My name is Hashem Alrefai (هاشم الرفاعي), a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in Political Sociology, Social Movements, Historical Sociology, and the study of Authoritarianism, with a regional focus on the Arabian Peninsula and Saudi Arabia.

I use a multi-method approach that combines historical-archival analysis with field-based research, enabling me to develop a sociological explanation linking long-term historical trajectories to contemporary socio-political transformations.

My doctoral dissertation relies on local sources and political archives from 1908 to 1974. These include Hijazi newspapers, travelogues on the Hijaz, and British and American archival records.

I aim to understand the roots of the "silence" shaping Hijazi social behavior. I also study the Hijaz's shift from a global Islamic and Arab space to a localized (Saudization) (سعودة) arena. This work helps theorize state formation beyond Europe.

Alongside my research thesis, I endeavor to contribute critical analyses of the political and economic transformations in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region through writing on the political, economic, and social landscape.