Dr. Rana Baker

Biography

Rana Baker is a Lecturer in History with a focus on the Middle East. Her research integrates historical perspectives with critical political economy, examining transformations in debt, land, and money in modern Egypt. Utilizing Ottoman-Egyptian sources, her work reconsiders standard categories in the study of the Middle East. Currently, she is working on a book that investigates the history of prosperity in nineteenth and early twentieth century Egypt, analyzing Ottoman-Egyptian methods of organizing material and spiritual abundance which altered colonial practices and fostered new life forms entrenched in financialized relationships concerning land and credit. This research situates 'economic development' within the emergence of 'land development' in the Egyptian Nile Valley at the turn of the twentieth century. Before joining the History Department at King's College London, Baker completed her PhD in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University and holds an MA from SOAS, University of London.

Research Interests