Malika Hamadi

Malika HAMIDI has a doctorate in sociology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. She is currently a substitute teacher for the “Islam in Contemporary Europe” course in the Masters in Political Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She is also a postdoctoral researcher at Saint-Louis University - Brussels, as part of the research project entitled " RE-VISUALIZED: Gender and Islam in the French-speaking digital world » co-funded by the ERASMUS + program of the European Union and carried by a consortium associating the Universities Saint-Louis in Brussels, the University of Amsterdam, the University of Montreal, UniversitÄt Halle -Wittenberg and the association PLURIVERS'ELLES Studies and Training. This research program will focus on a new social and digital reality that goes against the grain, and in which Instagrammers, influencers and Hijabis play a leading role, as they open avenues towards new styles of influence, inspiration and leadership in order to fight against prevailing Islamophobia mainly on social networks at the dawn of Muslim feminism 2.0

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Malika is also completing postdoctoral research at UCLouvain as part of the AFFECT search(Impact Assessment of Belgian De-radicalisation Policies Upon Social Cohesion and Liberties under the direction of Professor Fabienne BRION. Finally, Malika HAMIDI est associate researcher at CESIR — Center for Sociological Research and Interventions at Saint-Louis University - Brussels and at theSocieties and Powers Analysis Laboratory / Africa – Diasporas(LASPAD) of Gaston Berger University of Saint-Louis in Senegal. 

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A specialist in Muslim feminism in Europe, Malika published in 2017 with Éditions de l'Aube a book taken from her doctoral thesis entitled “ Muslim feminism, and why not? » prefaced by Alain Greshet reissued in 2020. She will publish soon“THE REVOLUTION OF MUSLIM FEMINISMS: an attempt at decolonization and political action”published by Peter Lang International Academic Publisher (prefaced by Professor Amina Wadud). She also co-wrote“ Islamic feminisms »(La Fabrique, 2012) and contributed to numerous collective works (see a bibliographical selection below).

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Finally, she will soon publish a collective work entitled "Intersections and intersections: Muslim feminists, afrofeminisms, accomplices and allies" which she co-directs alongside Fabienne BRION, Françoise VERGES and Christine DELPHY (Preface by Angela DAVIS). This book is taken from the first international symposium held on this theme at the Université libre de Bruxelles in April 2018.

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In 2004, as part of her DEA, she became interested in the concept of Muslim feminism and the emergence of a Muslim feminist movement in France in 2006. Her doctoral research focused on Muslim feminists in Europe in a postcolonial context. . The objective was to explore their identity strategies and their modes of mobilization, in particular through numerous case studies.

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From 2017 to 2020, she co-directed the European project "European Values for Primary School" within the framework of the Erasmus + Program (European Commission) for Brussels, alongside John RIZZO (Author of the book "Sauver l'école ").

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In addition, she is Opinion Maker at The Brussels Time since 2020.

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For more than two decades, Malika Hamidi has been lecturing around the world on the themes of European Islam, citizenship and Muslim feminism. She is an expert recognized by European institutions on various topics related to Islam in Europe, gender and Islamophobia. In recent years, she has been regularly invited to speak on issues related to radicalization and extremist violence, or on the role of women in the fight against extremist violence. Her committed intellectual outlook allows her to offer original answers to these complex questions.

In 2015, she was invited to sit on the advisory committee of the European project "Forgotten Women: the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim women" initiated by the European Network Against Racism and supported by European institutions.

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Malika Hamidi is active both academically and with European institutions, but also within Muslim organizations. For 20 years, she has been involved and was a founding member of various grassroots women's organizations, such as the International Study and Reflection Group on Women in Islam in Morocco or Muslim Women in Belgium. She was recently named Honorary President of the NGO "Pour un Sourire d'Enfants Handicapés" (POSEH) in Niger, whose objective is to help children with disabilities in their school career.

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This year she was privileged to receive the 11th INTERNATIONAL WOMEN  OF COURAGE AWARD in memory of Mother Teresa. In 2019, HAMIDI was elected Global Goodwill Ambassador. The Crans Montana Forum also elected Malika Hamidi among the New Leaders of Tomorrow 2013-2016. CEDAR also placed her in the finalists of the European Muslim Women of influence in 2010, and she was nominated for the 2012 Award of the weekly Inspiring Europe organized by the European Institution for Gender Equality and supported by the European Commission.

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Malika Hamidi has participated in numerous television (Al Hiwar TV, etc.) and radio (BBC, RTBF, RFI, France Culture, etc.) programs across Europe.

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She is married and the mother of two children.