ABOUT ME
[ABOUT ME]
Misbah Hyder is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, specializing in International Relations and Global Studies, at the University of California, Irvine. She studies how persecuted religious minorities respond to their marginalization from state and religious institutions through their religious practice. Her dissertation, The Pen is Mightier than the Sword: How the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Enacts Peacebuilding, focuses on how the global engagement of a marginalized Muslim minority necessitates a re-evaluation of theories on agency for religious actors.
Misbah has had extensive teaching experience, which includes experiential learning and curriculum development. Through her work as the Education Coordinator of the Olive Tree Initiative from 2016 - 2019, she has used an innovative multi-narrative approach to prepare students attending a trip to NYC, DC, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine meeting high profile stakeholders. Misbah also led the initiative to develop a multi-campus online curriculum that uses a multi-narrative approach on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which was funded by the UC Office of the President.
Prior to attending UCI, Misbah was an Adjunct Professor at St. John’s University in New York, teaching the politics around and experiences of the Muslim community in NYC; this class incorporated experiential learning trips around the city into its core curricular goals. She also received her M.A. from St. John’s in International Relations (with a concentration in International Law and Diplomacy) in 2014. For her thesis, she evaluated refugee protection mechanisms for individuals who worked for an opposing power in a conflict.