Contact Information
1310 S. Sixth St.
Champaign, IL 61820
Biography
Linda Herrera (PhD Columbia University) is a social anthropologist with regional expertise in North Africa and West Asia. Her research examines questions around education and critical democracy, the sociology of generations, international development policy, and pathways to citizenship and livelihoods in an age of digital transformation, precarity, and a changing global order.
Research Interests
Linda Herrera is a social anthropologist with regional expertise in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with longstanding interests in education and power, youth and generations, childhood in global context, and the social effects of technological change. Her work interrogates these topics through a wider lens of critical pedagogy and movements for participatory democracy.
Education
Anthropology/Sociology, MA, American University in Cairo
Comparative and International Education, PhD, Columbia University
Middle East Studies, BA, University of California, Berkeley
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Director of Graduate Studies, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Professor, Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
External Links
Highlighted Publications
Herrera, L. (Ed.) (2025). Education 2.0: Chronicles of Technological and Cultural Change in Egypt. Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0489
Herrera, L. (2022). Educating Egypt: Civic Values and Ideological Struggles. American University in Cairo Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2k88tm5
Bayat, A., & Herrera, L. (Eds.) (2021). Global Middle East: Into the Twenty-First Century. (The Global Square; Vol. 3). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520968127
Herrera, L. (2014). Revolution in the Age of Social Media: The Egyptian Popular Insurrection and the Internet. Verso.
Herrera, L. (2014). Wired Citizenship: Youth Learning and Activism in the Middle East. (Critical Youth Studies). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203747575
Herrera, L., & Bayat, A. (2010). Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural Politics in the Global South and North. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369212.001.0001
Herrera, L., & Torres, C. A. (Eds.) (2006). Cultures of Arab Schooling: Critical Ethnographies from Egypt. SUNY Press.
Herrera, L. (2017). It's Time to Talk about Youth in the Middle East as The Precariat. Middle East - Topics & Arguments, 9, 35-44. https://doi.org/10.17192/meta.2017.9.7061
Recent Publications
Elghamrawy, E., & Herrera, L. (2025). Discovery Education and Private Sector Partnerships: Interview with Emily Waters. In L. Herrera (Ed.), Education 2.0: Chronicles of Technological and Cultural Change in Egypt (pp. 239-256). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0489.14
Herrera, L. (2025). Advocating for Children with Special Needs: Interview with Ingy Mashhour. In L. Herrera (Ed.), Education 2.0: Chronicles of Technological and Cultural Change in Egypt (pp. 147-158). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0489.08
Herrera, L. (2025). A Life in Education from Academia to the World Bank: Interview with Juan Manual Moreno. In L. Herrera (Ed.), Education 2.0: Chronicles of Technological and Cultural Change in Egypt (pp. 187-204). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0489.11
Herrera, L. (2025). Becoming and Being the Minister of Education: Interview with Tarek Shawki. In L. Herrera (Ed.), Education 2.0: Chronicles of Technological and Cultural Change in Egypt (pp. 41-64). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0489.02
Herrera, L. (2025). Building the Knowledge Bank from Scratch: Interview with Mohamed El-Araby. In L. Herrera (Ed.), Education 2.0: Chronicles of Technological and Cultural Change in Egypt (pp. 361-372). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0489.21