Alaa Mitwaly is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her research investigates semi-nomadic communities, underground waterways, aquifers, political future imaginations, Muslim metaphysics, militarization and state making. She co-edits the Essential Reading Page from the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI) team at the Arab Studies Institute. Her fellowship research project is titled Sinai Foretellers: Underground Waterways, Warfare, and Wayfarers. Alaa is one of our 2024-25 Chancellor Jackman Graduate Fellows.
What are your main research interests and what excites you most about them?
I'm really driven by the idea of pushing beyond our perceived limitations, expanding our imaginative horizons and exploring the full spectrum of possibilities. Specifically, I'm fascinated by looking beyond nation-state boundaries and their extractive practices and governance logics. To do this, I delve into marginalized histories, territories, and ways of thinking. My current research focuses on underground territories, exploring alternative forms of sovereignty that exist outside the state's reach—a subaltern and subterranean sovereignty, if you will. I'm doing this by studying the Sinai Peninsula Bedouin in Egypt, learning about their subterranean practices of digging wells and navigating the underground sphere. Through my PhD, I'm trying to reimagine postcolonial and decolonial politics through the lens of underground water and the subterranean. My second project involves writing a pre-modern history of geohydrological knowledge in the Muslim world. I'm primarily focused on editing an 18th-century manuscript on finding hidden water by Sheikh Hamed El Damanhoury. In this process, I'm also revisiting earlier works by El Karkhrcy (11th century) and Ibn El Arabi (6th century). Through this historical exploration, I'm meditating on non-extractive knowledge and alternative ways of relating to the earth, land, and water.
What project are you working on at the JHI and why did you choose it?
At the JHI, I'm working on both my ethnographic and manuscript projects simultaneously. I'm particularly focusing on the cartographical aspect of the manuscripts, examining how the underground was visually imagined through pre-modern maps from El Karkhrcy and Damanhoury. In my ethnographic project, I've worked on two chapters: one tracing sovereign relations around the underground through Bedouin common law court cases, and the other exploring sovereignties through the circulation and movement of underground water.
How has your JHI Fellowship experience been so far?
This year at the JHI has been incredibly fruitful. I've made wonderful new friends and colleagues. The Thursday lunches were a real treat—thinking about the underground from so many different perspectives was truly food for thought. I also really enjoyed the quiet, sunny 10th-floor space; it's a very meditative place for writing. I even hosted a writing retreat there with my anthropology colleagues, and in April, I'm organizing a cartography workshop with Chloe and Nick, which I'm very much looking forward to. It's been an absolutely wonderful and much-needed experience.
Why do you believe the humanities are important?
The humanities are where we come to understand ourselves as human beings, to explore our past actions on this planet, and to consider how we might do things differently. It's a space where we can engage in conversations that span centuries and miles, revealing both our similarities and differences. The humanities, in all their subdisciplines, serve as a mirror to who we are and who we can become.
Can you share something you read/watched/listened to recently that you enjoyed/were inspired by?
I've been deeply inspired by the videos coming out of Syria and Gaza. The scenes of the prison openings in Syria, the moment of Assad's regime fall, were some of the happiest moments of my life—I can still feel the sweetness of those moments. I'm also incredibly inspired and humbled by the videos from Gaza, especially the return videos after the ceasefire, and the resilience and hope displayed in the face of such devastation. For me, and I think for many others, Gaza and Syria will be a source of intellectual and creative inspiration for years to come.
What is a fun fact about you?
A fun and slightly ridiculous fact is that I follow a very restrictive diet—gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, low-carb, and halal—which my friends and family absolutely despise!