The Story of Family and Belonging in Contemporary France

Daniel Nabil Maroun (French and Italian) is a 2025–2026 HRI Faculty Fellow. His current research project, “The Politics of Kinship: Writing Queerness, Filiation, and Race in Contemporary France,” reexamines the story and legitimacy of family as a social construct in France, exploring how different queer populations reconstruct what constitutes a family through new forms of kinship that are not tied to filiation.

Learn more about HRI’s Campus Fellowship Program, which supports a cohort of faculty and graduate students through a year of dedicated research and writing in a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment.

What is unique about your research on this topic?

I study non-normative forms of relationship and connection that we would typically define under the umbrella of kinship. I examine these bonds primarily in racial and sexual minority groups in France to better understand how these communities define belonging when they are so often not included in the larger picture of French society: socially, culturally, juridically. What is particularly novel about my approach is I want to shed light on how these communities form bonds that aren’t blood-ties, but are just as strong, setting up trans-generational legacies with customs and practices that are passed down.

What drives your interest in this research?

My research is personal. I witnessed and experienced both that sexual and racial marginalization growing up as a queer individual, but that despite societal and cultural rejection at times, I still found a place among others and that our bond was fortified by our own customs, language, and experiences.

How has the fellowship seminar shaped the way you’re approaching your research?

The Fellows Seminar is transformative because it brings validation and audience to your research, while simultaneously helping me realize that I don’t have to have answers or solutions to the problems these communities face; rather I can testify to their experience and bring awareness to their experiences.