Jocelyn Sage Mitchell - Northwestern University in Qatar

Jocelyn Sage Mitchell is assistant professor in residence at Northwestern University in Qatar. Mitchell holds a BA in political science and Middle Eastern studies from Brown University (2003) and an MA (2008) and a PhD (2013) in government from Georgetown University. She has lived in Doha, Qatar, since August 2008 with her husband and two sons.

Mitchell's research interests in comparative political science include political economy, authoritarianism, legitimacy, and state building. She is also interested in combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies. She is currently a primary investigator on a three-year grant (NPRP 8-389-5-051) from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation) on the narratives of the new National Museum of Qatar and the reactions and responses of the citizen and expatriate audiences. Previous to this, she has been the lead primary investigator on QNRF grants on contextual and comparable survey research in Qatar (UREP 12-016-5-007), and on Qatari female participation in civil society, particularly in women’s majaalis (gatherings) (UREP 15-035-5-013). Her dissertation, “Beyond Allocation: The Politics of Legitimacy in Qatar,” focused on rentierism and political legitimacy in Qatar.

Mitchell has presented her work in comparative and American politics at the annual conferences of the American Political Science Association, the Midwest Political Science Association, and the Middle Eastern Studies Association, as well as other research venues and working groups. She teaches courses on political legitimacy and nation building, comparative and American politics, and public opinion and survey methods. Mitchell has won awards for her research and teaching and has received scholarships, fellowships and professional development grants from Georgetown University, Georgetown University in Qatar and Northwestern University in Qatar.

POLI SCI 242 Debates in Comparative Politics
POLI SCI 242 Gulf Society and Politics
POLI SCI 242 American Government and Politics
POLI SCI 387 Public Opinion

Nation building
Political economy of rentierism
State-society relations in authoritarianism
Survey research
Civil society

National Museums and the Public Imagination: A Longitudinal Study of the National Museum of Qatar. (2016–2019). Primary Investigator, Qatar National Research Fund, $800,521 USD. NPRP 8-389-5-051.

Qatari Women: Engagement and Empowerment. (March 30, 2014–September 30, 2015). Primary Research Mentor, Qatar National Research Fund, $150,000 USD. UREP 15-035-5-013.

Qatar and the World Values Survey: Ensuring Conceptual Validity and Cross-Cultural Comparability. (September 9, 2012 – September 8, 2013) Primary Research Mentor. UREP 12-016-5-007.

Qatar National Research Fund: $99,836
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar: $20,000.
Total Grant Funds: $119,836

Doha International Family Institute (DIFI), “Best Paper Award,” May 2015, for the paper, “In Majalis Al-Hareem: The Complex Professional and Personal Choices of Qatari Women,” presented at the DIFI Annual Conference on Family Research and Policy: The Arab Family in an Age of Transition: Challenges and Resilience, in the Role of State Policies on Family Formation and Stability pillar.

Qatar Foundation, Research and Development, “1st Prize Research Excellence Award,” November 2014, for the poster presentation, “Majalis Al-Hareem in Qatar: Sites of Social and Political Engagement,” presented at the Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference 2014 in the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities pillar.

Northwestern University in Qatar “Unity Award,” May 2014, for the QNRF UREP grant, “Qatari Women: Engagement and Empowerment.”

Best Course Taught by a Graduate Student during the 2006–2007 Academic Year, Department of Government, Georgetown University, October 2007.

Graduate Student Paper of the Year Award, Comparative Subfield, Department of Government, Georgetown University, March 2007, for “The Israeli High Court of Justice: A Study of a Domestic Court in Times of Conflict.”

Mitchell, J. S., Paschyn, C., Mir, S., Pike, K., and Kane, T. (2015) In majaalis al-hareem: The complex professional and personal choices of Qatari women. DIFI Family Research and Proceedings 4.

Mitchell, J. S. (2015) Book Review: Qatar and the Arab Spring by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen. Cambridge Review of International Affairs 28 (4): 768–770.

Mitchell, J. S. (2014). Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Creating Knowledge through Student-Faculty Partnerships. Journal of General Education 63 (2–3): 73–93.

Mitchell, J. S. (2014). Book Review: Qatar: Small State, Big Politics by Mehran Kamrava. Democratization 21 (4): 771–73.

Mitchell, J. S. (2013). Book Review: Qatar: Politics and the Challenges of Development by Matthew Gray. Review of Middle East Studies 47 (2): 246–48.

Mitchell, J. S. (2010). Political and Socioeconomic Transformation in the Gulf: Image and Reality. History Compass 8 (3): 275-302.

Weiner, J. S. (2007). Book Review: Faith in Moderation: Islamist Parties in Jordan and Yemen by Jillian Schwedler. Democracy & Society 4 (2): 19-20.

Book chapters:

Mitchell, J. S. (2016). We’re All Qataris Here: The Nation-Building Narrative of the National Museum of Qatar. In Erskine-Loftus, P., Al-Mulla, M., and Hightower, V. (Eds.), Representing the Nation. Oxford, UK: Routledge.

Mitchell, J. S., and Pal, L. A. (2016). Policy Making in Qatar: The Macro-Policy Framework. In Tok, M. E., Al-Khater, L., and Pal, L. A. (Eds.), Policy Making in a Transformative State: The Case of Qatar. Palgrave Macmillan.

Weiner, J. S., and Wilcox, C. (2009). Bridging the Cultural Divide: Accommodating Religious Diversity. In Martinez-Ebers, V. and Dorraj, M. (Eds.), Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity, and Religion: Identity Politics in America. New York: Oxford University Press.