anglais - Université Paris Ouest Nanterre

ASSAF Laure
[email protected]
Birth: December 1, 1985
Nationality: French
Doctorate Student in Anthropology
Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, Paris
Under the direction of Mr. Franck Mermier
Research title: « An Anthropology of the Emirati City: Youth and Public Space in Abu
Dhabi ».
Research interests: Arab Gulf, United Arab Emirates, urban anthropology, youth, public
space, urban practices, modernity, globalization
Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Abu Dhabi, my research focuses on patterns of
sociability, leisure and consumption among young Emiratis, through the scope of urban life
and their use of ever-transforming public spaces.
Building on the hypothesis that the new places where global networks are most present
and visible are specifically available to the development of new uses and practices, my
doctorate research is questioning the types of sociality developed by the youth in public space,
and the way they contribute to building territories that can allow a kind of intimacy
paradoxically impossible in the domestic sphere.
Curriculum and academic qualifications
2010-present Doctorate Student at Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
Preparing a Bachelor in Litteral Arabic at INALCO (Paris, France).
2007-2009
Master’s degree in Ethnology, with highest honours, Université Paris Ouest
Nanterre La Défense.
2005-2006
Bachelor of Ethnology with highest honours, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre
La Défense.
2005
Admission to the Ecole Normale Supérieure de la rue d'Ulm, Paris.
2003
Baccalauréat scientifique; equivalent to a Higher Leaving Certificate
specializing in Sciences – Mathematics with highest honours. Optional
subject : Art History.
Teaching Experience
2010-2013
Teaching Assistant in Anthropology at Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La
Défense, three years, 64hrs per year.
Courses : « Textes Fondamentaux », « Introduction à l’ethnologie », « La
cuisine des ethnologues ».
2010
Teaching Assistant in Anthropology at Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris) for
the course « Lectures en anthropologie » (Readings in Anthropology).
Teacher for the Summer Programme Un été à l’ENS (July 2010), course
« Introduction à l'anthropologie française » (Introduction to French
Anthropology).
2008-2009
Adjunct Lecturer at Northwestern University (Evanston, USA), Department of
French and Italian Studies. Course : French Oral Workshop 203.
Academic work
Organization of scientific events
2013
Organizer, with Melodie Vidalain, of the conference « Appropriations de
l’espace urbain » (Appropriations of Urban Space), Laboratory of Ethnology
and Comparative Sociology (LESC), Nanterre, France, January 25th, 2013.
2012-2013
Co-organizer of the workshop « Lectures d’actualité en anthropologie »
(Contemporary Readings in Anthropology), ENS Jourdan, Department of
Social Sciences, Paris, France.
Publications
to be published (2013), « Autour d'un café : sociabilité des jeunes à Abou Dhabi », in
L. Bonnefoy, F. Burgat et M. Catusse (dir.), Jeunesses arabes. Loisirs, cultures et politique,
Paris : La Découverte.
to be published (2013), « La Corniche d’Abou Dhabi : espace public et intimités à ciel
ouvert », Arabian Chronicles, special issue « Cities and urbanization in the contemporary
Arabian peninsula ».
Communications
December 2012, « The Corniche of Abu Dhabi : Public Space and Outdoor Intimacy »,
Boom Cities Conference, New York University Abu Dhabi / CEFAS, Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates.
July 2012, « Anthropology of the Emirati City: Youth and Public Space in Abu Dhabi »,
panel Urban Development, Gulf Studies Conference, University of Exeter, Exeter, United
Kingdom.
July 2012, « Internet and the Youth in the UAE », workshop « Society-State Relations in
the Arab Gulf Region : Religion, Intellectuals and New Media », Gulf Research Meeting,
Cambridge, United Kingdom.
May 2012, « Espace public et sociabilité des jeunes à Abou Dhabi », séminaire général du
Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Urbaine (CNRS), Ivry, France.
Other skills
Languages : French (mother tongue), English (fluent), Arabic (advanced level in Standard
Arabic, basics in Egyptian and Syro-Lebanese spoken dialects).
Computer skills : Microsoft Word, Excel & Powerpoint, Gimp, Adobe Photoshop, EndNote.