Dr Asma Abdi (She / Her)

I am a lecturer in Middle East Politics and International Relations at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. My research and teaching interests are located at the intersection of international political economy, feminist theory, and post/decolonial approaches. Specifically, I have researched and written on themes of social reproduction, intimacy, informal economies, women’s informal labour, and transnational feminist solidarity, with a focus on the Middle East.

I joined the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS) in October 2024. Prior to that, I held an early career postdoctoral position at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Warwick (2023-2024). I completed my doctoral studies at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick in 2023. My PhD research explored the shifting gendered dimensions of labour, social reproduction, and survival in Iran following the intensification of the sanction regime on the country since the early 2010s. My doctoral thesis also advances a feminist and decolonial understanding of economic sanctions as an underexplored economic tool of international conflict.

My doctoral research was funded by the International Chancellor's Scholarship at the University of Warwick. I also received a two-year Erasmus Mundus scholarship, which funded my double MA degree in Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Hull (UK) and the University of Lodz (Poland).