When Dr. Lamia Benyoussef came to Birmingham-Southern five years ago, she knew the College felt like home once she saw the magnolia tree outside her office window.

“I have tried many times to plant one in my own garden, but the tree died every time,” she says. “For me, trees are symbolic of roots and new beginnings, and they are a beautiful symbol of the American South. Imagine my happiness when I was assigned an office which had a lovely magnolia tree.”

Benyoussef, associate professor of Arabic, sees her office space as a reflection of her identity as an Arabic instructor and a Tunisian-American who has established roots in Alabama. In the same way she notices her voice become a hybrid of French and Southern accents, her office too blends these parts of her life.

To the left of her window is her framed “Doors of Tunis,” photos of traditional doors throughout Tunisia, with varying colors and architectural styles from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. To Benyoussef, the doors represent the layering of cultural influences throughout Tunisia.

To the right is her painting of Buraq, the winged, mythical she-horse who brought Mohammed from Mecca to Jerusalem in Islamic tradition. Around Buraq, near her desk, Benyoussef keeps photos of her two sons and photos with her advisor and colleagues from graduate school at Michigan State.

Her bookshelves are separated into different sections for teaching material, student work, and other documents. She has North African literature in French and Arabic, readings on ecological feminism and post-colonial theory, and rare documents she’s collected over the years.

Though she has incorporated many parts of her Tunisian background into her office, Benyoussef also has gifts and souvenirs from students and colleagues over the years that represent the greater Arab world, from Iraqi paintings and prints to the flag of Lebanon.

Her office shows her research and scholarship, her home in Tunisia, and her home in Birmingham, where she’s lived since 2001 (besides her two-year home residency at the University of Carthage and Sousse from 2002 to 2004.) While her office is filled with old student papers and her current class curriculum, it’s also stocked with literature and theory she hopes to teach one day. Benyoussef is always eager to introduce Middle Eastern and North African texts in a region where they are not as familiar.

“The space reflects my personal life, my educational background, my time in Alabama. It really is who I am, and my room of one’s own.”

This story was published in the Fall/Winter 2020 issue of ’Southern, BSC’s alumni magazine.

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