People

Hamza Hashem

Hamza Hashem headshot

About

Hi everyone! My name is Hamza Hashem. I’m from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and I’m concentrating in Anthropology with certificates in Creative Writing (fiction) and Near Eastern Studies. I came to Princeton thinking I would be pre-vet, but then I bounced around exploring different majors (Public Policy, Psychology, Politics, Near Eastern Studies), and eventually switched to Anthropology a few weeks before the start of my junior year. The only consistent thing about my Princeton experience has been creative writing. I’ve taken a creative writing class nearly every semester here, and they’ve definitely been one of the highlights of my Princeton experience.

My creative and academic work are interlinked. In Anthropology, I primarily utilize psycholinguistics and critical theory to explore themes relating to Arab identity and Western empire. My creative work explores the everyday lives and struggles of Arabs, both living in the West and in the Arab world, and tries to draw from my academic research and ethnographic experiences to humanize the most marginalized of Arab communities.

On campus, I work as a Residential College Advisor for First College, which means my week involves a lot of studying in Wilcox, stealing cookies from the dining hall, and doing rounds on weekend nights. If you want to chat about creative writing, anthropology or anything else, please do not hesitate to reach out!

 

Class of '21

Program in Creative Writing

Residential College

First

Email Address

hhashem@princeton.edu