Born and raised in Morocco, I was trained as an anthropologist of religions at École normale supérieure de Paris and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS). I also defended my PhD at the latter (2021). I am currently a Chargé de recherches F.R.S-FNRS at Université libre de Bruxelles. Before that, I have been a postdoctoral researcher at the Social and Cultural Anthropology Department of the KU Leuven (2021-2024). I was also a few years ago a visiting researcher at the Department of Anthropology of the University of California, Berkeley (2019).My work revolves around the themes of collective consciousness, salvation, and the feeling of history. I am especially interested in how historical trials come to interplay with religious experience within Muslim societies. I have conducted long-term fieldwork in Morocco, France, Belgium, the Syrian-Turkish border, and Iraq. My scholarship has appeared in various journals and edited volumes (see my publications here). I will also be publishing two books in the next few months. The first, at Éditions du Seuil, is a revised version of my dissertation manuscript. The second, at Éditions Amsterdam, reflects the French public debate around the 'Muslim question'.In my free time, I like to dream of a life as a musician. You can contact me at hamza.esmili@ulb.be. 