Sam Ha

Historian by training, Samia began her professional career as a geography and history teacher in the disenfranchised suburbs of Paris. This experience ignited her passion for knowledge sharing and played a crucial role in her commitment to community engagement across France, Europe, and the Middle East. Drawing on her personal background in Tunisia and France, she investigates the processes of othering related to Jewish and Arab identities in public and political spheres. Her work has led her to collaborate with various associations and foundations in France and Europe focused on bridge-building. Samia's dedication to human rights and democracy has also taken her to the Middle East, where she has lived in Israel and Palestine. In recent years, she has embarked on an academic journey at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, pursuing a PhD that explores the mobilization of Jewish and Muslim identities in the public spaces of France and Germany from a sociological perspective. While completing her dissertation, Samia—known as Sam—coordinates a participatory grant-making initiative and an activist-led fund in Europe. She dedicates her time and efforts to shifting polarized narratives through writing, speaking, advocacy, and training, while also empowering BIPOC young girls in France through her involvement in a women's empowerment and equity program for over a decade. Additionally, she serves as a board member of the Democracy & Belonging Forum at the Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley. An avid runner and hiker, she is also a sister and aunt to a very large family scattered across Tunisia, France, and Germany, among other places.