Lamia Mezzour-Hodson is an Acting Assistant Professor at the University of Washington. She holds a PhD and a Master’s in French and Francophone Studies from the University of California, Davis, a Bachelor’s in Translation & Interpreting from the Universidad de Granada, complemented by a one year Erasmus at Université de Genève. She is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in 20th and 21st century literature and cinema of North Africa and its diasporas. Her work examines the intersection of space, gender, race, and social class.
Lamia has extensive teaching experience, ranging from language, culture and literature courses in both French and Spanish. She has taught at UC Davis, the University of Pacific, within her community and is currently teaching French 301 Language in the Francophone World at UW. In winter, she will be teaching 301 and 378 The Making of Contemporary France.
Her most recent presentations include: “The Social Desert in Tahar Ben Jelloun's Le Miel et l'Amertume” presented at the 20th and 21st Century French and Francophone International Colloquium at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and “Le harem invisible” presented at the French and Italian Research Colloquium at UC Davis.
Currently, Lamia is working on an article entitled “‘Tais-toi, hchouma!’: Shaping Spaces in Contemporary Moroccan Literature” which examines how shared public feelings of embarrassment and restraint help shape individuals’ experiences of space. Considering the sociocultural and sociopolitical contexts, the article focuses on the literary text La Poule et Son Cumin by the Moroccan author Zineb Mekouar in dialogue with postcolonial and feminist theorists.
Fluent in multiple languages, including French, Arabic, Portuguese, and Spanish, Lamia enjoys learning new languages and exploring how a language goes hand in hand with culture and the ways in which they influence one’s identity. Given her background and research interests, she strives to integrate interdisciplinary materials that center underrepresented voices and address current social issues and inequalities related to gender, race, and social class.