Musa al-Gharbi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Communication and Journalism
Contact Dr. al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi’s research explores how people talk about, think about, and produce a shared understanding of contested social phenomena to include race, inequality, social movements, extremism, policing, national security, foreign policy and domestic U.S. political contests and more.
Al-Gharbi’s first book, We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite, examined the political economy of the symbolic professions from the interwar period through the present. It was published by Princeton University Press in 2024. His second book, Those People, is slated for publication by Princeton University Press in late 2026 and will explore the causes and consequences of the growing social distance between the symbolic professions and growing swaths of the broader societies they are embedded in.
In addition to his scholarly work, Professor al-Gharbi is a columnist for The Guardian. His journalistic essays have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, NBC News, The Atlantic, New Republic, The Nation, and many other outlets. He is also regularly tapped by other journalists to contextualize current events, to include spots with NPR, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Economist, CNN, USA Today, Voice of America, and beyond. And independent of his own direct participation, his work is regularly discussed in mass media outlets.
Professor al-Gharbi also served for four years as the communications director for a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, Heterodox Academy, that works to promote pluralism and open inquiry in higher education. Prior to that appointment, al-Gharbi served for four years as the managing editor for an academic consortium that brought together combat veteran students with students from war affected regions to study Middle East conflict together.
Professor al-Gharbi is deeply committed to engaging with the public and institutional stakeholders outside of academia and the media too. He regularly consults with nonprofits, think tanks, corporate executives and policymakers in the U.S. and abroad on issues within his domains of expertise. His work has been cited by a number of governmental and other organizations, including the Department of State, the Army War College and the Council on Foreign Relations and the UK Ministry of Equalities.
For his students, Professor al-Gharbi designs coursework that facilitates learning, empowers them to have their work published in professional outlets, and prepares them for rewarding careers in journalism, communications and related fields. He prioritizes learning by doing, and guiding students as they build a flexible set of tools and frameworks for understanding and influencing society.
More about Musa and his work is available on his website: https://musaalgharbi.com/