Concordia professor Paul F. Bandia has been appointed as an International Science Council Fellow

Paul F. Bandia, a professor of French and translation studies in the Département d’études françaises, has been appointed as a fellow of the International Science Council (ISC). 

The ISC convenes scientific expertise, advice and influence to address major scientific and societal issues. The fellowship represents the highest honour the ISC can confer, recognizing individuals for their outstanding contributions to the promotion of science as a global public good.  

In December 2023, Bandia was appointed alongside more than 100 other new fellows, including eminent thought leaders and researchers from around the world in the fields of natural and social sciences, humanities, and engineering. 

Bandia is an expert in non-Western and postcolonial literatures within translation studies, blending insights from linguistics, cultural studies and critical theory, and is the founding president of the Association for Translation Studies in Africa (ATSA). 

He focuses on literature by African writers and migrants of African descent, and how African narrative traditions and cultural representations seep into the writing of postcolonial societies and global diasporas – even as they write in Western colonial languages.  

Bandia is a leading scholar in this area of translation studies, a field that has traditionally focused on translations between European languages. His research also introduces pathways for decolonization efforts and opens spaces for colonized and Indigenous peoples’ perspectives in the literary world and society at large. 

As an ISC fellow, Bandia will contribute expert insights in working groups, meetings and conferences aimed at tackling critical global issues.  

“I’m honoured to join the ranks of leading scholars and incredible researchers through this fellowship,” Bandia says. “With this new responsibility, I aspire to contribute to social, economic and cultural progress within our global community. I hope my expertise will allow me to contribute significantly to advancing harmony globally.” 

Learn more about Concordia’s Département d’études françaises.