Maha is an African feminist scholar, activist, writer and documentarian. She is associate professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies, African American studies, and African studies at the Pennsylvania State University. She is the co-director of the African Feminist Initiative African Feminist Initiative a global and transnational platform where feminist scholars and activists engage in interdisciplinary collaborative knowledge production about Africa and its diaspora. AFI was formed in 2015 with the goal of raising awareness of the field of African Feminist studies and building partnerships among feminist scholars, activists, and institutions. Maha's most recent publication includes “Contemporary Notions of Race in Morocco: Blackness, Migration and the Legacy of Slavery,” (Jadaliyya, 2023). She is currently co-editing a special issue of Feminist Formations, “Writing African Feminist Subjectivities” which is forthcoming in Fall 2024. She works extensively with the United Nations reporting on Mediterranean migration and disappearances. She was recently a resident fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center (22-23).

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At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Maha was involved in the program Black Feminism and the Polycrisis.