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Musa al-Gharbi

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Musa al-Gharbi
OccupationAssistant professor of sociology
Academic background
EducationCochise Community College (AA; 2009)
University of Arizona (BA; 2012) (MA; 2013)
Columbia University (MA; 2017) (PhD; 2023)[1]
Alma materColumbia University
Academic work
DisciplineSociologist
InstitutionsStony Brook University

Musa al-Gharbi is an American sociologist. He is an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. He was the communications director of Heterodox Academy from 2016 to 2020.[2]

Early life and education

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Al-Gharbi grew up in southern Arizona in a military family. He had a twin brother who in 2010 was killed in Afghanistan.[3]

Al-Gharbi received an associate degree from Cochise Community College, then going on to receive a bachelor's degree in Near Eastern studies and a MA in philosophy at the University of Arizona.[4] He graduated from Columbia University, earning a PhD in sociology in 2023.[4]

Career

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Truthout article

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In 2014, while teaching at the University of Arizona, al-Gharbi became a target of right-wing backlash after Fox News highlighted a Truthout article he wrote criticizing American policy in the Middle East.[2][5]

It would not be a stretch to say that the United States is actually a greater threat to peace and stability in the region than ISIS – not least because US policies in Iraq, Libya and Syria have largely paved the way for ISIS’s emergence as a major regional actor.

— Musa al-Gharbi, "How Much Moral High Ground Does the US Have Over ISIS?"[6]

Numerous death threats were sent to the University of Arizona.[2] Following the controversy, he was fired from his teaching position and denied entry into PhD programs at the University of Arizona.[3]

Stony Brook University and We Have Never Been Woke

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In 2023, he became an assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University.[7]

In 2021, his book We Have Never Been Woke: Social Justice Discourse, Inequality, and the Rise of a New Elite, was acquired by Princeton University Press.[8] We Have Never Been Woke was published in 2024.[9] Al-Gharbi argues in the book that the contemporary “woke” movement had not begun during the mid 2010s matriculation of Generation Z into college, but in 2011 during a surge in media discussions of various forms of prejudice and discrimination.[10]

Views

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Since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, al-Gharbi has argued that mainstream liberal news outlets including the The New York Times opinion page and MSNBC have mischaracterized his supporters.[2]

Personal life

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Before attending college, al-Gharbi planned to become a Catholic priest. He later became an atheist and then converted to Islam.[3]

Al-Gharbi is married to a woman from Lebanon.[11]

Selected works

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Books

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  • al-Gharbi, Musa (2024). We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691232607.

Articles

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References

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