Hèla Yousfi

Hèla Yousfi is a Senior Lecturer at Paris-Dauphine-PSL University specializing in organizational sociology with a regional focus on Arab countries, particularly Tunisia. Her academic work bridges organizational theory, political sociology, and postcolonial studies through extensive research on labor movements, institutional change, and cultural dimensions of management in transitional contexts.

Yousfi's research interests focus on the intersection of political culture and organizational functioning in the Arab world. She has developed significant expertise in the sociocultural dimensions of international cooperation, economic development policies, and institutional transformation processes. Her work critically examines the history of management practices and the organizational dynamics of social movements, particularly within revolutionary contexts. A distinctive feature of her scholarship is the application of postcolonial and decolonial approaches to challenge Western-centric management frameworks.

Analysis of Yousfi's publication record reveals consistent scholarly output with increasing emphasis on decolonial approaches to organizational knowledge since 2017. Her work demonstrates a clear trajectory from examining specific case studies (particularly Tunisian labor movements) toward developing broader theoretical frameworks that challenge Anglo-Saxon dominance in management knowledge production. The recurring themes across her publications include cultural hybridity, power dynamics in knowledge production, and the socio-cultural dimensions of institutional change in post-revolutionary contexts.

Yousfi has authored two significant monographs: 'L'UGTT, une passion tunisienne, enquête sur les syndicalistes en révolution (2011-2014)' (2015) and 'Trade unions and Arab revolutions, the Tunisian case UGTT' (2017), which established her expertise on Tunisian labor movements during the Arab Spring. Her scholarly contributions extend to numerous book chapters addressing topics such as intellectual activism, sovereignty, identity politics, and subaltern resistance in Arab countries.

As an active researcher, Yousfi regularly presents at major academic conferences including the Academy of Management Annual Meetings and specialized workshops on Middle Eastern studies. Her research methodology often employs ethnographic approaches, particularly 'crisis ethnography' techniques developed during her fieldwork on the Tunisian revolution, demonstrating methodological innovation in challenging research contexts.