Alia Al-Saji

Alia Al-Saji is a Professor of Philosophy at McGill University's Faculty of Arts, holding the James McGill Professorship. Her work bridges 20th-century phenomenology and critical race/decolonial thought, focusing on racialization, temporality, and embodiment. She earned her PhD from Emory University (2002) after studies at KU Leuven (MA, 1995) and McMaster University (BA, 1993). Her research examines colonial duration, affective histories, and racialized perception through figures like Bergson, Merleau-Ponty, and Fanon. Current projects include a monograph on Hesitation: Critical Phenomenology, Colonial Duration, and the Affective Weight of the Past, retooling phenomenological concepts to address colonial legacies.

Her research has been supported by SSHRC and FQRSC grants. Awards include McGill's H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching (2019) and an Honorable Mention from the American Society for Aesthetics (2020). She has held fellowships at the Camargo Foundation (2009) and Durham University's Institute of Advanced Study (2012).

Al-Saji serves as Co-Editor of Philosophy Compass' Feminist Philosophy section and Symposia on Gender, Race and Philosophy. Previously, she co-directed the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP). Her public philosophy includes writings on the racialization of Muslim attire and televised debates on philosophy's societal role.