Anaïs Ménard

Anaïs Ménard is a FWO Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven. Previously, she led the research group ‘Gender, Migration and Social Mobility among West African Women in Europe’ at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. She holds a PhD from the Max Planck Institute’s ‘Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast’ group and advanced degrees in Political Science (Sciences Po Paris) and African Studies (University of Oxford).

Her research focuses on migration, gender, and power dynamics among West African diasporas, with emphasis on Sierra Leonean communities. Key projects include studying ‘big women’ in Europe—exploring how women redefine social status through patronage, family achievements, and transnational networks. She coordinates a multinational research network examining gendered social mobility pathways among African migrants in Europe.

Awarded the Otto-Hahn Medal and Otto-Hahn Award for her PhD work, Ménard’s publications analyze topics like diaspora identity, spatial inequalities in urban contexts, and ethical challenges in gendered fieldwork. She contributes to ongoing debates on decolonizing knowledge production and feminist methodologies in anthropology.