Amy Holmes
Amy Holmes is an assistant professor of sociology at The American University in Cairo. She completed her PhD at Johns Hopkins University in 2008 and received her MA in political science from the Freie Universität Berlin.
Dr. Holmes is currently finishing a book manuscript entitled Contentious Allies: Social Unrest and the American Military Presence in Turkey and Germany 1945-2005 under contract with Cambridge University Press. This manuscript represents the first social history of the US military presence in Turkey and Germany. The aim of her research has been to understand the causes and consequences of opposition to the American overseas military presence through in-depth case studies of anti-base contention in two important NATO allies. She has recently completed a one-hour documentary film as a companion piece to the book.
Building on her previous research, Dr. Holmes has begun a new project which examines the political economy of the US security posture in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. A second new line of research includes an analysis of the tourism industry in Egypt as a development strategy, with focus on an EU-funded project in the Sinai.
At AUC, Dr. Holmes has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses on the American overseas military presence, as well as courses on third world development, social movements, introduction to sociology and social theory.
Research Interests
Comparative/historical sociology, Civil-Military issues in particular NATO and the GCC, Gender, Social Theory, International Development, Tourism
Recent Publications
Books
Contentious Allies: Social Unrest and the American Military Presence in Turkey and Germany 1945-2005 (forthcoming)
Articles and Book Chapters
"Opposition to the American Military Presence in Turkey in the Context of the Iraq War", co-authored with Ayşe Gül Altınay in: Bases of Empire, edited by Catherine Lutz, Pluto Press 2009
"Redeployment Reconsidered: Rumsfeld, Gates, and the US Presence in Germany" in AICGS Adviser, May 16, 2008