Zahia Smail Salhi

Postgraduate Opportunities

I supervise postgraduate research projects in the areas of Arabic literature classical and modern, Arabic culture and society, Women and gender in the Middle East and North Africa.

Personal

Training:

Licence (Les) Mouloud Mammeri University, Algeria

Ph.D.  Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter 

Academic Positions: 

Head of Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Leeds, (2006-2010) 

Co-Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW), University of Manchester, ( 2013-2016) 

Senior Lecturer, Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Leeds, (2002-2012) 

Lecturer, Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Leeds, (1997-2002) 

Research Fellow, Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter (1994-1997) 

Lecturer, Mouloud Mammeri University, Algeria (1991-1994).  

Memberships of academic and professional bodies

1. Member of Sub-panel 25 (Area Studies), Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) www.hefce.ac.uk/research/ref/, 2018-Present.
2. Member of Sub-panel 27 (Area Studies), Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) www.hefce.ac.uk/research/ref/, 2013-2014.
3. Vice-President of the British Society of Middle Eastern Studies, 2018-2019.
4. Executive Director of the British Society of Middle Eastern Studies, 2008- 2010.
5. Fellow of the British Society of Middle Eastern Studies, September 1998- Present.
6. Member of the International Advisory Council of the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, 2008- Present. 
7. Member of the Association for Middle East Women Studies, 2006-2010.
8. Member of the Arab Society of English Language Studies 2014-present.
9. Member of the Society for Algerian Studies, 2014-
10. Member of the British Society for Islamic Studies, 2014-2018.
11. Member of the British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society’s Book Prize Committee of Judges, 2008-2010.
12. Member of the British Academy Area Panel for Middle East and North Africa, 2008- 2010. 
13. Executive Member of Africa International Network 2020-
14. Member of British Association of Teachers of Arabic 2020-
15. Member of Maghreb Studies Association 2019-

Associate Editor: 

The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 2016-

Book Reviews Editor:

The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies ( 2000-2008)

Member of Editorial Board:

The International Journal of Francophone Studies, 1998-

The Middle East Journal of Culture and Communications, 2007- 2016.

Women’s Studies International Forum, 2008- .

New Area Studies, 2020-

Biography

Zahia Smail Salhi received her doctorate from the University of Exeter. She taught at the University of Leeds from 1998 to 2012. In January 2013 she joined the University of Manchester as Chair of Modern Arabic Studies. 

She served as Member of Sub-panel 27 (Area Studies), Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) www.hefce.ac.uk/research/ref/ (2013-2014).

She held the position of Co-director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW) from 2013-2016 and led the CASAW research network on Women, Empowerment, Citizenship and Development.

She is a fellow member of the British Society of Middle Eastern Studies, and served as its Executive Director from 2006 to 2008.

Currently, she is associate editor of the The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and served as its book reviews editor from 2000-2008. She serves as a member of the editorial board of Women Studies International Forum, The International Journal of Francophone Studies and New Area Studies.

She is member of the World Congress of Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES), and serves as a member of its International Advisory Council.

In the field of Arabic literature she served as a Member of the Committee of judges of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, 2012-2013, and a Member of the Committee of judges of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, 2016.

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.