July 28, 2021
Though IIE-SRF scholars hope to return to their home countries following their fellowship appointments, some continue to face the threat of persecution or conflict and are thus unable to do so. Many, however, contribute to and rebuild their home communities from abroad. One such scholar is Dr. Mohammed Almahfali, a Yemeni specialist in Arabic language and literature who undertook IIE-SRF fellowship appointments from 2017 to 2019 at the Lund University Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) in Sweden. Given the dangers of Yemen’s ongoing civil conflict, Almahfali has remained in Sweden, where he has continued his affiliation with CMES and worked with colleagues worldwide to advance education and human rights in his home country.
With research interests that range from Yemeni media to modern Arabic poetry, much of Almahfali’s recent work has focused on promoting awareness and understanding of Yemen’s minority groups, which have faced discrimination, targeting, and marginalization in the country. He serves as Executive Director of the INSAF Center for Defending Freedoms & Minorities, a non-profit organization that seeks to elucidate the social, political, and economic realities faced by Yemen’s minorities. Ultimately, Almahfali says, the organization aims to help advance legal protections for these communities that will “safeguard their rights to think and believe.”
Of his IIE-SRF appointment at CMES, Almahfali said, “The fellowship felt like not just a two-year period, but a decade of experience. I have gained a great international network, improved my language skills, and developed my research tools.” Among his many current projects at the center is a European Union-funded initiative called Environmental Management in the Middle East, which aims to establish an e-learning system in Yemen, develop Yemeni courses on environmental impact assessment, and strengthen cooperation between Yemeni and European universities. Almahfali also shares his expertise on Yemen and the Arab region with audiences in his host community and globally. He will, for example, serve as a panelist in an upcoming CMES discussion titled, “The Arab Spring Ten Years On.”
To hear more of Almahfali’s story, check out a recording of “Yemen’s Higher Education Crisis,” a March 2021 webinar discussion hosted by IIE-SRF and the Association of Yemeni Academics & Professionals (AYAP). Almahfali, who is also an AYAP board member, shared his experiences as a scholar directly impacted by the humanitarian crisis and higher education emergency in Yemen.