Zaynab El Bernoussi, Associate Professor of Political Science at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University, recently completed a fellowship at the BRICS Policy Center of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and hosted by the President of the Brazilian Association of International Relations, Dr. Andréa Gill.
During the two-week fellowship, El Bernoussi participated in Space, Sovereignty, and Resistance: Critical Dialogues from the Global South, held on June 26, 2026. Organized by the BRICS Policy Center’s Global South Unit for Mediation, the event brought her into conversation with Azadeh Sobout, a postdoctoral researcher at Queen’s University Belfast, in a session moderated by Dr. Gill. The discussion examined contemporary forms of violence, sovereignty, borders, and resistance through perspectives grounded in the Global South. (View discussion)
Hosted by Dr. Silvia Ferabolli, El Bernoussi also delivered two talks at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and engaged with undergraduate and postgraduate students. Building on her research into the halal political economy, she met with the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and halal certification organization SIILHalal to explore connections between research, trade, and ethical business practices. She also visited the production site of Condesp, a company specializing in halal cleaning products in Concórdia, Santa Catarina.
Her recent scholarship also includes the reflective essay “A Global South Journey: IPSA, Tracking Dignity Demands, and the World”, published in the Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. In the essay, El Bernoussi reflects on her development as a Global South scholar, her work on dignity studies, and the role of precarity in shaping how the contemporary world is understood.
Through academic exchange and engagement with research and industry institutions, the fellowship extended El Bernoussi’s work across Africa, the Arab world, and Latin America. It reflects GSU’s commitment to advancing interdisciplinary scholarship and strengthening intellectual connections across the Global South.
