Bodywork

Julie Archambault is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University and co-editor of AFRICA: Journal of the International Institute.

She received her PhD in anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) and held several teaching positions in England, including at the London School of Economics, the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford, before joining Concordia University in 2016.

Julie's work is based on ethnographic research in southern Mozambique and focuses on themes of intimacy, suburbanization, affect and embodiment. Cutting across much of her research is an interest in how materiality and temporality intersect in the crafting of lives worth living. She is the author of Mobile Secrets: Youth, Intimacy and the Politics of Pretense in Mozambique (2017) and her recent work has been published in American Ethnologist, Journal of Southern African Studies, Critique of Anthropology and City & Society. She is currently working on a book project on wellbeing and the cultural politics of sweat in Mozambique.  

In 2018, she started a FRQSC and SSHRC-funded project on wellness aspirations in Mozambique exploring urban exercise, community health and city-making in a context where overweight and obesity are becoming a growing concern. She has conducted research in various fitness sites in Mozambique, with a focus on community fitness, the appropriation of urban infrastructure and the development of health-conscious subjectivities.

To learn more about Julie's work, visit her research website.

After earning a Bachelor of Business Administration, Albane spent 12 years in international development and humanitarian work across Sub-Saharan Africa. As founder and director of the NGO TATU Project and later an HR Manager for Doctors Without Borders, she gained extensive field experience in community-based development work and humanitarian response.

In 2018, she returned to academia, studying social and cultural anthropology under Julie Soleil Archambault. Her master’s research explored how Maasai youth in Engaresero, Tanzania, navigate overlapping social systems — balancing pastoral traditions, education and tourism. In 2022, she began her PhD, researching chronic disease, informal care and wellbeing in Northern Tanzania, under Julie’s supervision.

In 2025, Albane will contribute to the SSHRC-funded project on wellbeing aspirations by conducting ethnographic work on the Kilimanjaro Marathon, in Tanzania, where she examines how body and health ideals are shaping and are shaped by fitness and running routines in a postcolonial context. 

Arlene holds a BA in clinical psychology, an MA in socio-cultural anthropology and is currently a PhD student in social and cultural analysis under the supervision of Julie Soleil Archambault. Her MA research explored the daily struggles and aspirations of tourism workers, focusing on the tension between fulfilling social and political roles and pursuing a better future. This work offered valuable insights into the challenges workers face within the tourism industry. She also has four years of experience with non-profit organizations in marginalized Mexican communities, which has deepened her commitment to understanding social inequalities and the role of cultural practices and labour in sustaining these populations.

Arlene’s current research lies at the articulation of socio-cultural anthropology, African studies, and tourism studies, with a focus on labour dynamics, aging, and political and economic struggles. She is specifically interested in the experiences of Zanzibar’s tourism workers, examining how aging impacts their roles in the industry and how these experiences relate to broader socio-cultural and economic patterns in East Africa.

In the SSHRC-funded project, Arlene’s role is to facilitate media communication and promotion, creating accessible content and using digital platforms to effectively share research findings with both academic and public audiences.