Djelloul Ghaliya
Djelloul Ghaliya
Category : Letters - Languages - Islamic Sciences
DJELLOUL Ghaliya
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Sociologist and Researcher - PhD in Social Sciences IACCHOS Center - Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Belgium |
Fields of Specialization: Gender Sociology, Socio-anthropology of Islam, Women's Spatial Mobility, Islamic Feminism, Power Dynamics in Algeria, Islam in Europe
Origins & Education
Ghaliya Djelloul represents a new generation of researchers who combine academic rigor with social engagement in the study of gender issues in contemporary Muslim societies. Her educational background, marked by excellence and interdisciplinarity, demonstrates a commitment to understanding social issues through diverse methodological approaches.
International Education:
Her education began with a degree in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, a world-renowned institution in the study of geopolitical and diplomatic issues. This training provides her with a global understanding of international issues and mechanisms of global governance, a perspective that would later enrich her sociological analyses.
She then continued her studies in sociology, first at the University of Geneva, then at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), where she refined her specialization in the study of social relations and gender dynamics. This dual Franco-Belgian education allows her to acquire a comparative perspective on European sociological approaches.
Her doctoral journey, completed at UCLouvain, constitutes the decisive moment of her academic specialization. Her thesis, focusing on "the reconfiguration of the field of power in Algeria," is based on a rigorous ethnographic methodology centered on the study of spatial mobility of women residing in peripheral neighborhoods of Algiers.
This doctoral research reveals the originality of her methodological approach, which consists of analyzing the political and social transformations of contemporary Algeria through the prism of women's experience of urban space. This innovative perspective allows her to grasp the mutations of Algerian political power through careful observation of women's daily practices and their mobility strategies.
Scientific Career
Ghaliya Djelloul currently holds a researcher position at the Interdisciplinary Center for Studies of Islam in the Contemporary World (IACCHOS) at the Catholic University of Louvain. This center, internationally recognized for its research on contemporary Islam, provides an ideal framework for developing her work on gender issues in Muslim societies.
Her research is structured around three main axes that demonstrate the coherence and originality of her scientific program. The first axis concerns the study of gender relations and their evolution in Muslim societies, with particular attention to the Algerian case that she knows intimately.
Research Axes:
1. Spatial Mobility and Gender: She analyzes how women's spatial mobility in Algeria reveals and transforms social and political power relations. Her research shows that the study of women's movements in urban space constitutes a privileged indicator of contemporary social transformations.
2. Islam and Feminism: She develops critical reflection on Islamic feminism in Europe, exploring possible articulations between religious engagement and egalitarian claims, questioning traditional boundaries between secularism and spirituality.
3. Socio-anthropology of Islam: Her work contributes to a better understanding of contemporary religious dynamics, particularly in their interactions with gender and citizenship issues.
Her methodological approach is characterized by the combination of in-depth ethnographic observations and theoretical sociological analyses. This approach allows her to grasp the complexity of social phenomena by articulating the analysis of concrete practices with understanding of the social structures that underlie them.
In the European context, her research on Islam in Europe, and particularly on the journeys of Belgian Muslim feminists, provides valuable insight into the processes of integration and identity negotiation of Muslim populations in Western Europe.
Distinctions & Recognition
Best Francophone Thesis Prize:
Ghaliya Djelloul received the prestigious Best Francophone Thesis Prize (Maghreb) on the Middle East and Muslim Worlds, a distinction that recognizes the excellence of her doctoral research and its original contribution to understanding contemporary Muslim societies. This recognition testifies to the exceptional quality of her academic work and its impact on the specialized scientific community.
Financial support from the Baillet Latour Fund, which finances the Contemporary Islam Chair at UCLouvain, constitutes institutional recognition of the importance of her research. This prestigious funding enables the development of ambitious research programs on contemporary Islam and demonstrates confidence in her scientific orientations.
Her publications in leading academic journals, as well as her contributions to collective works, attest to peer recognition and the impact of her work on the international scientific community specialized in Islamic studies and gender sociology.
Impact & Influence
The scientific impact of Ghaliya Djelloul is measured primarily by her contribution to renewing methodological approaches in the study of contemporary Muslim societies. Her feminist and sociological approach to gender relations in Algeria has considerably influenced contemporary studies on women's mobility and power dynamics in Maghreb countries.
Key Publications:
• "The media laughter of Sheikh Chemsedine el Djazaïri, a decoy mirror of the 'neo-authoritarian' media order in Algeria" (RSA, 2018)
• "Between constraint and release, women's spatial mobility in the periphery of Algiers" (Metropolitiques, 2018)
• "Space, gender and religion: study of urban moral order in the periphery of Algiers" (Érès, 2018)
• "Islamic feminism through the prism of decoloniality" (Revue nouvelle, 2018)
• "Journeys of Belgian Muslim feminists" (Academia L'Harmattan, 2014)
Her research contributes significantly to contemporary reflection on women's place in the public space of Muslim societies. By analyzing female mobility strategies, she reveals how women negotiate and transform the spatial and social constraints imposed on them, thus contributing to a renewed understanding of female agency in these contexts.
Her work on Islamic feminism constitutes a major contribution to contemporary debates on the articulation between spirituality and gender equality. By questioning traditional boundaries between secular feminism and religious engagement, she opens new theoretical perspectives that influence academic and activist reflections in this field.
Beyond the academic circle, her research nourishes public debates on the integration of Muslim populations in Europe and on gender equality issues in multicultural societies. Her analyses provide valuable expertise to policymakers and social actors engaged in these issues.
Her influence is also manifested through the training of young researchers whom she supervises and inspires, thus contributing to the transmission and renewal of methodological approaches in her field of specialization.
To Learn More
Academic and Professional Profiles:
• Official UCLouvain page • Academia.edu profile • ResearchGate profile • LinkedIn profileMain Publications:
• "Parcours de féministes musulmanes belges. De l'engagement dans l'islam aux droits des femmes" (Journeys of Belgian Muslim Feminists. From Engagement in Islam to Women's Rights), Academia L'Harmattan, 2014
• "Le féminisme islamique au prisme de la décolonialité. Dépasser l'horizon postcolonial pour envisager un féminisme pluriversel ?" (Islamic Feminism through the Prism of Decoloniality. Going Beyond the Postcolonial Horizon to Envision a Pluriversal Feminism?), Revue nouvelle, 2018
• "Espace, genre et religion : étude de l'ordre moral urbain en périphérie d'Alger à partir de l'enjeu de la mobilité spatiale des femmes" (Space, Gender and Religion: Study of Urban Moral Order in the Periphery of Algiers Based on Women's Spatial Mobility Issues), Érès, 2018
Institutional Affiliation:
• Interdisciplinary Center for Studies of Islam in the Contemporary World (IACCHOS)
• Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Belgium
• Contemporary Islam Chair (Baillet Latour Fund financing)