Prof Zahia Smail Salhi

Research interests

Research

My research takes two distinct axes as follows:

Literature and Culture of the Middle East and North Africa: I research both the classical and modern literatures of the region with more emphasis on women’s literature. I have also a keen interest in Maghrebi literature written both in French and Arabic. My research project: ‘Occidentalism and the Maghrebi Experience of East-West Encounter’ studies the literary representations of this encounter from its early beginnings to the present times resulted in a monograph (EUP2019). I am currently working on a new project mainly focussed on Literature as a platform for feminist activism.

Middle Eastern Gender Studies:  My research in Gender mainly focuses on the Maghreb and Saudi Arabia and pays particular attention to women’s feminist movements, women’s struggle and resistance against conservatism and Islamic terrorism in MENA.