New Hires

Adi (Ph.D. University of Manchester, 2020) came to Michigan in 2020 as an LSA Collegiate Fellow. He transitioned into his role as an Assistant Professor in August of 2022. A scholar of modern and contemporary France, his research and teaching focus on the intersection of race and religion, specifically as it relates to Jews and Muslims. In his manuscript, tentatively titled Beyond Jewish-Muslim Relations, Adi takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine how media and political discourse impact Jewish and Muslim relations. By exploring cultural studies, media studies, literary studies, and critical discourse in contemporary French society, Adi builds on a growing body of work that further examines the creation and perpetuation of identity categories.

In a second project, Adi explores the politics of apostasy from Islam. As Islam becomes increasingly politicized by Western society, his research delves into the phenomena of how media and political figures weaponize both Islam and (ex-)Muslims that have renounced their association to the religion. As a preliminary form of inquiry into the topic, he co-edited and contributed to a special issue of Contemporary French Civilization (2022) titled "Leaving Islam in France and North Africa: Politics, Representation and Lived Experience." In this work, Adi explores representation and lived experience providing an anthropological and sociological perspective on individuals and communities, while continuing to examine the broader spectrum on how ex-Muslims are represented in media, political discourse, and cultural productions.

Expanding beyond his primary focus on France, Adi has widened his research to include race, religion, language, and sexuality in Singaporean politics and society. He is the co-editor of a special issue of the Journal of Language and Sexuality (2021) on the topic of Pink Dot, an LGBT movement established in Singapore in 2009. 

Visit Professor Bharat’s Profile Page