The purpose of the AIMS GSA is to promote dialog among graduate students who are interested in or working on studies related to northern Africa, defined broadly as Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Members come from nearly every discipline imaginable: from anthropology to art history, from bioclimatology to political science, and from history to economics.
2024-2025 GSA President
Jie Gao, University of Arizona
Jie Gao is a dual Ph.D. candidate in Middle Eastern Studies and Anthropology at the University of Arizona, with a research focus on transnational migration, migrant entrepreneurship, and the informal economies of diasporic communities in the MENA region. Following over two years of immersive fieldwork in Morocco, he is currently completing a dissertation that examines the experiences of Chinese migrant entrepreneurs as they navigate transnational migration, global capitalism, and local sociocultural landscapes in Morocco. Beyond his academic work, Jie is an amateur literary translator with a keen interest in translating autobiographies and memoirs of notable historical figures between Arabic and Chinese.