Amal Al-Malki

Amal Al-Malki was born in Doha, Qatar, and grew up in the capital city.[1] Her father was Qatari, while her mother had come to Qatar from Lebanon.[2] As a child, she traveled frequently due to her father's job, and her family kept a house in London.[2]

At age 16, she enrolled at Qatar University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1996.[1][2][3] She then left to study in the United Kingdom, obtaining a master's degree in English and Arabic linguistics and translation from SOAS University of London in 1997.[1][2][4] After a yearlong break, she enrolled in a doctoral program, graduating with a doctorate in comparative literature from SOAS in 2003.[1][3]

On returning to Qatar, Malki applied to work at the newly established Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, but the university was reluctant to hire a Qatari professor. Instead, she agreed to complete administrative work for six months, while local administrators petitioned the institution's overseers in the United States to be able to hire her.[2] She was sent to the university's main campus in Pittsburgh for a stint as a visiting professor during this period.[2][4] Finally, in late 2005, she was hired to a full-time position as a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar.[1] With this, she became the first and, for more than a decade, the only Qatari faculty member at any of the six American universities in Qatar's Education City.[1][2]

Meanwhile, in 2011, she helped found the Translation and Interpreting Institute at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, which she led as executive director until 2015.[3][5] Having left Carnegie Mellon in 2013, in 2015 she became founding dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.[3][4][5][6] As a university dean, Malik was the first Qatari with that title at the Education City institutions.[2] As a dean, she worked to found a digital humanities master's program at the university, as well as the only women's studies master's program in Qatar.[2]

Malki identifies as a feminist, and her work at the university has included teaching courses on Islamic feminism, as well as post-colonial theory.[1][2] She also taught courses on writing composition and theories of translation.[5]

In 2012, she co-authored the book Arab Women in Arab News: Old Stereotypes and New Media with David S. Kaufer, Suguru Ishizaki, and Kira Dreher.[2][4][7] She is also involved in social media activism through her blog and other platforms, including her efforts to start the #ImHalfQatari hashtag campaign in 2014.[2]