Brahim Afrit

Brahim’s scholarship engages with the relationship between religion, the state, and society, with a focus on the Maghreb in its broader African, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern contexts. Situated at the intersection of political sociology, anthropology, literature, history, postcolonial studies, and theology, and drawing on ethnographic, archival, and literary methods in comparative and cross-disciplinary perspectives, his research encompasses a wide range of scholarly interests, including education, culture, gender, politics, and international relations. His book project Citizens of God (currently under consideration by a U.S.-based publisher) examines post–Black Decade Algeria’s ongoing state-led religious reforms, aligning “being Muslim” with “being a good citizen” in the post-9/11 Maghrebi context. Outside academia, Brahim has also served as a public officer in the diplomatic field across more than a dozen countries in the MENA region, and as a social entrepreneur in Algeria.

Forthcoming Publications

“Evangelicalism and Salafism in Africa,” in The Oxford Handbook of Religious Nationalism, eds. Alain Dieckhoff, Philip Gorski, Matthias Koenig, Srirupa Roy, and Geneviève Zubrzycki (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

“The Ancestors’ Citadel: Islam, Collective Identity, and Nation-Making in Post-1990s Algeria,” in Religion, Identity Constructions and Nation-Building, Africa and Asia (20th and 21st Centuries), Archives des Sciences Sociales des Religions (Paris, forthcoming).

“Islam and Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa,” in The De Gruyter Handbook of Religion and Social Change, eds. Jeyoul Choi, Victoria Machado, Nelson Marín Alarcón, and Anna Peterson (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2026).

“Culture and Politics across the Sahara in Algeria and Mali,” in Heritage and Religion in Africa: Material Entanglements, eds. Marian Burchardt and Duane Jethro, co-authored with Benjamin F. Soares (forthcoming).

Book Project: Citizens of God: Politics, Religion, and the Nation-State in Post-9/11 Algeria (under consideration by a U.S.-based publisher).

Recent Publications

“Évangélisme et salafisme en Afrique de l’Ouest : religieusement « radicaux », politiquement modernes,” in Radicalités religieuses : au cœur d’une mutation mondiale, ed. Alain Dieckhoff (Paris: Albin Michel, 2025), 213–236.