dr. M (Malika) Ouacha

Biography

I'm an adjunct-assistant professor at the Zakat Foundation Institute at Indianapolis University, USA, and research fellow on diaspora and bi-cultural philanthropy and volunteering at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in the Netherlands. I'm an internationally trained cultural and social anthropologist with two master-degrees in Cultural and Social Anthropology and Sociology of non-Western societies, and I hold a PhD in Business and Management from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.

Through my topic on diaspora and bi-cultural volunteering and philanthropy in the country of origin yet done by diaspora and bi-cultural citizens, volunteers and philanthropists who live in the country of residence, my aim is to contribute to the intercultural dialogue in academia and practice. I mainly focus on philanthropic and voluntary behavior of diaspora and bi-cultural philanthropists and volunteers (think of refugees, economical immigrants, and those who are raised in two (or more) ethnical environments). My research is done in international contexts in which diaspora and bi-cultural philanthropists and volunteers are active, their personal motives (intergenerational philanthropic traditions, interpersonal layers of philanthropic mechanisms and the search for a sense of belonging). Along with the possible effects of diaspora and bi-cultural philanthropy and volunteering (in both the country of residence and the country of origin). One may think of the effects of (what may seem as) neo/post-colonial behavior, philanthropic activism, de-colonialization of philanthropy and the development diasporic aid and engagements in crises in the homeland.

I am the project-lead of the EU-funded project "Museums and Restoration Volunteering for Inclusion" (MARVI), the chair of the board of the expertise centre HuCom, the advisor and board-member of the World Opera Lab Netherlands and Yep Africa Foundation, and I teach courses on Humanitarian Leadership Practices, Diaspora Nonprofit, Diaspora philanthropy and volunteering, Diaspora engagement, and the process of decolonization (in e.g. nonprofit organisations) through diaspora nonprofit organisations and individual diaspora channels at several universities worldwide.