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Currently based in Montreal, Canada, Zineb Zellag left Morocco for France, where she lived for 18 years, to pursue her university studies. Born in Casablanca, the young woman graduated high school in Morocco before joining the university of Sorbonne in Paris to study economics.
During that period, France was marked by a series of strikes, which pushed her to leave for Canada and join her parents. «But when I arrived in Canada in 2010, I found major student strikes going on», she said. However, Zineb Zellag quickly learned how to fit in.
Zineb often accompanied her parents to North America for family vacations, which allowed her to know more about Quebec. «I had the chance to travel a lot with my parents when I was a child, so I did not experience the 'fish out of water' feeling», she said.
Decompartmentalize the communities that make up Quebec's social fabric
Zineb Zellag arrived in Quebec with loads of childhood memories, which have notably helped her stay connected to her country of origin. «In Morocco, my father worked for a long time in the media industry, in music production and distribution. So I developed an interest for Moroccan music from the 1960s and Classical Arabic, listening to Mohamed El Hayani, Oum Kalthoum and Fayrouz», she recalled.
When she joined the University of Montreal, Zineb Zellag realized her first dream, by switching towards political science studies. She also decided to set up an association with her friends, «open to the world as a whole». The project was «close to her heart» and came true in 2015, with the creation of the MENA-UBM Association.
«The idea of creating this association stemmed from the belief that there was much more to share academically about what defines us culturally and brings us together».
Zineb was happy that the events organized by her then newly-formed association would bring different communities in her university together. The idea was also to «decompartmentalize students with immigrant background and include foreigners, to rethink our relationships together outside of communitarianism».
Conferences were organized around the Arab Spring movements, bringing together distinguished speakers from different countries that have experienced political and social upheavals. The association also held dance and calligraphy workshops.
«Even the teachers were discovering this initiative gradually and they wanted to participate, since many of them were already working in the MENA region, but without easily finding a platform where they can share and better publicize their research», Zineb recalled proudly.
«We tried to do things as seriously as possible to move away from the clichés, open community circles and come up with something that will involve everyone».
A social science approach between Quebec and Morocco
Zineb headed her association for the first two years. Although she felt passionate and fully invested in the project that she viewed as her «baby», she decided to pass the torch. «I also tried to let the new team to work in their own way, because they also do very beautiful things and I am proud of them», she said, paying tribute to the volunteers from different backgrounds who have participated in the project and in the organization of meetings.
The Moroccan woman also discoverd the world of international cooperation, during a study internship which took her to Tunisia and which deeply marked her. During her second year of PhD research, she became interested in religious management and passionate about human sciences. «In North America, we have this freedom to be able to change direction when we want and as we can, in the academic field», she underlined, noting that «we can resume studies with more ease and with less social pressure around it».
Three years ago, Zineb's parents decided to return to Morocco. But with her two younger brothers, she stayed in Montreal. She is currently focusing on her thesis on «Morocco's religious policy and the teaching of Islam, as well as the reforms of Moroccan religious structures, particularly in terms of training programs for imams and morchidates».
This interest, for Zineb, is a logical extension of her areas of interest from her early years at the University of Montreal.
«I have long been interested in religious issues in general.The more I got interested, the more I realized the religious diversity of our MENA region.Every day I discovered new minorities and new trends that we know little about, but which are very much part of our realities and our regional history».
Her interest focused more particularly on Morocco, that may be due to the «need to continually understand what is happening in [her] country, where the question remains topical». For now, Zineb Zellag wishes to stay in the city of Montreal that she «loves», but does not rule returning to Morocco eventually.
