Jaafar Aksikas

Jaafar Aksikas is a Moroccan-born American academic and cultural critic. He holds a Ph.D in Cultural Studies from George Mason University, an MA in the Humanities from Al Akhawayn University, Morocco, and a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Chouaib Doukkali University, Morocco. He is currently Associate Professor of Cultural Studies and Humanities at Columbia College Chicago, United States. He was also President of the Cultural Studies Association (2014-2016). His books and edited volumes include:
Cultural Studies and the 'Juridical Turn': Culture, law, and legitimacy in the era of neoliberal capitalism, edited with Sean Johnson Andrews] (2016)
Cultural Studies of/and the Law, edited with Sean Johnson Andrews] (2014)
Arab Modernities: Islamism, Nationalism, and Liberalism in the Post-Colonial Arab World(2009)
The Sirah of Antar: An Islamic Interpretation of Arab and Islamic History (2002).
His other publications include:
Culture Industries: Critical Interventions (2011), an inaugural special journal issue on the culture and media industries for the journal Lateral.
Critical Purchase in Neoliberal Times, a special journal issue on engaged and community-based forms of cultural studies scholarship for the journal Lateral.
He is also the Editor of the Cultural Studies and Marxism book series for the international publisher Rowman & Littlefield International (2015-present).
His work has appeared in several scholarly journals, including Cultural Studies, Reviews in Cultural Theory, Lateral, Mediterranean Politics, and Cultuur en Migratie. Aksikas has taught and published widely in the fields of Cultural Studies, media/culture industry studies, critical legal studies, American Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. He also serves on the editorial boards of Cultural Studies and Lateral journals. He has received numerous awards, including the George Mason University VISION Award (2003) and the Marquis Who is Who in America award (2010). He also holds membership at the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars.
He is also the Founding General Editor of Cultural Landscapes, the Founding Coordinator of the Cultural Studies Colloquium Series at Columbia College Chicago, and he serves as a member of the Illinois Network on Islam and Muslim Societies. He also serves as consultant for lawyers and the media on Middle Eastern and North African societies, cultures and politics.