Dr. Lila Sharif (she/her/hers) is a creative writer, researcher, and educator. She is new faculty in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University where she teaches courses on Indigenous ontologies, race/ethnicity, Arab and Muslim experiences in the United States, food studies, global feminisms and a host of other topics. Her current work conceptualizes land, food, and culture through a global indigenous perspective. Her first solo-authored book is about how the olive—which has been cultivated in Palestine for 7,000 years—comes to signify the rootedness, decolonial aspirations, and gathering of a community in the context of ongoing settler colonialism in their homeland. She has published essays as well as poetry in academic and public journals. She co-edited a special issue of Amerasia on the topic of Critical Refugee Studies alongside Yen Le Espiritu, and co-authored the book Departures, which introduces the field of Critical Refugee Studies. She is a co-founding member of the Critical Refugee Studies Collective and a co-founding steering member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective. Sharif is the first Palestinian to earn a Ph.D. in ethnic studies. She earned a dual Ph.D. in sociology and ethnic studies before becoming a postdoctoral fellow in gender and women's studies at UC Berkeley. She is an Aries who enjoys short walks to the fridge.