Meryem Belkaïd

Meryem Belkaïd serves as the Harriet Sarah Walker and Mary Sophia Walker Associate Professor of Humanities in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Bowdoin College. Her academic work bridges literary analysis and political science, focusing on cultural production in North Africa during periods of sociopolitical transformation since the Arab Spring.

• PhD, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
• MA, Sciences Po Paris
• MA, Université Paris-Sorbonne

Professor Belkaïd specializes in North African cinema and literature, with particular emphasis on Algerian contexts. Her research interrogates how contemporary filmmakers and writers navigate historical trauma, particularly regarding the Algerian War of Independence and civil war. She examines crime fiction as a vehicle for exploring identity politics in Mediterranean societies, analyzing how genres like the "néopolar" reflect societal anxieties. Her work consistently addresses post-colonial memory, gender dynamics in violent contexts, and the role of documentary film in political opposition movements.

Her 15-year publication trajectory reveals three interconnected scholarly currents: the evolution of Maghrebi documentary practices as tools of resistance, the adaptation of crime fiction to process collective trauma, and critical analyses of Franco-Algerian memory politics. These strands converge in her examination of how cultural artifacts mediate historical silences surrounding colonialism and civil conflict, with increasing attention to transnational production networks since 2019.

As an educator, she directs advanced seminars on North African cinema, Mediterranean noir, and French crime fiction as historical discourse, integrating her research on cinematic representations of the Arab Spring and literary responses to political transitions. Her public scholarship in outlets like Le Monde diplomatique extends academic discourse to contemporary debates on Algerian Hirak movement and democratic transitions.