Najat Rahman

Najat Rahman is a Full Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Montreal’s Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Literatures and World Languages. Her research focuses on 'stateless literature,' exploring themes of exile, diaspora, cultural heritage, and the politics of belonging, with recent emphasis on humor and grieving in response to collective trauma. She holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been a Fulbright Scholar in Lebanon. Affiliated with CÉRIUM (Centre d'études et de recherches internationales), she teaches courses such as Postcolonial Studies and World Literature.

• Education: PhD in Comparative Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Affiliations: CÉRIUM, University of Montreal

Her research projects include SSHRC-funded studies on home, displacement, and humor in Arabic literature. She has supervised numerous PhD and Master’s theses, including work on queer representations in Arab literature and Palestinian-Shakespeare adaptations.

• Grants: SSHRC grants for projects like 'Sound & the Fashioning of Home' (2024–2027) and 'Out of Place: Droit, Littérature et Migration' (2015–2019)

Rahman’s publications include monographs and edited volumes on Palestinian artists, Middle Eastern cinema, and Darwish’s legacy. Her work bridges aesthetics and politics, emphasizing art as a space for dissent and reimagining belonging.