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I hold a PhD in Romance Studies, specializing in Media Discourse, from the University of Paris–Sorbonne. I am also a graduate of the International Academy of Diplomacy and the Centre of Diplomatic and Strategic Studies.
My scholarly work has been translated into Arabic, English, and Spanish, and has been widely reviewed in both academic and public venues. Reviews and critiques of my books and contributions have appeared in journals such as Voix Plurielles. Journal of the Association of French Professors in Canadian Universities and Colleges, The French Review, University of Toronto Quarterly, New Zealand Journal of French Studies, Revista de crítica literaria latinoamericana, International Journal of Francophone Studies, Points: Langues, littératures, civilisations des pays francophones, Research in African Literatures, Postcolonial Text, Symposium, Studi Canadese, Peace Review, Third World Quarterly, Contemporary Sociology, and the Ivorian Journal of Comparative Studies.
My research intersects between Cultural Studies, Literature, Migration Studies, and Transcultural Studies with a special focus on Muslim diasporas. My current research is supported by a SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) grant for the project “The Arabs of Bourail and Nessadiou – Social Ghosts and Life Stories.”
This study investigates the forgotten history and evolving identity of the Arab-descended community in New Caledonia, whose origins date back to the French penal colony established in the 19th century. Between 1864 and 1897, nearly 30,000 convicts were transported to the archipelago, including 1,822 men identified as “Arabs” from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Their descendants, many of whom live in the villages of Nessadiou and Bourail, continue to shape an identity centered on symbolic heritage sites such as the local mosque and Muslim cemetery.
The project combines archival research and oral history, collecting life stories from descendants of the first convicts to explore memory, belonging, and intergenerational experience. It examines how colonial classifications constructed the “Arab” category, how these communities interacted with Indigenous Kanak populations, and how transcultural identities emerged through cultural mixing. Ultimately, the study reframes the narrative of penal transportation by situating these communities within broader questions of colonialism, migration, and transcultural resilience, tracing the evolution of “Arab” from a colonial label to a marker of hybrid Caledonian identity.
Wilfrid Laurier University Merit Award: 2025, 2023, 2021, 2016, 2012, 2009
Laurier Employee Achievement Award: 2021
I am a faculty member in the MA in Religion, Culture, and Global Justice program, a joint initiative between the Departments of Religion and Culture and Global Studies. I am also affiliated with the joint PhD program in Religious Diversity in North America, offered collaboratively by the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Waterloo.
My research and supervision interests include Muslim Studies, diasporas, and minority communities.
I am the author of seven books, editor of two volumes, and have two expanded and translated editions. Selected works include:
2023 (ed.) Hédi Bouraoui: Cosmovisionner autrement. Toronto: The Canada–Mediterranean Centre Editions, York University.
2012. Éthique et rupture bouraouïennes. Toronto: The Canada–Mediterranean Centre, York University (“Mosaic. Essays” series).
2007. L’Amérique latine sous une perspective maghrébine. Paris/Prague/Torino: L’Harmattan.
- América Latina vista por un magrebí. Trans. Moumene Essoufi. Madrid: Diwan Mayrit, 2024.
- An African Gaze at Latin America: The Quest of the Other. Trans. Ahmadou Siendou Konate. Abidjan: INIDAF, 2023 (expanded edition).
- Latin America from a Moroccan perspective. Trans. into Arabic by Zineb El Mezdioui. Algiers: Mim Editions, 2015 (expanded edition).
- 2010. Latin America According to A Moroccan. Trans. into Arabic by Mohammed El Mezdioui. Casablanca: Marsam (with a grant from the Council for the Moroccan Community Abroad).
Chapters and Articles (selection):
2021. “Lessons from History: Responding to Islamophobia in Victoria and Abdul and The Sultan and the Queen.” In Religion, Migration, and Existential Wellbeing, eds. Moa Kindström Dahlin et al. London: Routledge.
2020. “France: On the Islamophobic Mind and Its Agenda.” In Multicultural Societies and Fear of the Other, eds. Ramona Mielusel and Simona Pruteanu. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 199–215.
2005. “Peru: The Path of Terror.” In When States Kill: Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror, eds. Cecilia Menjívar and Néstor Rodríguez. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 252–277.
2023. “Mémoire collective, mésomémoire et caprification mémorielle dans Hotaru d’Aki Shimazaki.” Voix Plurielles 20.1: 105-120.
2011. “Doungia et le mobustime: Comment dire les secrets de la corruption.” Voix Plurielles 8(2): 15–29.
MZ200, Introduction to Muslim Studies
RE632X, Transcultural experiences
RE104, Evil and its symbols
RE301, Muslims in Europe
Contact Info:
Office location: DAWB 2-2016
Languages spoken: Arabic, English, French and Spanish