Pascal Menoret

About the Author

Pascal Menoret is a French anthropologist and scholar specializing in the Middle East, with a focus on Saudi Arabia's social and urban dynamics. His research explores the intersections of youth culture, mobility, and resistance in modern Gulf societies, drawing on extensive fieldwork in Riyadh to illuminate the tensions between oil-driven development and everyday life. Menoret's work challenges conventional narratives of the region, highlighting subversive practices like joyriding as forms of urban revolt against authoritarian control. A former researcher at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations and currently affiliated with New York University Abu Dhabi, he bridges anthropology, history, and urban studies to offer nuanced insights into the human dimensions of rapid modernization in the Arab world.