Yousif Modaghesh

Research Topic: From Counter-Narrative to Atmospheric Narration: Surveillance and Formal Innovation in Contemporary Arab American Novels

Country: Yemen

Columbia Global Center: Amman

Dr. Yousif Modaghesh is a Yemeni postdoctoral researcher. His current research project, From Counter-Narrative to Atmospheric Narration: Surveillance and Formal Innovation in Contemporary Arab American Novels, examines how contemporary Arab American fiction portrays surveillance not as an exceptional event but as an ordinary, pervasive condition embedded in everyday life. Focusing on the works of Laila Lalami, Hala Alyan, and Aisha Abdel Gawad, his research introduces the concept of atmospheric narration to explore how literary techniques—including polyphonic narration, fragmented temporality, constrained interiority, and speculative storytelling—shape readers' understanding of racialized surveillance in the post-9/11 United States.

Dr. Modaghesh earned his PhD in English from Aligarh Muslim University, India, in 2023. His doctoral dissertation, Identity Construction and Islamophobia in the Post-9/11 Arab-American Fiction, examined how writers such as Diana Abu-Jaber, Mohja Kahf, Laila Halaby, Alia Yunis, and Joseph Geha negotiate identity, race, citizenship, and belonging through postcolonial theory, Neo-Orientalism, and Homi Bhabha's concepts of hybridity and the Third Space. He also holds an M.A. in English from Osmania University, India, and a B.A. in English Language from Sana'a University, Yemen.

A CELTA-certified educator, Dr. Modaghesh has teaching experience in English language instruction and is committed to student-centered learning and intercultural dialogue. He has published two peer-reviewed research on Arab American literature and presented his work at international academic conferences. Through the Columbia Global Emerging Scholars Fellowship, he seeks to advance interdisciplinary scholarship on surveillance, migration, and identity while contributing to broader conversations on race, belonging, and representation in contemporary literature.