Research
My research considers contemporary secularism’s contradictions and contingencies through Canadian and French lenses, with particular attention to its relationships to postcoloniality, Islam, gender and the body.
The core argument of my work is that articulations of the secular in contemporary France and Canada relate to the regulation of religion, and index desirable sexualities, whiteness and the post-colonial nation state. My primary methodological approach – ethnography – sheds light on the voices of those often silenced within these matrixes.
Presently, I'm working on these projects:
- Secular Migration and Transnationalism: I direct the SSHRC-funded / project, which examines secular transnationalism in the Francophone world. With Amélie Barras (York University), I have conducted interviews with French immigrants (brochure link here), and we are currently interviewing Francophone immigrants and directors of Lycées français.
- The Secular Body: This SSHRC Insight grant-sponsored transnational project (in Montréal, Algeria and in a Parisian suburb) examines Islam, marriage migration and interventions of the state and how they reflect 'secular sensibilities' with attention to sexuality. Drawing on fieldwork from 2011-2019 and 187 interviews, I recently completed a monograph on this work, Secular Sensibilities (Forthcoming, UNC Press).
- On Theory & Methods: Building on a Connections-sponsored workshop in Sept. 2017, I have considered how and why certain questions are posed in academic considerations of Islam(s) and Muslims in Canada. See this bibliography built from this project and consider joining our IslamCanada listserv.
- Introducing New Ways of Thinking about Religion and Difference in Canada: Beyond Accommodation: Everyday Narratives of Muslim Canadians (2018, UBC Press), interpolates secularism and the Muslim experience in Canada. With co-authors Barras and Beaman, we critique the prevalent ‘reasonable accommodation’ approach to religion in Canada, drawing on qualitative interviews conducted with 90 self-defined Muslims in Montreal and St. John’s, Canada. In contrast to much of the contemporary research on Muslims in minority contexts, our research theorizes moments in which religiosity is worked out.
- How Muslim life is imagined alongside the secular in the North Atlantic world: Much of my early work problematizes the French nation state's increasingly narrow post-1989 social-secular-sexual regime within the lives of women of Maghrebian origin living in a French suburban housing project. Methodologically, I have also considered this line of thinking through discourse analysis of contemporary governmental, legal and political interventions.
In addition, I am co-investigator on the SSHRC-funded, “Voix de la colère et de l’espoir: Stratégies narratives numériques et ethnographiques de gestion de la colère et de l’espoir par les jeunes musulmanes et musulmans au Canada, en Europe et au Maghreb†[Voices of Anger and Hope: Digital and Ethnographic Narrative Strategies for Managing Anger and Hope among Muslim Youth in Canada, Europe and the Maghreb] (PI Abdelwahed Mekki-Berrada, U Laval).
I am currently active with a public engagement project, (for more on the project, see here) and serve on the .
Lastly, I began a SSHRC-funded public engagement project with the Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador and QEII Library's Archives and Special Collections to create a . This project is linked to a larger national project on which I am co-investigator, the (MiCA; PI Anver Emon, U Toronto).
Refereed Publications
Books
Forthcoming. Secular Sensibilities: Algerian Marriage and Migration to France and Québec ( series, University of North Carolina Press).
Under contract. Muslim Narratives and Lives in Newfoundland and Labrador (edited volume).
2021. . (edited with Amélie Barras and Melanie Adrian). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
2018. . (with Amélie Barras and Lori G. Beaman). Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
2012. . The Contemporary Anthropology of Religion Series. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Press (Paperback version, 2016; Arabic translation, 2019; Turkish translation forthcoming).
2012. , co-edited with Anna C. Korteweg. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Read a short overview here.
Edited Journals
2024. Festschrift for Ellen Badone: She Listened, We Listened. First editor with Paul Bramadat. April,
2021. “Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion.†Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses. Second editor with Lori G. Beaman and Lauren Strumos. 50:3 (September)
2020. "", co-edited with Carlos Colorado. Social Compass (April): 1-15.
2016. "', co-edited with Lori G. Beaman. Critical Research on Religion 4:1 (April): 8-20.
Select Articles & Book Chapters (2014-2024)
Forthcoming. “Quebecois ³¢²¹Ã¯³¦¾±³Ùé and its Canadian Multicultural Other in the Debates Surrounding Law 21†(third author, with Saaz Taher and Amélie Barras) for the Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 33 pgs.
Forthcoming. “La religiosité polarisée au Québec : Le cas des femmes d’origine Algérienne à Montréal†(first author, with Kawtare Bihya) for L’islam vécu au Québec. Eds. G. Mossière and R. Marcotte. Presses de l’Université du Québec (33 pgs).
2023. “Religious authorities in the digital age: The case of Muslims in Canada†(first author, with Rehan Sayeed) for Contemporary Islam 17: 467-488,
2023. “Wait, what? Islamophobia exists in Newfoundland and Labrador?â€: Theorizing the Polite Dismissal of Anti-Islamophobia Public Engagement†(equal co-authors, with Sobia Shaikh) for Islamophobia as a Form of Radicalisation: Perspectives on Media, Academia and Socio-political Scapes from Europe and Canada. Eds. A. Mekki-Berrada and L. d’Haenens, Brill, 211-228.
2023. “A History of Muslims in Canada.†In The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Eds. A. Hussain and M. Adrian. Oxford University Press.
2022. "." Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 90:1 (March): 248- 269
2022. “‘There is No Place for the State in the Bedrooms of the Nation’ or The Case of Bill 21: A Response to Goodwin’s Gender/Religion Lens†for Key Categories in the Study of Religion: Contexts and Critiques. Ed. Rebekka King. Equinox, 162-175.
2021. “Who are Muslims in Canada? Analysis of the Qualitative Literature 1997-2017,†(first author with A. Barras and L.G. Beaman) for Producing Islam(s) in Canada. Eds. Amélie Barras, Jennifer Selby, and Melanie Adrian, 91-119.
2021. “Introduction: Producing Islam(s) and Muslims in Canada†(first author with A. Barras and M. Adrian) for Producing Islam(s) in Canada. Eds. Amélie Barras, Jennifer Selby, and Melanie Adrian, 3-26.
2020.&²Ô²ú²õ±è;“.†(first author, with A. Barras and L.G. Beaman). Social Compass. April. 1-15.
2020. “.†(first author, with Cory Funk). Journal of Media and Religion. 19:2 35-45.
2019. “Required Romance: On Secular Sensibilities in Recent French Marriage and Immigration Regulations†in . Eds. Monique Scheer, Nadia Fadil, and Birgitte Schepelern Johansen. Bloomsbury, 157-169.
2019. “Interrogating Categories with Ethnography: On the ‘Five Pillars’ of Islam,†for . Ed. Leslie Dorrough Smith. Sheffield: Equinox. 61-72.
2018. "" (second author, with A. Barras and L.G. Beaman). Social Inclusion 6:2 162-172.
2018. “Secularism and the Shari'a: Lessons from an Ontarian Debate†in , Muslim Heritage Series. Ed. Amyn Sajoo. London: I.B. Tauris, 215-230.
2018."." (premier auteur, avec Amélie Barras et Lori G. Beaman). Anthropologie et sociétés 42:2 (avril): 155-182.
2018. "“Muslim Canadians.†In . Ed. Catherine Holtmann. Cham: Switzerland: Springer, 207-236.
2017. "." Ethnologie française (»å鳦±ð³¾²ú°ù±ð):&²Ô²ú²õ±è;693-705.
2016. "" (second author, with Diana L. Gustafson) Women's Studies International Forum 59: (November-December) 17-25.
2016. "" Critical Research on Religion 4:1 (April): 72-89.
2016. "No Mosque, No Refugees: Some Reflections on Syrian Refugees and the Construction of Religion in Canada." (with Lori Beaman and Amélie Barras). In . Eds. Luca Mavelli and Erin Wilson. Rowman and Littlefield.
2016. "'The Diamond Ring Now is the Thing': Young Muslim Torontonian Women Negotiating Mahr on the Web." In . Eds. Adeline Masquelier and Benjamin F. Soares. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 189-212.
2016. "In/Visible Religion in Public Institutions: Canadian Muslim Public Servants." (with Amélie Barras and Lori Beaman). In . Eds. Benjamin Berger and Richard Moon. London: Hart Publishing, 95-110.
2014.&²Ô²ú²õ±è;“.†Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 43:3 439-466.
2014. “Hijab Debates in Europe.†In . Ed. Jocelyne Cesari. New York: Oxford University Press, 701- 741.
2014. “France.†In The Handbook of European Islam. Ed. Jocelyne Cesari. New York: Oxford University Press, 23-63.
2014. "." Ethnologie Française 44: 3 515-526. Published in English .
Select Non-refereed Contributions (2014-2021)
2021. “Forging New Futures for the Study of Religion in Canada: A Review of Aaron Hughes’s From Seminary to University.†For . Online First. (September) 1-4.
2021. “The Gentle Provincial Government Squeeze Out of Anti-Islamophobia Work in Newfoundland and Labrador†(with Sobia Shaikh). For (University of Toronto).
2020. Review of Divorcing Traditions: Islamic Marriage Law and the Making of Indian Secularism (Cornell University Press, 2019; 232 pages) for Anthropologica 62: 453-454.
2020. “Church-State Relations†in The Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion. Eds. Adam Possemai and Anthony J. Blasi. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 137-138.
2019. “Addressing Islamophobia in Newfoundland and Labrador: Provincial Recommendations†(with Sobia Shaikh). September 23, 2019.
2019. ҠSeptember 23, 2019, The Gazette.
2019. Ҡ(with Natasha Bakht), April 10, 2019, Montreal Gazette.
2019. Review of Al Rashid Mosque: Building Canadian Muslim Communities (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press) for Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 48:4 (December): 690-692.
2019. Review of Musulmans de France, la grande épreuve: Face au terrorisme (Ivry-sur-Seine: Les Éditions de l’Atelier) for Ethnologie française. 173:1 (January): 160-162.
2018. Review of Sexagon: Muslims, France, and the Sexualization of National Culture (New York: Fordham University Press) for November.
2018.&²Ô²ú²õ±è;Ԡ(with M. Adrian and A. Barras) Digital Projects in the Classroom on The Immanent Frame, April 18.
2017. Review of Pious Practice and Secular Constraints: Women in the Islamic Revival in Europe (Stanford University Press) for ReOrient:The Journal of Critical Muslim Studies 2:2 (Spring): 204-207.
2017.&²Ô²ú²õ±è;“,†The Gazette, January 31.
2016. Shariasource, October 13.
2015. Review of Islamic Divorce in North America: A Shari’a Path in a Secular Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press) for Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of Muslim Life 9:1 (January): 127-129.
2014. (with Mayanthi Fernando). . The Immanent Frame.
2014. Review of On the Muslim Question (Princeton: Princeton UP). Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses. 43:3 (September): 540-542.
2014. Review of The Republic and the Riots: Exploring Urban Violence in French Suburbs, 2005- 2007 (Oxford: Peter Lang). Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews. 43:1 (January): 107-108.