Dr. Rana El Kaliouby – Introduction

We see the world ethnocentrically, or from our own culture’s eyes. Without even thinking about it, we judge things using our own set of ideals, beliefs, etc. From a Western perspective (and a woman’s perspective), I see Middle Eastern women as having no freedom, no true lives. I know that this blanket statement is false, but my ethnocentric views can cloud my perspective. Enter Rana El Kaliouby, who is a research scientist at MIT dispite her Middle Eastern background. El Kaliouby grew up in Kuwait, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. Dispite her gender, she has Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees from Western institutions. Dr. El Kaliouby does research regarding devices that sense human emotions, and has even commercialized her research into a company called Affectiva. Who am I? My name is Katrina Sentgeorge, and I am an Oregon State student in the Women’s Studies class Gender and Technology, and I chose Rana El Kaliouby as my topic of study for a culture site project. Please take a look at my other pages on El Kaliouby. I hope she can inspire you as she has inspired me.

Katrina Sentgeorge

July 23, 2009.