SHAI DROMI

Shai Dromi is a cultural and comparative-historical sociologist with research on international humanitarian organizations and movements, transnational advocacy, and political culture. His research looks at the role of religion and cultural beliefs in creating civil society organizations and movements, and in shaping the production of social knowledge. Shai’s first book, Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Construction of the Humanitarian Relief Sector, was published in January 2020 with the University of Chicago Press. It examines the origins and development of the humanitarian NGO sector, and draws on archival research at the International Committee of the Red Cross and related repositories. Shai is currently co-authoring a book called Moral Minefields: How Sociologists Debate Good Science, which is under advance contract with the University of Chicago Press. This book looks at the repertoires sociologists develop to maneuver morally controversial research, which allow them to weather or circumvent contentious subjects and the disputes they cause. Shai is also conducting comparative-historical research on U.S. student activism on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, using archival research and interviews. 

In addition, Shai is co-editor of the Handbook of the Sociology of Morality, vol. 2, which is under contact with Springer. Shai’s work has appeared in journals like Sociological Theory and Theory & Society, and received the Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity Outstanding Published Article Award, the Global and Transnational Sociology Best Graduate Student Paper Award, an honorable mention for the Theda Skocpol Best Dissertation Award from the American Sociological Association, and the Marvin B. Sussman Prize from Yale University. At Harvard, Shai teaches courses in the areas of nonprofit organizations, global and transnational sociology, religion and politics, and sociological theory. He received numerous Certificates of Teaching Excellence, as well as an ABLConnect Teaching Innovator Award and an Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times commendation for flexibility and creativity in addressing the challenges of learning under COVID-19.