Chair of Complexities ∞ Humanities, Affiliate Full Professor, Africa Business School, UM6P.
Senior Lecturer, University of Fribourg
Research Affiliate at the Wolfram Institute
Research Associate at the Laboratoire d’Analyse des Sociétés et Pouvoirs/Afrique – Diaspora (Laspad, Gaston Berger University, Saint-Louis of Senegal)
Email: reda.benkirane[at]um6p.ma
[at] to be replaced with @
Expertise
Complexity, interdisciplinarity, scientific and digital humanities, identity, globalization, religion and politics, conflict-resolution initiatives, humanitarian issues, peace studies, intercultural and inter-religious dialog, faith-based groups, contemporary Islam, MENA & Sahel regions, radicalization, armed violence, security policies.
International Experience
Europe, MENA, Sahel
Biography
Reda Benkirane, sociologist and anthropologist, holds a Doctorate in philosophy from the University of Lyon, an Mphil in urban sociology and cultural anthropology and a Master in development studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva). For more than 30 years, he has been working as an expert in international affairs for NGOs and UN agencies. In parallel, he has been involved in various research activities on critical social, political, cultural and scientific issues. He has participated in the creation and set-up of many international initiatives – including an NGO and a research centre.
Research areas and methodology
His multidisciplinary approach and empirical knowledge accumulated throughout his international experience constitute the basis of his current teaching and research activities.
His four main areas of research since 1988:
- Urban space, housing and poverty
- Complexity and non-linear sciences
- Radicalization and violence
- Contemporary Islam
His methodological approach:
- Heuristics of dialog (for an access to a knowledge otherwise out of reach)
- Semi-directive interviews
- Sustained attention to otherness
- Deep listening to the voiceless
- Participant observation
Complete CV and Bibliography
Main Publications
Books / Books edited / Contributed chapters / Reports to the United Nations / Research notebooks
Main Publications
Books
 Réda Benkirane, Islam, à la reconquête du sens. Paris, Le Pommier, 512 pages, 2017.Nouvelle édition, Casablanca, La Croisée des Chemins, 544 pages, 2021. |
 Réda Benkirane, Démographie et géopolitique. Etude critique des travaux d’Emmanuel Todd, Paris, éditions Hermann, 2015, 148 pages. |
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Réda Benkirane, La Complexité, vertiges et promesses. Dix-huit histoires de sciences. Paris, Le Pommier, 408 pages, 2013, 2006. 2002. Traduit en italien et portugais. |
Réda Benkirane, Le désarroi identitaire. Jeunesse, islamité et arabité contemporaines. Préface de Salah Stétié, Paris, Editions du Cerf, 352 pages, 2004. Reparu aux Editions La Croisée des Chemins, Casablanca, 2012 |
Books Edited
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Religion et État. Logiques de la sécularisation et de la citoyenneté,
co-edited with RiccardoBocco and Catherine Germond, Dossier Maghreb-Machrek, No 224-225, Paris, Editions Skira,06/2016.
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Culture & cultures. Les chantiers de l’ethno. Sous la direction de Réda Benkirane et Erica Deuber Ziegler, avant-propos d’Edgar Morin, Gollion: Infolio éditions / Genève: Musée d’ethnographie, coll. tabou 3, 2006. |
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Jacques Berque. Quel Islam? Avant-propos et postface de Réda Benkirane, Sindbad – Actes Sud, Paris, 2003. Traduit en arabe. |
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Contributed Chapters
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Contributions on Nagarjuna and Ibn Tufayl
Manuel philosophie terminale, edited by Matthieu Contou and Guillaume Pigeard de Gurbert, with the participation of Barbara Cassin, éditions Le Robert, 2020. |
« Quelle démocratie dans le monde arabo-musulman? »,
La démocratisation dans le monde arabe : alternance pour quelle alternative ?
sous la direction de Rahim Kherad etDominique Maillard Desgrées du Loû,
Paris, Editions Les points sur les i, 2015.
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 « La complexité, grille de lecture du monde contemporain », Campagne-ville : Le pas de deux. Enjeux et opportunités des recompositions territoriales. Sous la direction de Lilli Monteventi Weber, Chantal Deschenaux, Michèle Tranda-Pittion, Communauté d’études pour l’aménagement du territoire (CEAT), EPFL, Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes, Lausanne, 2008.
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 « La crise de l’universalisme français », Nous autres, Sous la direction d’Erica Deuber Ziegler et Geneviève Perret, Gollion: Infolio éditions / Genève: Musée d’ethnographie, coll.tabou 1, 2005.
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Reports to the United Nations
 Meta-Synthesis under the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, United Nations, October 2021. Independent synthesis report prepared by Punit Arora, Reda Benkirane and Xiomara Chavez. |
 What 800 Sahelians have to say. Perception study on the drivers of insecurity and violent extremism in the border regions of the Sahel, under the direction of Reda Benkirane, The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue/UNDP, 2016. |
Research Notebooks
http://sahelradical.hypotheses.org
