Dyala Hamzah

Dyala Hamzah is an Associate Professor in the Department of History within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Montreal. She maintains a dual affiliation as a researcher at CÉRIUM (Centre d'études et de recherches internationales) and is also a member of CCÉAE (Centre canadien d'études allemandes et européennes). Her office is located in Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, room C6110.

Her research focuses on the processes of reform and centralization in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire throughout the 19th century from cultural and social perspectives. She examines the role of press and associations in the emergence of public space during the Arab Renaissance and explores education and citizenship issues in colonial and post-colonial periods. Additionally, she studies the professionalization of Islamic expertise in the 20th century, particularly the institutional development of mosque-universities like al-Azhar, Zaytuna, and Qarawiyyin from the 18th century until their nationalization in the 1960s.

Her publications reveal a consistent focus on Arab intellectual history, public sphere formation, nationalism, and the interplay between Islamic thought and modern political developments. Her work spans from detailed historical studies of Ottoman Egypt to contemporary analyses of Palestinian intellectual production and Arab public discourse. She has edited significant volumes including The Making of the Arab Intellectual (1880-1960) and The World in World Wars.

Her teaching portfolio includes courses such as HST2070 (Emergence of the Contemporary Arab World), HST2627 (Dominations and Resistances in the Arab World), HST3070 (State and Religion in the Arab World, 18th-19th centuries), and HST6648 (The Arab Renaissance, fin-de-siècle public space).

She has supervised numerous graduate students on diverse topics related to Middle Eastern history, including Sudanese agricultural transformations under Egyptian colonization, French perspectives on concentration camps in Cyrenaica, and microhistories of North African soldiers in Indochina.

As an expert commentator, she has contributed to media discussions on Middle Eastern affairs, particularly regarding the Syrian conflict and reconstruction challenges, as well as analyses of ISIS and the caliphate concept.