Maghrib Studies Initiative

A man in robes standing atop a sandy brick structure looking over palm trees and desert

The Maghrib Studies Initiative, a joint venture with CMES and the Center for African Studies, is an active effort to forge a network of faculty members and students who work on or have an interest in North Africa. It aims more generally to encourage the study of the Maghrib as a distinct geo-cultural space and its connections to other parts of the world. The initiative will be a venue for workshops, conferences, panels, public-facing exhibitions, film screenings, guest lectures and other meeting formats where we can have rich interdisciplinary conversations.

Faculty Associates

Bruce Hall (Professor, History)

Sarah Levin (Lecturer, Jewish Studies)

Emily Gottreich (Adjunct Professor, Global Studies)

Soraya Tlatli (Associate Professor, French)

Adam Benkato (Associate Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures)

Mia Fuller (Professor, Italian Studies)

Stefania Pandolfo (Professor, Anthropology)

Mohamed Wajdi Ben Hammed (Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature)

Past Events

2 May 2025, Arabic and Berber Manuscripts: A Maghribi Written Tradition. This panel brings together scholars and specialists to explore an Arabic and Berber (Amazigh) manuscript tradition, with a focus on codicology and cataloguing.
1 May 2025, Arabic Manuscript Workshop, focused on the particularities of pre-colonial Algerian and manuscripts with Djamel-eddine Mechehed.
25 April 2025, Launch Event | Maghrib Studies Initiative. A half-day event examined existing syllabi, teaching modules, language resources, and research strategies – the first deposit of a rich repository