Dr. Rahat Zaidi (Naqvi).
Bio
Dr. Rahat Zaidi is a Weklund Research Professor and Chair of Language & Literacy at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. She has published a number of critical works regarding cultural diversity and language pedagogy. Her research expertise focuses on multilingual literacies that clarify intersectional understandings across sociophobia, diversity, immigration, and pluralism. Through her research, she advances social justice and equity and identity positioning in immigrant and transcultural contexts. Currently, she is conducting research with refugee populations to further understanding on parental engagement in public schools.
Education
Dr. Zaidi holds an M.A, an M.Phil and a PhD in the Didactics of Languages and Cultures from the Université de la Sorbonne, Paris, France.
Employment
During Dr. Zaidi’s over 17 years at the University of Calgary, she has developed research expertise in language learning and literacy acquisition topics related to different cultures and languages within the current sociopolitical climate. Her scholarly writings push for a transcultural, cosmopolitan lens that accounts for the plurality of languages, text genres, and funds of knowledge that multilingual children and families bring with them to schools and their eclectic and idiosyncratic ways of excavating these rich backgrounds through theory.