During 24 months of research, I conducted research, I published one article and submitted another one, taught a graduate class, strengthened my relationships with academics in Belgium, presented my work at national and international venues, and landed a tenure-track academic job.
I conducted fieldwork in Tunisia with women from popular neighbourhoods about their investments in building their homes through debt, their understanding of politics, and their engagements with local governments. I conducted archival research about the growth of the first precursors to popular neighbourhoods under the French protectorate (1861-1956), the ways they were managed by colonial authorities, and the ways that inhabitants of these neighbourhoods made claims upon colonial authorities about the governance of their living spaces. I partnered with a community organization called El Mouvma, trained 19 young researchers on basic survey methods, and conducted a community-engaged survey where they could ask questions about the neighborhood I have been working on, and one that is within their municipality.
I published one article in Gender, Place and Culture, and I wrote another article which was reviewed and accepted and will be published in Feminist Economics by June 2025.
I taught a graduate class on "Space and Contentious Politics in the Maghreb", and participated in the meetings of the Middle East and North Africa Research Group (MENARG) in the Department of Conflict and Development Studies, workshopping PhD students' work in progress.
I strengthened my network of colleagues at the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University, as well as academics at ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles) in Brussels, and presented my work at the MENARG brown bag series and at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meetings in Montreal, Canada in November 2023. Finally interviewed for academic jobs in Brussels and beyond, and secured a tenure-track academic job at the University of Toronto.
