Suleikha Sutter

Suleikha Sutter is a doctoral student in French and Francophone Studies at UC Davis. Prior to coming to Davis, Suleikha received her bachelor's degree from NYU in French and Global Liberal Studies with a concentration in politics, human rights, sustainable development, and history. She continued to pursue her master’s in international relations at NYU where she studied female genital mutilation (FGM) in Ethiopia and how cultural manifestations of patriarchy and the power of language and oral histories influence the continuation of the practice.

Suleikha now hopes to investigate what it means to be French. Her doctoral research aims to challenge concepts of French identity and belonging, exploring the historical lineages and factors of today’s political atmosphere that present a modern challenge to France’s universalist approach to identity. The ultimate goal is to address the question of: to what extent is it possible for first- and second- generation women of the African diaspora to be considered French? She is particularly interested in identity formation in France, Algeria, and Senegal through the period of colonialism into today, as well as concepts of laïcité, assimilation, and France’s color-blind universalist model.