She received her BA, MA, and PhD degrees from the Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, Cairo University. Dr. Raafat has research interests and publications in the academic fields of ethnic American Literature, British Novel, postcolonial studies, gender issues, cinematic adaptations of literary texts, narrative theories, chronotope theories, postmodernism and comparative literature. Dr. Raafat has extensive experience in university teaching, designing courses, developing material specifically in areas such as Study Skills, ESL and ESP to undergraduate and postgraduate students at Helwan University. For many years, she has taught ESL to adult learners at The Radio and TV Training Institute and The Banking Institute. She was awarded a TESOL grant to San Francisco State University, USA (1989) and a Fulbright grant to Hyderabad, India (1992).