Ayaat Ismail

Ayaat Ismail (she/her) is a first-year Ph.D. student in English at Michigan State University, focusing on representations of Middle Eastern identities, especially women, in literature. Her academic journey began at the University of Louisville, where she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degree in English, examining how non-western women of color use writing to challenge racism, colonialism, and sexism. Her research aims to explore gender, ethnicity, space, and place, and to deepen her questions and employ interdisciplinary approaches in order to understand marginalized experiences and political inequality.