Ruba Totah is an experienced researcher in anthropology and social history who accomplished a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. Her methodological approach is grounded in participant observation, apprenticeship, and narrative interviews. Her research interests focus on transnationalism, intercultural and cross-cultural performing arts spaces, and their implications on cultural criticism theory. Her doctoral dissertation, titled “Cultural Transnationalism and the Arab Uprising: Migrating Artists from Syria to Europe,” has contributed to refreshing the dialogue on theories of migration, transculturalism, theatricality, gender, religion, and class. Ruba published several peer-reviewed articles, co-authored one book, and received a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship. She has professional experience in literature, music conservatories and museums curation and collections care, and an experience in translation, intercultural and international mediation in the work environment, and research dissemination to various stakeholders.

Ruba received an AMMR seed money grant from MMRC to develop the research project "Music Practices of Christians Minorities Around Jerusalem: An Ethnographic Study of Religious Music Performance in Eastern Churches".