Feminist to Know: Jasbir Puar

Jasbir K. Puar is a professor of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, known for her work in critical race studies and queer theory. Her work on the Israel/Palestine conflict routinely appears in Al Jazeera and her most recent book was she was The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability. She was a preeminent voice on the War on Terror within feminist and queer theory through her 2007 book Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times in which she coined the influential term “homonationalism,” describing the relationship between nationalist war projects and the state’s adoption of a homonormative citizen (think of it as related to pinkwashing). She also co-edits Duke University Press’ ANIMA: Critical Race Studies Otherwise series with Mel Y. Chen and Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román.

Puar has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a fellowship from the Palestinian American Research Council and the Edward Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut. She has taught across multiple disciplines including (but not limited to) performance studies, women’s studies, queer theory, and animal studies.

Puar is one of the most influential contemporary queer theorists and has delivered distinguished lectures worldwide. She is currently working on her third book, Slow Life: Settler Colonialism in Five Parts, focusing on Palestine.