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Department ofFrench and Francophone Studies
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Hanan Elsayed

Hanan Elsayed

Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies and African Studies
hbe5081@psu.edu
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Fields

20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone literatures from Africa and the Mashreq; Sufi thought and poetics in literatures in French and Arabic; Early Islamic historiography; Race and identity in France; French colonial discourse and legacy

Education

Ph.D., French, Rutgers University, 2010
Graduate Cerfiticate, African Studies, Rutgers University, 2010
M.A., French, Rutgers University, 2005
B.A., French, Montclair State University, 2002
Certificate in Translation, Montclair State University, 2002

Professional Bio

Born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, Hanan Elsayed’s interdisciplinary research explores the intersections of literature, history, and Sufism, with a particular emphasis on discourse analysis. She has a longstanding interest in medieval Arabic scholarship, in the representations of Islam in France, as well as cinema and translation. Her first book analyses the various ways Francophone authors from the Maghreb have engaged with historical, religious, and scholarly works to craft fictional narratives of early Islam. Her current book project delves into the significance of the desert for both literati and Sufis, as well as the colonial environmental discourse surrounding arid landscapes.

Publications:

Monograph

L’Histoire sacrée de l’Islam dans la fiction maghrébine (Paris: Karthala, 2016)

Co-edited Volume

Balibar and the Citizen Subject (Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh UP, 2017)

Articles and book chapters (selection)

“Race.” in Thinking with Balibar: A Lexicon of Conceptual Practice. Eds. Ann Laura Stoler, Stathis Gourgouris, Jacques Lezra. New York, NY: Fordham UP, 2020. Pp. 193-210.

“The Trial of Meursault: Inquests and Counter-Inquests.” Romanic Review 111.2 (2020): 316-332.

“Tombeau d'Ibn Arabi: ‘It is Ibn Arabi speaking’.” Expressions maghrébines 16. 2 (2017): 117-134.

“La Haine: Falling in Slow Motion.” In Balibar and the Citizen Subject. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh UP, 2017. Pp. 235-252.

Introduction. Balibar and the Citizen Subject. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh UP, 2017. Pp. 12-27.

“Early Islamic Historiography: The Background and Sources of Loin de Médine.” Approaches to Teaching the Works of Assia Djebar. Ed. Anne Donadey. New York, NY: PMLA, 2017.

“Coran et subversion dans Le Silence de Mahomet.” French Review 88.2 (2014): 89-102.

“‘Silence’ and Historical Tradition in Assia Djebar’s Loin de Médine.” Research in African Literatures 44.1 (2013): 91-105.

https://www.karthala.com/accueil/3063-l-histoire-sacree-de-l-islam-dans-la-fiction-maghrebine-9782811116439.html

https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-balibar-and-the-citizen-subject.html