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Djilali El Mestari, Researcher in Philosophy of Religion

Center for Research in Social and Cultural Anthropology

Djilali El Mestari is a Research Professor at the Center for Research in Social and Cultural Anthropology (CRASC, Oran, Algeria). He holds a Habilitation to Direct Research (HDR) and a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion from the University of Oran. He served as the Director of CRASC from 2017 to 2021, and was previously the Director General of the National Institute for Research in Education (INRE) from 2016 to 2017. His research focuses on religious discourse, education and citizenship, and the communitarian question. He has participated in numerous national and international projects, most recently leading two ongoing research projects on: social sciences and humanities textbooks (1963–2020), and the production of religious knowledge in official religious institutions.

In 2022, alongside researchers from Italy and France, he co-edited issue 95/96 of the journal Insaniyat on the socio-anthropology of the religious in the Mediterranean. He also co-edited a collective book published by CRASC with Dr. Soraya Mouloudji titled: Society and the Pandemic. He has published several articles and research papers on religious and educational discourse in Algeria. His three most recent publications include:

"Youth and the Discourses of Religious Authorities in Algeria: Findings from Field Studies" (co-authored), Insaniyat, issue on Socio-anthropology of the Religious in the Mediterranean, Vol. 1, No. 95, 2022.

"Institutionalized Religious Discourse During the First Period of the Pandemic in Algeria," in the collective book Society and the Pandemic, CRASC Publications, 2022.

"Second-Generation Islamic Education Textbooks in Algeria: Content and Stakes," High Islamic Council Publications, 2021.

Younès Grar (born in 1959) is a leading Algerian expert and consultant in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). He managed the private ISP GECOS in 1997 and served as an advisor to the Minister of Post and ICT, where he designed the "e-Algeria 2013" program. Currently, he is a prominent voice advocating for digital sovereignty and digitalization.

Main Branch Manager at CASH Constantine