (May 1997 – October 1998)
Music Library Assistant, CFML 104.5 (cable/BCIT) (September 1997 – May 1998)
Publicity Assistant, Amar Management (March 1996 – July 1998)
Publicity Assistant, Vocal Point Promotions, Publicity and Public Relations (June 1995 – October 1995)
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS & ASSOCIATIONS
Associate, The Center for Empathy in International Affairs (2016 - present)
Affiliate, The Center for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, Concordia University (2015 - present)