Jean-Michel Landry

Jean-Michel Landry completed a PhD in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. Before beginning the field study that took him to Lebanon (2011-2013), he conducted research in Syria (2010), Russia (2005-2007), and in the archives of French philosopher Michel Foucault (2006). His research results and theoretical thinking have been published in learned journals such as Telos, Raisons Politiques, Anthropological Theory, Anthropologie et Sociétés, and Aspects sociologiques. Jean-Michel is currently a doctoral fellow at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient and an affiliated researcher at the Orient Institut Beirut. He speaks French, English, and Arabic. He completed a master’s in anthropology (Université Laval, 2008) and contributes regularly to Le Devoir, La Presse, and Radio-Canada One.

Experience as a Trudeau Scholar

Receiving the Trudeau scholarship allowed me to take a giant step forward. In terms of my research, the annual travel allowance in particular expanded the scope of my ethnographic investigation and increased the extent of my academic network. Without the funding offered by the Trudeau Foundation, my doctoral research would not have been the same in either form or content. But what I have retained, above all, from my time with the Trudeau Foundation is the depth of the discussions it generated. Of course, people do not always have the opportunity to hear some of the country’s best researchers and most experienced policymakers debate current issues, but it is quite rare to be able to actually speak in such learned company. And it is extremely rare to not only have the opportunity to learn to speak but to be heard and considered in a group of erudite and influential people. My time with the Trudeau Foundation taught me that we learn from being heard, and it gave me a few keys to acquiring that learning.