MESOPOLHIS is delighted to welcome Ahlam Chemlali from 3 May to 7 June 2026.

Ahlam Chemlali is co-director of the Centre for Coercion and Accountability (CECA) and a postdoctoral researcher at Aalborg University, Department of Politics and Society (Copenhagen, Denmark).

Her stay at MESOPOLHIS is part of the ERC project «Confined Lives» (CONFINED), directed by Professor Steffen Jensen at the University of Aalborg.

His work is linked in particular to the research areas of Axis 4 «Socio-spatial dynamics and political mobilisation».» and the «Urban Studies» cross-cutting theme». His/her contact within the laboratory is Dennis Rodgers, Professor of Sociology and A*Midex Chair of Excellence in Comparative Studies of Violence and Urban Governance.

🔎 Title and summary of research project :

Confined Lives« ERC project (CONFINED)

The project is entitled «Confined Lives» and examines how the confinement experienced in North African transit zones persists and re-emerges on the urban margins of Europe. The stay in Marseilles is central to this demonstration: the city - its colonial history, its trans-Mediterranean texture and its peripheral districts shaped by migration - is not incidental to the research, but a constituent part of it. During my stay, I will be carrying out ethnographic surveys in Marseille and working on the Mediterranean chapters of a book manuscript under contract with the University of California Press. This project is part of the MESOPOLHIS programme, which focuses on the Euro-Mediterranean space, transnational social transformations and empirical spatial approaches.

📨 Contact : ahch[at]society.aau.dk