Bouras, her twin sister, and her three other siblings were born in Amsterdam to Moroccan immigrants.[2][3] Her mother was from Casablanca, and worked as a cook after emigrating; her father was from Sidi Ifni. Her mother attended secondary school, but married and left the country before taking her school-leaving exam.[3] Bouras grew up in De Pijp, and the family bought a house in Nieuw Sloten when she was 15.[4]
As a child, she attended the Bouchra School, an Arabic-language school in Amsterdam's Rivierenbuurt neighborhood, which was one of the country's first such schools.[2][5] Bouras became interested in history at a young age, and by the start of secondary school wanted to study history. As a young student, she was involved in a number of extracurricular activities, including student council, the school newspaper, and drama club.[3]
Bouras entered Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2000, where she studied history. In 2003, she studied abroad at the College of New Jersey.[3][6] She has credited this time in the United States with awakening her connection to her Moroccan heritage and her Muslim and Arab identity.[5][6] In 2005, she completed her master's degree dissertation, which focused on "Moroccan women's role in migration in the Netherlands".[2]
In 2012, she published her Ph.D.-thesis, Het Land van Herkomst, Perspectieven op verbondenheid met Marokko, 1960–2010 (The Country of Origin: Perspectives on Alliance with Morocco, 1960–2010).[7]
Career
Bouras began working at Leiden University in 2006, where she is a lecturer in history.[3]
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the treaty allowing mass-recruitment of Moroccans for Dutch industries, Bouras (together with Annemarie Cottaar and Fatiha Laouikili) wrote a book entitled Marokkanen in Nederland: de pioniers vertellen (Moroccans in the Netherlands: Pioneers Tell Their Stories, ed. Meulenhof 2009).[8] The book deals with the history of arrival, settlement, and integration of Moroccans in Dutch society.[9][10][11] Bouras interviewed many Moroccan immigrants for a 2019 article "Vijf mythes over de komst van Marokkaanse gastarbeiders naar Nederland
ontkracht" ("Five myths about the arrival of Moroccan guest-workers in the Netherlands disproved") in Trouw.[12] She also coauthored Rif Tour: Marokkanen in Nederland 1960–1973 (with Cottaar, Laouikili and Annemarie Boer).[13]
Bouras has criticized the attitude of the Dutch government towards the Moroccan-Dutch community, and has suggested the government has used the issue of antisemitism as a cover for discriminating against the community.[15][16] In an interview with OneWorld Magazine, she said, "The fear within the Jewish community is real, we should not trivialize it...But...politicians are abusing the fear of anti-Semitism to identify an enemy".[17] She has been vocal in opposing the Israel-Hamas war, and Dutch support of the Israeli military.[15]
Publications
Books
Bouras, Nadia; Cottaar, Annemarie; Laouikili, Fatiha (2009). Marokkanen in Nederland: de pioniers vertellen [Moroccans in the Netherlands: Pioneers Tell Their Stories]. Meulenhof.[9][10][11]
Bouras, Nadia (2012). Het land van herkomst: Perspectieven op verbondenheid met Marokko, 1960–2010 (Doctoral dissertation, Leiden). Historische migratiestudies. Vol. 3. Hilversum: Verloren. ISBN978 90 8704 323 0.[7]
Bouras, Nadia (2020). Een Klas Apart: Biografie van een Arabische school in Amsterdam-Zuid. Amsterdam: Boom.[5][18]
Nominated for the 2021 Brusse Prize for best Dutch-language journalistic book[19]
^ abEttourki, Karim (2011). "Book review: Cottaar, A., Bouras, N., Laoukili, F.: Marokkanen in Nederland. De pioniers vertellen". Bijdragen en Mededelingen van de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden - Low Countries Historical Review. 126 (1): 147–148.
^Shield, Andrew D. J. (2020). "Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands during the sexual revolution (1964–1979)". Clio. Women, Gender, History (51): 227–236. JSTOR27076674.
^Creve, Piet (2010). "Met geschiedenis op reis. Twee publicaties naar aanleiding van veertig jaar Nederlands-Marokkaans wervingsverdrag (Journeying With History. Two Publications on Forty years of the Dutch-Moroccan Recruitment Treaty)". Brood & Rozen: Tijdschrift voor de Geschiedenis van Sociale Bewegingen (in Dutch). 15 (3): 84–85.
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