"Teach for Arabia: American universities, liberalism, and transnational Qatar" by Neha Vora

Neha Vora, associate professor of anthropology, Lafayette College.

Qatar has invested billions in growing its higher education sector over the last two decades. The centerpiece of this investment is the Education City complex, home to branch campuses of six elite American universities. The expansion of American higher education into Qatar and other supposedly non-liberal countries has raised concern among U.S.-based faculty, who ask whether liberal education can thrive in repressive regimes that suppress free speech, democracy, and activism. Within Education City’s American universities, liberal ideologies manifest in several key ways, including co-education, English-language curricula, courses fostering critical thinking and debate, and celebrations of multiculturalism. These institutions have become a source of tension among Qatari citizens, who see them as emblematic of a turn toward too much Westernization and an erosion of traditional national values, particularly around gender roles and Islam.