Hanan Elsayed
Fields
20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone literatures from the Maghreb, West Africa, and the Mashreq; Sufi thought and poetics in French and Arabic literatures; Early Islamic historiography; Race and identity; the French colonial legacy; and colonial environmental discourse.Education
Professional Bio
Hanan Elsayed’s interdisciplinary research explores the intersections of literature, history, and Islam, as well as translation and cinema. In her first book, L’Histoire sacrée de l’Islam dans la fiction maghrébine (Karthala, 2016), she examines early Arabic historiography firsthand (Ṭabarī, Ibn Saʿd, Ibn Hishām), along with a range of modern Arabic and Western works (Watt, Rodinson…) that have served as sources for Francophone Maghrebi authors crafting fictional narratives about early Islam. By analyzing the borrowings and varied engagements with the sources, she uncovers the elements of fiction and narrative creativity within four novels in French. Professor Elsayed’s enduring interest in medieval Arabic scholarship encompassed an exploration of the concepts of subject and citizen within the Arab-Islamic tradition, expanding the framework beyond its traditional European context. This research was included in a book collection on contemporary French philosopher Etienne Balibar, Balibar and the Citizen Subject (Edinburgh UP, 2017). In recent years, she has focused her work on race, ethnicity, and colonial environmental discourse. Currently, she is working on a book project that examines the significance of the desert for Sufis and literati, exploring how these landscapes have shaped their spiritual journeys and writings.
Publications
Book
L’Histoire sacrée de l’Islam dans la fiction maghrébine (Paris: Karthala, 2016)
Reviews
Catherine Perry, The French Review, vol 92.1 (2018): 253-254.
Touria Khannous, L’Esprit Créateur, vol 58.1 (2018): 146.
Edited Volume
Balibar and the Citizen Subject, co-edited with Warren Montag (Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh UP, 2017)
Articles and book chapters (selection)
“The Desert, Poetry and Ibn ʿArabī.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (Fall 2024).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13530194.2024.2423720
“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.