Professor Kamal Salhi

Profile

The Chair

I hold an interdisciplinary Chair in Francophone, Postcolonial and North African Studies in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies. This chair developed over the years to include cultures and cultural history, cultural anthropology, religion and the performing arts, politics and aesthetics of cultural and intellectual production, language and cultural policies, educational and teaching materials, representations of women and gender. The impact of colonial legacies, the contemporary changing political cultures, and the presence of France in former colonies and protectorates inform these strands, geographically covering North Africa, the Middle East/the Arab World and South Asia. The primary rationale of this chair is that more than three quarter of the world population, have their lives shaped by the experience of colonialism, powerfully encoded in the contemporary visual, written and performed expressions, thus the need to renew the traditional discipline by generating new conceptual framework and knowledge and providing direction.   

Having won a bid from the Leeds University Development and Investment Research Fund, I founded and directed the first Centre for Francophone Studies in the UK and probably elsewhere, based in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies. I also founded and edited the first International Journal of Francophone Studies of its kind, and created the first MA in Francophone Studies. With these innovative activities and a substantive teaching portfolio of specialist modules, sustained by a published critical mass, I established the field of Francophone Postcolonial Studies at Leeds, which has expanded the traditional French department into the subject area of French and Francophone Studies of the school. 
Having also won another award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the Economic and Social Research Council, I completed a project with Distinction, on ‘performance, politics, and piety: music as debate in North Africa, Asia and their Diasporas’. This project has set up the first international network of its kind, developing a unique field of ‘Islam and the performing arts’, sustained by the international journal Performing Islam which I founded and continue to edit. The journal investigates the problematics of religion in society in the context of contemporary Islam through the dynamics of different kinds of performances and art form. The result of this project also include my book, Music, Culture and Identity in the Muslim World: Performance, Politics and Piety, (Routledge, 2014); and articles, “Zwischen Entgrenzung und Einheit”, (Steidl, 2019); “The Power of Music in Islam and the Muslim World (Steidl, 2020). 

I am now taking Francophone postcolonial and North African studies beyond the confines of one Subject into the subject area of Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, to facilitate a strong synergising base of interdisciplinary cultures in the school that would fit within and feed into the existing faculty research projects, centres and institutes. I am encouraging the formation of a school interdisciplinary 'new cultures' group who will seek external funding, in order to make research in new cultures a project for practical use by the public and public enterprise. Policy-makers and politicians seek to understand these transformations and adapt to new realities. 

 

Education

Following a successful French-based secular education, speaking and writing Berber and Arabic, and having attended a liberal Zawiya school where I learned the Qur’an, I worked as a high-school teacher. I then studied law and politics at the University of Aix-en-Provence and taught at Ecole Nouvelle Internationale Libre in Marseille. I received training in cinema and theatre, and staged my own plays, made documentaries and co-directed a full-length film in French and Berber about the Franco-Algerian conflict. I travelled around North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and North America for research purposes. I followed with MPhil, PhD with Distinction in an interdisciplinary field mobilising literature, drama, language and political history including my annotated translation of a play, at the University of Exeter. At Leeds, I took the certificate and diploma in learning and teaching in higher education. In 2017 and 2019, I received the Partnership Award for postgraduate research supervision, preceded by several award nominations for inspirational and innovative teaching in the previous years. On several occasions, I took professorial appointments in North America and North Africa. 

Selected awards, distinctions and visiting professorships 

2019: University of Leeds Faculty Partnership Award for Supervisor 
2017: University of Leeds Partnership Award for Supervisor 
2014, 2015, 2016: Nominations for Inspirational Teaching, and Innovation 
2014 - : Visiting Professorships. University of Algiers and Tizi-Ouzou. Algeria 
2013: Arts and Humanities Research Council / Economic and Social Research Council. Distinction for Successful Completion of Project for leadership, management and outstanding quality of research outcome and impact 
2008/9: Visiting fellowship. Claremont McKenna College - California 
2007: Federal Endowment for Humanities Chair in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. State University of Oregon
2007 – 2011: Knudson Visiting French and Francophone Studies. Department of French. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2006: International Council Chair in the Department of French. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1994/95: Arts and Humanities Research Board / British Council Fellowship in the Department of Drama. University of Exeter
1889 – 1991: British Council Doctoral Fellowship in the School of English, University of Exeter
1985: The Golden Egg Prize for Best Film at the International Festival of Young Talents, Algeria
1984: Jury Prize at the Festival International du Film de Mons, Belgium

 

Publications

Books and specialised volumes 

1. Kamal Salhi (ed), Translating Colonial Legacy into Postcolonial Conflict, 146pp., International Journal of Francophone Studies, Vol.19.2, 2016. 
2. Kamal Salhi (ed), Music, Culture and Identity in the Muslim World: Performance, Politics and Piety, 302pp. (Routledge, 2014). 
3. Kamal Salhi (ed) Francophone Postcolonial Cinema, 160pp., New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary film, Vol. 14.3, 2011. 
4. Kamal Salhi (ed), Littérature-monde en français, 376pp., International Journal of Francophone Studies. Vol.12.2/3, 2009. 
5. Kamal Salhi (ed), Francophone Post-colonial Cultures, 471pp. (Lexington Books – Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). 
6. Kamal Salhi (ed), French in and out of France. Language Policies, Intercultural Antagonisms and Dialogue, 487 pp. (Peter Lang, 2002). 
7. Kamal Salhi (ed), Francophone Studies: Discourse and Identity, 265pp. (Elm Bank Publications, 2000). 
8. Kamal Salhi (monograph), The Politics and Aesthetics of Kateb Yacine. From Francophone Literature to Popular Theatre, 448 pp. (Mellen Press, 1999). 
9. Kamal Salhi (ed), Francophone Voices, 248pp. (Elm Bank Publications, 1999). 
10. Kamal Salhi (ed), Francophone Theatre, Special Edition, International Journal of Francophone Studies, 85pp. (Intellect Books, 1999).
11. Kamal Salhi (ed), African Theatre for Development: Art for self-determination, 199pp. (Intellect Books, 1998).
 
Minigraphs (substantial refereed studies)

1. Kamal Salhi, “Women in Algeria”, in Dorothy Hodgson and Thomas Spear (eds), A History of African Women, (Oxford University Press, 2020). 
2. Kamal Salhi, “Assia Djebar at the Académie Française: Performing legacy and memory”, 55 pp., in Journal of Commonwealth and postcolonial Studies, New Series. Vol. 4.2. 2017. 3-56. 
3. Kamal Salhi, “The Colonial Legacy of French and Subsequent Postcolonial Policy”, 40 pp., in European Journal of Language Policy, Vol. 5.2, 2013. 187-224. 
4. Kamal Salhi, “Recontextualizing and Reconfiguring Cultural Identity in Contemporary North Africa”, 49 pp., in Journal for African Culture and Society, Vol. 41, 2012. 405-452.
5. Kamal Salhi, “Imaging Silence—Representing Women: Moufida Tlatli's Silences of the Palace and North African Feminist Cinema”, 28 pp., in Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Vol. 24.4, 2007. 352-377.
6. Kamal Salhi, “Essentials for Rethinking Postcolonial Cultures: The Problematic of Minoritizing in North Africa”, 64pp., in N. Boudraa and J. Krausse, Mosaic North Africa: a Cultural Re-appraisal of Ethnic and Religious Minorities, pp. 26-88 (Cambridge Scholars, 2007).
7. Kamal Salhi, “Slimane Benaïssa from Exile in the Theatre to Theatre in Exile: Ambiguous Traumas and Conflicts in the Algerian Diasporic Drama”, 36 pp., in Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 18, 2006. 373-407. 
8. Kamal Salhi, “Theatre of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia”, 41 pp., in Martin Banham, A History of Theatre in Africa, (Cambridge University Press, 2004). 37-76.

Selection of articles in refereed journals and parts of books and volumes

1. Salhi, Kamal, “The Power of Music in Islam and the Muslim World”, in Herausgegeben von Graetz, Ronald and Hoeppner, Christian (eds), Music Opens Up Worlds: Shaping International Relations, Steidl, 2020. 
2. Salhi, Kamal, “Zwischen Entgrenzung und Einheit”, in Herausgegeben von Graetz, Ronald und Hoeppner, Christian (eds) Musik öffnet Welten : Zur Gestaltung internationaler Kulturbeziehungen, pp. 216-225, (Steidl, 2019).
3. Kamal Salhi, “The Paradigm of Performing Islam beyond the Poltical Rhetoric”, in K. Salhi (ed), Music, Culture and Identity in the Muslim World: Performance, Politics and Piety. pp. 1-15, Routledge, 2014). 
4. Kamal Salhi, “French From Within: Colonial Legacy and Postcolonial Policy of the French Language in Africa”, in H. Adlai Murdoch and Zsuzsanna Fagyal (eds), Francophone Cultures and Geographies of Identity, pp. 309-330, (Cambridge: CSP, 2013).
5. Kamal Salhi, “Religion in francophone postcolonial literatures of North and Sub-Saharan Africa”, in Prem Poddar, Rajeev Patke, Lars Jensen (eds), Postcolonial Literatures: Continental Europe and its Empires, pp. 178-183, (Edinburgh University Press, 2007).
6. Kamal Salhi, “Visualising postcolonial cultural politics in Algeria: from state cinema to cinéma d’auteur” Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 13:4, pp. 441 – 454, (2009).
7. Kamal Salhi, “Rethinking Francophone Culture: Africa and the Caribbean between History and Theory”, Research in African Literatures, Vol. 35.1, pp. 9-29, (2004).
8. Kamal Salhi, “Cheikh Anta Diop”, in Christopher John Murray (ed), Encyclopaedia of Modern French Thought, pp. 177-180, (Routledge, 2004).
9. Kamal Salhi, “The Pragmatics and Aesthetics of Kateb Yacine Theatre Practice”, in Biodun Jeyifo, Modern African Drama, A Norton Critical Edition, pp. 515-522 ( W.W.Norton & Company 2002).
10. Kamal Salhi and Henri Jeanjean, “France and her Linguistic Minorities: A Case of ‘Domestic Colonialism’ in Occitania”, in K. Salhi (ed.), French in and out of France. Language Policies, Intercultural Antagonisms and Dialogue, pp. 137-168 (Peter Lang, 2002).
11. Kamal Salhi, “Critical Imperatives of the French Language in the Francophone World: Colonial Legacy – Postcolonial Policy”, Current Issues in Language Planning, Vol. 3:3, pp. 317-345, (2002).
12. Kamal Salhi, “Language and Society in the Middle East and North Africa: studies in variation and identity”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 28:1, pp. 126-130, (2001). 
13. Kamal Salhi and Daniela Merolla, “Discourse and Identification in Franco-Berber Writing”, in Kamal Salhi (ed.), Francophone Studies: discourse and identity, pp.121-145 (Elm Bank Publications, 2000).
14. Kamal Salhi and George Alao, “Discourse in the Periodical of Twentieth-Century Benin”, in K. Salhi (ed.), Francophone Studies: discourse and identity, pp.19-42 (Elm Bank Publications, 2000).
15. Kamal Salhi and Mamouda Mbemap, “Franco-Ivorian Discourse and Counter Discourse: Legitimisation and Dissent”, in K. Salhi (ed.), Francophone Studies: discourse and identity, pp.43-83 (Elm Bank Publications, 2000)
16. Kamal Salhi, “Approaches to Francophone Studies”, in K. Salhi (ed.), Francophone Studies: Discourse and Identity, pp.1-17 (Elm Bank Publications, 2000)
17. Kamal Salhi, “Theatre, Politics and National Identity: the Ambiguous Compromise”, Journal of Algerian Studies, 4&5, 111-132, (1999/2000).
18. Kamal Salhi, “Assia Djebar Speaking”, International Journal of Francophone Studies, Vol.2:3, pp. 168-179, (1999).
19. Kamal Salhi, “Narrating the Algerian Nation”, Bulletin of Francophone Africa, Vol.14, pp.41-68, (1999).
20. Kamal Salhi, “Les arts et la démocratisation dans les pays du tiers-monde”, Social and Human Sciences Review, pp. 28-43 (1995).
21. Kamal Salhi, “The issue of Language in North African Postcolonial Literature”, ESPACES, 2, pp. 33-52 (1994).

Founder and Editor of Leading journals 

1. International Journal of Francophone Studies. Premiere bilingual journal in Francophone postcolonial studies.
2. Performing Islam. An international journal which investigates the problematics of religion in society in the context of contemporary Islam through the dynamics of different kinds of performances and art form. 

Research interests

My research lies in cultures and areas of the Francophone world, North Afria, the Middle East and their diasporas, in colonial and postcolonial contexts, including contemporary developments. Particular interests in the politics, history and aesthetics of these regions’ cultural production (written, visualised, and performed). Methodological approaches include cultural anthropology, postcolonial / decolonial theories, cultural and language policies. Developing interest in educational materials. 

I have led, supervised and mentored research projects and research profiles, and examined research work and provided consultancies.  

Could offer research supervision in

• Any apsect of the history, politics and aesthetics of the colonial, postcolonial and decolonial literary, visual, and performing expressions and cultures.
• The analysis of the cultural, educational and intellectual production of the Francophone world, North Afria, the Middle East and their diasporas, in colonial and postcolonial contexts, including contemporary developments.
• Language, cultural and educational policies, language history, and the study of identity in the above regions and their diasporas.
• Represenations of women in the above regions and their diasporas.
• Islam, spirituality and the performing arts.
• Cultural and social movements in the above regions and their diasporas.

Recent and current doctoral research supervision (PhD)

Amira Zouaoui (primary, lead supervisor 2015-18); (Re-)constructing Algerian Postcolonial Identity Through Foreign Language Textbooks.

Lynda Zeroukhi (lead supervisor), (Re-)construction of Gender in Postcolonial Foreign Language Textbooks in Algeria.

Sadia Seddiki (sole supervisor), The Representation of Algerian Women in Mid-Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Travel Books by British and American Male and Female Authors.

Dihia Chougar (primary, lead supervisor); Performing Resistance: A Study of African Postcolonial Literature.

Salima Benouargla (primary, lead supervisor); Graffiti as an art of resistance: A study of contemporary North African street walls.

Fatima-Zohra Berkane (primary, lead supervisor); National consciousness Mohammed Dib’s work  and its adaptation into television drama series.

Nour El Houda Sidhoum (primary, lead supervisor); Critical Study of postcolonial Language Policies in Algeria.

Chahrazed Tifouti (primary, lead supervisor); The Politics and Aesthetics of Algerian Cinema of Sid Ali Mazif: Women from Contest to Self-determination.

Wafa Qasem H Alzahrani (primary, lead supervisor); Language policies in Saudi Arabia and their critical effect in Saudi universities.

Nasim Mohiman (primary, lead supervisor); An Analysis of Humour in Interaction in Iran.

Bushra Alsulami (co-supervisor); Saudi Women's Writing.

Lama Alqurashi (co-supervisor); Investigating Features and Techniques for Arabic Poetry Authorship Attribution.

Afyaa Alburaidi (co-supervisor); Representations of Saudi Arabia and the Saudis in English Translation of Saudi Fiction, 1980-2019.

 

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Research groups and institutes

• French
• Theatre, Music and Performance
• Politics
• Centre for World Literatures

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>