The chair’s research program will focus on three areas: migration, identity dynamics and mobilization.
Chedly Belkhodja, a professor in Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs, is the new holder of the Senghor Chair of the Francophonie – New Forms of Conflict in Francophone Communities. The chair takes a comparative approach that considers the realities of francophone countries worldwide.
The institutional chair makes Concordia one of approximately 30 universities and institutions to host a Senghor Chair through the International Network of Senghor Chairs of the Francophonie. It also strengthens the university’s commitment to studying francophone realities in Montreal and beyond.
“In a metropolis as deeply shaped by diverse experiences as Montreal, Concordia has an important role to play in reflecting on the realities and future of francophone communities, both here and internationally,” says Pascale Sicotte, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science.
“This Senghor Chair provides a new opportunity to bring together research, students and community organizations to explore the transformations shaping francophone communities,” she says.
A changing world
The chair’s research program will focus on three areas: migration and mobilities, identity dynamics and mobilization.
“‘New forms of conflict’ invites us to conduct research that is attentive to what is unfolding in the contemporary francophone world, while also considering new possibilities for the future,” Belkhodja says.
Beyond his research activities, he says he wants the chairship to be “a place for dialogue among researchers, students and practitioners interested in Canadian and international francophonie.”
This commitment builds on the School’s tradition of maintaining close ties with organizations and community stakeholders across Montreal and Quebec.
The chair will work with several Concordia partners and members of Montreal’s research community, including the Institute for Research on Migration and Society, Équipe de recherche sur l’immigration au Québec et ailleurs, Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur la diversité et la démocratie and the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network.
Through research and dialogue, Belkhodja says the Senghor Chair will contribute to a better understanding of the transformations shaping contemporary francophone communities and to collective reflection on their future.
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