Introduction

I acquired my PhD in May 1996 from the American University (Washington D.C.) and my master’s degree from Georgetown University in 1985.  As for the BA, it was in Journalism from the Lebanese University in 1976.  I worked for more than 10 years as a Journalist in Lebanon. Currently, I am working at Zayed University in the UAE. I am an Associate Professor of Sociology.

The author of two books Maids Crossing and Motherhood, I authored and co-authored multiple other book chapters and papers on Youth, Globalization, Gulf civil society, among others. She has published a study on “Modernity and the Challenges of Norms and Habits in the Gulf” 2013.  Received multiple National and International grants awards: Middle East Center (London School of Economics); a Research Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; SSRC (the Social Science and Research Council) based in NY. Dr. Sabban is also the recipient of the National Research Foundation under which she worked on the Globalization and the Transformation of the UAE family.  Took part in multiple research projects in the Mena region, with the UNDP; the Amsterdam University; ILO; the previously Executive Office (currently Executive Council of Dubai) among other private and public active institutions. 

I have four book chapters published in 2018: two of them reviewing Family Studies in four Arab Gulf countries in Arab Family Studies edited by Suad Joseph. The third: Domestic Slavery: The Untold Story of the Arabian Gulf in Slavery in the Islamic World edited by Mary Ann Fay, and the last chapter (In) dependence of the old/local and dependence of the New Foreign: The UAE Family, Domestic Service and an Uncertain Future in Migrant Workers in the Arab Gulf States: Growing Foreign Population and their Lives Ed. By Masako Ishii et al.

Qualifications

PhD: Sociology of International Relations/Gender and Family, acquired in May 1996 from the American University – Washington, D.C., USA.  The Dissertation topic: ‘Broken Spaces; Bounded Realities: Foreign Female Domestic Workers in the UAE’

MA:  From Georgetown University – Washington, D.C., USA, acquired in May 1986 in Arab Studies which is equal to Middle Eastern Studies with the concentration on International Relations.

BA: From the Lebanese University, College of Journalism and Media Studies – Beirut, Lebanon, acquired in June 1977.  The degree granted in Journalism and Media Studies.

Memberships and Committees

Regional and International

Member of Muntada Al Tanmia AlKhaleeji- Gulf Development Forum (1998- present)

Founding Member of Arab Council for Social Sciences – Beirut (2010 – present)

Member of the National Committee – International Sociological Association (2016 -present)

Member of Middle East Studies Association (1996- present)

Languages

Arabic, English, French

Informal Interests

Mountain and Nature trekking

Swimming

Yoga, body, spine alignment and body engineering

Meditation and inner self exploration