Academic & Teaching staff

Dr Zahia Smail Salhi

Senior Lecturer

+44(0)113 343 3416

Research Interests

  • The Arab Diaspora
  • Middle Eastern and North African Gender Studies
  • Arabic Literature (Classical and Modern), Comparative Literature
  • Francophone Literature of the Middle East and North Africa
  • Arab Cinema
  • Culture and Society in the Middle East and North Africa

Taught Courses

  1. ARAB 2040 - The Modern Arabic Short Story
  2. ARAB 2050 - Culture and Society in the Middle East
  3. ARAB 3040 - The Arabic Novel
  4. ARAB 3001 - Arab Cinema
  5. Global Genders (MA in Gender Studies)
  6. Skills and Issues in Intercultural Studies (MA in Professional Language and Intercultural Studies)
  7. Gender and Sexuality in World Cinema (MA World Cinema)

Publications

Books

  • Politics, Poetics and the Algerian Novel, Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1999
  • The Arab Diaspora: Voices of an Anguished Scream, Edited volume (with Ian Richard Netton). Routledge: 2006.
  • Gender and Diversity in the Middle East and North Africa, Edited Volume, Routledge: 2010.
  • Women in Islam: Gender, Politics and Shari'a Law, Routledge, 2011. Forthcoming.

Chapters in Books

  • "Nisā'al-Jazā'ir fī Muwājahat Qānūn al-Usra", in Nadia Mahmud, Huqūq al-mar'a: Huqūq al-Insān, London: MECWS, 2000.
  • "Algerian Women, Citizenship, and the 'Family Code'", in Caroline Sweetman (ed.), Gender, Development, and Citizenship, Oxfam Publications, 2004.
  • "Maghrebi Women and the Challenge of Modernity: Breaking the Women's Silence", in Naomi Sakr (ed.), Women and Media in the Middle East: Power through Self-Expression, I B Tauris, 2004.
  • "Gendering the Imperial City: London in Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North" in Zahia Smail Salhi and Ian Richard Netton (eds.) The Arab Diaspora: Voices of an Anguished Scream, Routledge: 2006.
  • "Algerian Women as Actors of Change and Social Cohesion", in Fatima Sadiqi, Women as Agents of Change in the Middle East and North Africa. Routledge: 2010.
  • "Gender and Violence in Algeria: Women's Resistance to the Islamist Femicide", in Zahia Salhi, Gender and Diversity in the Middle East and North Africa, Edited Volume, Routledge, 2010.
  • "Heard/Symbolic Voices: The Nouba of the Women of Mont Chenoua and Women's Film in the Maghreb", in Lina Khatib, The Form and Content of Story Telling in World Cinema, Wallflower Press, 2010.

Academic Journal Articles

     

  • "The Genesis of French Writing in Colonial Algeria", International Journal of Francophone Studies, vol.1, no.2, 1998.
  • "Evolution of the Female Character in the Early Novels of Mohammed Dib" International Journal of Francophone Studies, vol.3, no.1, 2000.
  • "Language as Identity in Colonial and Post-Colonial Algeria" Offshoot: Journal of Translation and Comparative Studies, vol.3, no.2, 2000.
  • "Wounded Smile: Women, Politics and the Culture of Betrayal". Critique: Journal of Critical Studies of the Middle East, No. 18, Spring 2001.
  • "Mina al-Dhāt al-Fardiya ila al-Dhāt al-Jamā'iya: al-Masīra al-Riwā'iya li al-Mar'a al-Jazā'iriya", Offshoot: Journal of Translation and Comparative Studies, vol.4, no.1, 2001.
  • "Algerian Women, Citizenship, and the 'Family Code'", in Gender and Development, Vol.11, No3, November 2003.
  •  "Memory, Gender, and National Identity in the Work of Assia Djebar", in Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writings. Vol.4, No.1, 2004.
  • "Between the Languages of Silence and the Woman's Word: Gender and Language in the Work of Assia Djebar" in International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Special Issue on "Language and Gender in the Mediterranean Region", vol. 190, 2008.
  • "Colonial Visual Representations of the 'Femmes d'Alger'", in The Middle East Journal of Culture and Communications, issue 1, vol.1, 2008
  • "The Algerian Feminist Movement between Nationalism, Patriarchy and Islamism", Women's Studies International Forum, 2010. Forthcoming 

 

Non-refereed publications in newspapers and magazines

  • " Surat al-Mar'a fi Riwayat al-Khamsinat: al-Sura al-Ramziya", Al-Sharq al-Awsat, issue 594, 08 March 1995.
  • " Surat al-Mar'a fi Riwayat al-Khamsinat: al-Sura al-Waqi'iya al-Ijtima'iya ", Al-Sharq al-Awsat, issue 5942, 09 March 1995.
  • " Surat al-Mar'a fi Riwayat al-Khamsinat: al-Sura al-Nisa'iya  ", Al-Sharq al-Awsat, issue 5944, 10 March 1995.
  • " Al-Hawiya al-Masluba fi Riwayat Tifl al-Raml", Al-Sharq al-Awsat, issue 6215, October 1996.
  • "Min Su'al al-Dhat ila Wadh' al-Qanabil", Al Quds al-'Arabi, 25-08-1999.
  • " 'An Alam al-Nisa' wa al-Shams al-Llati Iswaddat fi al-Jaza'ir", Al Quds al-'Arabi, 27-08-1999.
  • "Fifty years of Mohammed Dib's Algerian Trilogy". BANIPAL: Magazine of Modern Arabic Literature, No.14, Summer 2002.

Contributions to Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

     

  • Seven long entries in Simon Gikandi (ed.), Encyclopaedia of African Literature, Routledge, 2002.
  • Eleven entries, in Margaret Majumdar ed., Francophone Studies: The Essential Glossary, Arnold, 2002).
  • Several long entries in Clive Carpenter (ed.), The World and its Peoples Encyclopaedia, The Brown Reference Group plc, 2005.
  • A 600 word entry (review and expanding of existing article) on "Arabic Literature", in Encarta Encyclopedia, 2005.
  • A 1000 word entry on "Women, Gender and Sexualities: Representations in Print, Broadcast, and Electronic Media: North Africa" in Suad Joseph, Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures. Brill Academic Publishers, 2007.
  • "Ahlam Mostghanemi" 3000 word essay in  Michael R Fischbach, Biographical Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, Thomson Gale: 2007.
  • Several entries in Women Writing Africa: the northern region, New York: Feminist Press, 2009. (these research entries involve selecting rare texts, translating them into English and writing of critical commentaries).
  • "Women in Islam" 2000 word essay in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages, together with 10 shorter entries.  Forthcoming

Book Reviews

 

I am a regular reviewer for:

 

  • The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
  • Journal of Middle Eastern Women Studies
  • BANIPAL

Editorial Work

  1. Book Reviews Editor: The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2000-2008.
  2. Guest Editor: Gender and Diversity in the Middle East and North Africa, A Special Issue of The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 35, No 3, December 2008.
  3. Associate Editor: Women Writing Africa: the northern region, New York: Feminist Press, 2009 (Contribution consisted of collecting rare texts by women of the region, translating them and writing a commentary. Also contributed to the writing of the Introduction to the volume). This volume is currently being translated into French.
  4. Editorial Board member: The International Journal of Francophone Studies, 1998-Present.
  5. Editorial Board member: The Middle East Journal of Culture and Communications, 2007- Present.
  6. Editorial Board member: Women's Studies International Forum, 2008-Present.

Public/Guest Lectures

 

  1. University of Edinburgh, Institute for the Study of the Arab World and Islam, delivered a paper on "Women, Politics and the Culture of Betrayal", 02 May 2000.
  2. United Nations group in Sheffield: delivered a lecture on "Gender and Development in the Middle East", 06 May 2002.
  3. University of Dublin, Trinity College: delivered a lecture on "Women in Islam", 15 May 2002.
  4. Manchester University, The Middle Eastern Department: delivered a lecture on "Cinema in the Maghreb", 04 December 2003.
  5. University of Leeds, Centre for Continuing Education, "Women and Shari'a Law", March 2004.
  6. University of Exeter, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, "Maghrebi Women's Cinema", 04 May 2005.
  7. University of London (Royal Holloway) Screen Studies Group, "The Form and Context of Storytelling in World Cinema", 10 March 2006.
  8. University of Oxford, BRISMES Graduate Conference, "Publishing Journal Articles and Book Reviews", 06 July 2007.
  9. University of Durham, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, "Gender and Language", 05 February 2008.
  10. CASAW: University of Durham, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, "Globalisation in Arab(ic) Literature and Culture", 03 October 2008.
  11. University of Leeds, The Department of Politics and International Studies, "Resisting Gender Violence: the case of Algeria", 18 February 2009.
  12. University of Manchester, The Department of Modern Languages, "The Algerian Feminist Movement", 18 December 2009.U
  13. University of London, SOAS, "Algerian Feminist Literature", 9 February 2010.

Conference Papers

  1. Salford University, International Conference on Translation, Identity and Modernity: The Case of Arabic, delivered a dissertation on 'Language as Identity in Colonial and Post-colonial Algeria', 20-22 November 1998.
  2. SOAS, London, Nadwat al-Qissa al-'Irāqyiya wa al-Thaqāfa al-'Arabiyya. International Conference. Delivered a paper: 'Al-Bahth 'an al-Dhāt al-Unthawiyya fī al-Riwāya al Nissā'iyya fī al-Jazā'ir', 24-26 July 1999.
  3. University of Kent, Inscriptions of Identity in the Discourse of Arab Women, Delivered a paper: 'Gender and Politics in H.Al-Shaykh's The Story of Zahra', 20 November 1999.
  4. University of Leeds, CIGS, Gendering Ethics/ The Ethics of Gender. Delivered a paper: 'The Code of Infamy: Algerian Women Face the Family Code', and chaired a number of panels. 23-25 June 2000.
  5. Edinburgh University, Literature and Nationalism in the Middle East and North Africa. Delivered a paper: 'Gender and National Identity in the Work of Assia Djebar'. 10-13 July 2000.
  6. The Department of English, The University of Kuwait, delivered a paper on 'Stereotyping, Prejudice and Race: Colonial Encounters East and West', 17-19 March 2001. Kuwait.
  7. The Department of English, Ege University, International Cultural Studies Symposium, 'Gender and Identity in the Foreign City', 5-7 May 2004. Turkey.
  8. SOAS, University of London, BRISMES Annual conference, 'London in Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North', 4-7 July 2004. UK.
  9. European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, 'Women between Private and Public Spheres', 16-20 March 2005. Italy.
  10. European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, 'Unveiling the Veil: Unity in Diversity', 22-26 March 2006. Italy.
  11. Institute for the Study of the Arab World and Islam, University of Edinburgh, 'Workshop on Conducting Fieldwork in the Middle East', 12 Feb.2007, UK.
  12. The International Forum on Migration and Globalisation, 'Portrayals of Migration in Maghrebi Literature: the early beginnings', 13-15 January 2009. Fes, Morocco.
  13. Leeds Humanities Research Institute, 'Portrayals of the Occident in North African Fiction', 6 March 2009.
  14. American University in Beirut, 'Evaluating the Maghrebi Feminist Movements', The Arab Feminist Movements:  The Lebanese BAHITHAT Group Conference, 04-07 October 2009.

External Positions and Membership of Societies

  1. Executive Director of BRISMES: The British Society of Middle Eastern Studies, September 2008- Present.
  2. Member of the British Academy Area Panel for Middle East and North Africa
  3. Member of UKCASA: United Kingdom Council for Area Studies Associations.
  4. Member of the WOCMES Council: World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies
  5. Executive committee member in the Centre for Gender Studies at Leeds University, 2000- Present.
  6. Executive committee member in the Institute for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies at Leeds University
  7. Member of the Management Board of the Centre for Global Development @Leeds, University of Leeds.
  8. Member of AMEWS: Association for Middle East Women Studies

Training and Supervision of Research Students

(i) Recently awarded

  1. Ratna R. Abdul Razak: 'Al-Mutanabbi: A Humanistic Psychological Approach'. Ph.D. June 2000.
  2. Nasser S. Al-Samaany: ' Travel Literature of Moroccan Pilgrims during the 17-19th centuries: Thematic and Artistic Study'. Ph.D., October 2000.
  3. Sharifa K.N. Al-Yahya'i: ' The Early Beginnings of al-Qasida al-Hurra in the Gulf States: 1970s-1980s'. Ph.D., May 2001.
  4. Marisa Farrugia: 'The Plight of Women in Egyptian Cinema'. Ph.D., September 2002.
  5. Abeer Al-Abbasi: 'Abbasid Children Literature', MA, January 2003. Distinction
  6. Jonathan Moore: Exploring Social Margins within Society in Ahdaf Soueif's In the Eye of the Sun and Hanan Al-Shaykh's Only in London', MA, September 2003.
  7. Abdullah Almeflh: 'Saudi Poetry in the Last Quarter of the 20th Century: A Creative Analysis', Ph.D., March 2004.
  8. Ilham Al-Shallal: 'The Image of Women in the Work of T. Al-Hakim: A Critical and Analytical Study', Ph.D., September 2004.
  9. Mansour Mohsen Dhabab: 'Representations of the Western Other in Early Arabic Novels (1850-1915)', Ph.D., November 2005.
  10. Firdaus Isap, 'Quseir and the Hajj', MA, 2006
  11. Mona al-Omairi: 'The Reception Theory: A Study of Kuwaiti Theatre' (Ph.D), 2007.
  12. Abeer Al-Abbasi: 'Astrology in literature: how the prohibited became permissible in the Arabic poetry of the Mediaeval period', (Ph.D), 2008. Received the Leigh Douglas Memorial Prize for best thesis in the UK, 2009.
  13. Adel Al-Zahrani, 'Innovation in Arabic Literature', (MAR), 2009.

(ii) Ongoing

  1. Zubeida Metlo: 'Honour Killings amongst the Pakistani Diaspora in Watford' (Ph.D).
  2. Amina al-Rasheed: 'Sudanese Women: Exile, Politics, Islam and the State' (Ph.D).
  3. Hiam al-Ghoussi: 'Women's Rights in Islam and Contemporary Ulama' (Ph.D).
  4. Ahmed Mohamad Al-Shilabi, 'Occidentalism in the 20th C. Libyan Novel' (PhD)
  5. Dima Al-Adwan, 'Analytical Study of Literary Translation: Midaq Alley and Respected Sir as Case Study', (PhD)
  6. Wafa Dukmak, ' Harry Potter in Arabic: A Study of Translation Quality Assessment'(PhD)
  7. Idris Mansour, The Translation of Cultural Elements from Arabic into Malay in Rihlat ibn Battuta' (PhD)
  8. Abdullah al-Fawzan, 'The City in the Saudi Novel', (PhD)
  9. Hasan Jaber Al-Faify, 'Al-Khiyari's Travel and the representation of the Mental Images', (PhD)
  10. Alaa Hamdan, 'The representation of Muslims in selected post-colonial texts with particular regard to the question of Identity and Homeland', (PhD)
  11. Vahideh, Goldzar, 'Gender and Globalisation in Iran', (PhD)
  12. Mazin Al-Harthi, 'The Saudi Novel', (PhD)
  13. Adel Al-Zahrani, 'The Reception of the Poem of Modernism between English and Saudi Criticism', (PhD).
  14. Al-Khansa  al-Hadithi, 'Fatimid Women in Medieval Islam', (PhD)

Internal Examining (PhD and MA)

I have acted as internal examiner for 15 theses between AMES and CIGS.

Moderator and External Examiner of degree programmes

  1. Moderator of the Life Long Learning 'Arabic and Islamic Studies' Programme at Leeds University, 2000- present.
  2. Moderator for The School of Performance and Cultural Industries, at Leeds for the Bretton Hall extension in Israel. My work consisted on moderating the translation of the degree dissertation from Arabic into English (2002-2004).
  3. External Examiner for MA in Translation (Arabic-English-Arabic) University of Westminster, 2007-2012.
  4. External Examiner for BA Arabic programmes at the School of Modern Languages, University of Westminster, 2008-2012.
  5. External Examiner for Polylang Arabic Modules, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2008-2011.
  6. External Examiner for BA Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, Cambridge University, 2009-2010 ( in the first instance).

Assessor of Grant Applications

  • British Academy assessor for the International Partnership Scheme (2009-2010).
  • I have Peer Reviewed Grant Applications for the following bodies:
    - AHRC : Arts & Humanities Research Council
    - SSHRC: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Peer Review of Academic Journal Articles

I have refereed articles for the following journals:

  • Visual Anthropology Review
  • Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism
  • The Journal of Arabic Literature (JAL).
  • The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
  • Feminist Theory
  • Middle East Journal of Media, Communication and Culture
  • Women's Studies International Forum
  • Journal of New Cinemas
  • International Journal of Francophone Studies
  • Women's History Magazine
  • Modern Languages Reviews

Peer Review of Book Proposals

I am a regular reviewer of book proposals and manuscripts for Routledge.