Nada Heddane is a PhD candidate at the Van Vollenhoven Institute (VVI). She is part of the project Living on the Other Side: A Multidisciplinary Analysis of Migration and Family in Morocco, which seeks to acquire a theoretical and an empirical understanding of the way migrants (both regular and irregular) deal with the formal aspects of major life events related to family law such as marriages, divorces, births and deaths. Nada’s research explores the relevance of family law in the lives of West/Central African migrants and focuses on providing a socio-legal analysis of their practices, by conducting online and offline fieldwork in Morocco.

Nada received her BA from l’Ecole de Gouvernance et d’Economie de Rabat (EGE), where she studied political science and international relations. After shifting her interests towards area studies and anthropology, she obtained her MA in North African and Middle Eastern Studies (NAMES) from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. In her MA thesis, she used material culture, memory, transnationalism and displacement to examine the materiality aspect of migration. She conducted ethnographic fieldwork with sub-Saharan migrants in the city of Fez, Morocco, to learn more about the objects they brought with them and the symbolism they carry.

Activities