Wesam Hassan is an anthropologist and a physician by training. She is researching state-regulated games of chance practices and perceptions ,beyond pathologizing gambling, and thinks through concepts of uncertainty, luck, chance, and risk. In her MA thesis, she researched biomedical uncertainty and the bio politics of epidemics through investigating the governance of HIV positive subjectivities and its related representation in Egypt. Prior to her academic career, Wesam has consulted and worked as a public health specialist and researcher with number of the United Nations agencies, John Hopkins University (health Communication Capacity Collaborative HC3), and INGOs with a special focus on the intersectionality between HIV and AIDS, gender, harm reduction, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Since 2016, she has been researching material culture and consumption habits by conducting and analyzing several ethnographies in Iran, Egypt, London, and Turkey. These ethnographies have investigated womanhood and cleaning rituals in Iran, online gambling and betting in London, and the perception and usage of the Internet of Things and smart homes as a concept in Egypt. Wesam is a Krasis junior teaching fellow with Ashmolean museum for 2022/2023, and she is currently a co-managing editor for Oxford Middle East Review (OMER). Wesam is the JCC representative for DPhil cohort, so please reach out to her if you have any suggestions or concerns regarding your studies.

Link to BIO