Linda Darwish

Linda graduated from Concordia in 2009 with a PhD from the Department of Religions and Cultures. Studying at Concordia gave Linda the opportunity to study with fabulous professors whose words continue to inspire her, as well as the privilege of teaching courses in my discipline.

Her dissertation is entitled Texts of Tension, Spaces of Empowerment: Migrant Muslims and the Limits of Shi‘ite Legal Discourse. After graduating from Concordia, her second home, she obtained a one-year sabbatical replacement position at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, which was a richly valuable experience.

In 2010, she moved on to a tenure-track appointment at St. Francis Xavier University, a 4,000-student-strong predominantly undergraduate university in beautiful northeastern Nova Scotia. One of the highlights of Linda's time at Xavier has been working with WUSC (World University Service Canada) in sponsoring refugee students.

Another highlight has been working on her first book which analyzes the place of religion—Middle Eastern Christianity and Islam—using narrative inquiry, in narratives of forced migrants interviewed for the book. Linda's colleague on this SSHRC-funded project is her former PhD supervisor from Concordia, Professor Lynda Clarke. They expect that the book will be published in 2026.