DR MELISSA GATTER

I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Anthropology and International Development at the University of Sussex, where I teach about global development and migration through anticolonial and feminist lenses.

 

My research examines the power dynamics of forced displacement, humanitarian aid, and time in refugee camps in the Arabic-speaking world, the US, and beyond. My award-winning book Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp: A Nine-to-Five Emergency (AUC Press, 2023) explores the everyday politics of a securitized refugee camp in Jordan through the perspectives of its residents and aid workers. By revealing the hidden ways that Azraq's residents are disempowered and confined through time as well as space, this book opens new avenues for studying and critiquing camps. 

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Currently, my research follows the emerging situation for asylum seekers in shelters and camps in New York City and my native city of Chicago. I am interested in questions of crisis, mutual aid, and city governance as well as the work camps do as interconnected technologies of time.

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I also consult on development programs across the Arabic-speaking world, including Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan. I formerly worked as a development practitioner for leading aid agencies in Jordan, including Save the Children.

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Research interests: Forced migration, time and space, humanitarian governance, carcerality and borders, digital aid and surveillance​