Nehara Feldman

Nehara Feldman is a researcher in sociology and anthropology at the University of Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV), affiliated with CURAPP-ESS and associated with LMI MACOTER and CESSP. Her work focuses on West African female migrations, particularly between Mali, France, and Ivory Coast, examining how migration reshapes gender relations, family dynamics, and social identities. She is actively involved in interdisciplinary research projects such as NIMIK and IRMA, contributing to the understanding of intergenerational and transnational migration processes.

Her research interests include gender and migration, transnational families, racialization, domestic violence, and feminist anthropology. She investigates how women navigate complex social expectations in both origin and host countries, challenging simplistic narratives of migration as emancipation. Her work reveals the nuanced power dynamics that shape migrant women’s lives across borders.

The trends in her recent publications reflect a consistent focus on gendered experiences of migration, with recurring themes such as gendered labor divisions, money and power in families, domestic violence, and the body as a site of social control. Her methodological approach combines ethnographic fieldwork with feminist theory, often conducted in Mali and among Malian communities in France. She emphasizes narrative and qualitative methods to uncover silenced or invisible experiences.

Nehara Feldman supervises doctoral and master's students, including Behrouz Keyhani and Frédéric Ballière, whose theses explore migration, informal work, and state marginalization. She has contributed to funded research projects, notably the NIMIK project supported by Swedish cooperation, which examines new migration trends from the Kayes region. Her academic service includes co-leading the 'Frontières' research axis at CURAPP-ESS, organizing international conferences, and reviewing for prominent journals such as Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales and Recherches féministes.

She teaches across undergraduate and graduate levels, offering courses on gender, feminist anthropology, racism, migration policies, and ethnographic methods. Her publications include a major monograph, Migrantes: du bassin du fleuve Sénégal aux rives de la Seine (2018), and numerous articles in leading journals. She is also co-editor of a collective volume on migration in Kayes, Mali.