CUNY Academic Commons

PhD student, anthropology program

Omnia Khalil, currently is a PhD student in cultural anthropology program in the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY) and Teacher Assistant in Hunter College in New York City. She is an urban researcher and co-founder of 10 Tooba, Applied Research on the Built Environment that is a LLC. established July 2014. Given her extensive experiences in participatory urban action in Cairo, the debates, promises and expectations accompanying the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 concerning social injustice and inequality, in her opinion demanded a direct engagement explaining and defending participatory community urban action planning against a history of governmental policies of forced evictions and resettlement. In July 2012 she held an exhibition titled Egyptian Urban Action with maps, images and analysis in addition to presenting a 25 minute documentary she made; building on her previous research different geographical spots. She finished her thesis in cultural anthropology titled (The People of the City. Space, Laboring and Power. In Quest of Unraveling the HOW in Ramlet Bulaq) Omnia also participated in a one-semester exchange program with Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi, India).Upon completion of her MA thesis in urban anthropology in June 2014, she is one of the founders of 10 Tooba, an urban collective that combines research with urban action, i.e. involvement in the struggles of marginal urban communities. At the framework of 10 Tooba, she released a community action plan research about Ramlet Bulaq. Since August 2015, Omnia is writing regularly in Assafir Alarabi.