Maryam Al Shehhi is an Emirati MA candidate at MESAAS, specializing in Middle Eastern and Semitic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. Before joining Columbia, she earned her BA in Literature Creative Writing and Political Science from New York University Abu Dhabi. Her research interests include Tribal Literature, Literary Translation , and Religious Studies. Her current research with the Music and Sound Cultures group involves studying the ethnography and musical traditions of the Shihuh tribe in Ras Al Khaimah, as well as playing an integral role in the translation of this project. Her BA capstone, Postcards from Ras Al Khaimah, is a multi-genre collection of postcards about the Shihuh tribe and involves translating a book on the history of the Shihuh and the Area of Ru’us al-Jibal.

Aside from being an aspiring scholar and academic, Maryam is a spoken word poet, performer, and writer. She recently published an Arabic children’s book titled “What Does It Mean to Belong”.