2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize Announcement

The Selection Committee is pleased to announce Jana Amin (NELC and Anthropology) as winner of the 2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Undergraduate Thesis Prize in Islamic Studies for her thesis entitled, “Tasting Freedom: Palestinian Women's Kitchens as Sites of Ethnography, Refuge, and Resistance in Cairo.” Jana studies how Palestinian women refugees in Egypt share their stories and experiences of loss, resilience, violence, and resistance through cooking. While media and humanitarian narratives primarily portray women as the victims of violence and displacement, Jana challenges these limiting frames and centers Palestinian women as storytellers and meaning-makers and argues that the kitchen is a place of learning, storytelling, and mobility. Jana’s thesis was chosen as the winner for its strong ethnographic research, original topic, clear writing, and deep engagement with anthropology literature.

The Committee also recognizes as honorable mention Nicolas Pantelick (NELC and Government) for his thesis, “Digital Diplomacy During Crisis: An Analysis of Online Israeli Public Diplomacy in the 2023-24 Gaza War" and Maryam Tourk (Social Studies and Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights) for her thesis on modern South Asia. Nicolas writes a strong analysis of Israel’s digital public diplomacy since October 7, 2023, including through Arabic social media posts and employing Islamic moral rhetoric, revealing how Israeli perceptions of Arabs and Muslims influence diplomatic messaging. 

Congratulations Jana, Nicolas, and Maryam!