Biography
Dr. Michael Akladios is a historian of Egyptian migration to North America whose work bridges multiple geographies through the lived experiences of immigrant communities. His scholarship sits at the intersection of Diaspora and Transnationalism Studies, Coptic and Global Orthodox Studies, and documenting the everyday through oral history.
He holds a Ph.D. in History from York University, where he also completed his Specialized Honours Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. He has taught at the University of Toronto, York University, Sheridan College, and Philopateer Christian College, designing and delivering interdisciplinary courses across the humanities and social sciences.
His research has been presented at national and international conferences, and published in peer-reviewed journals, scholarly collections, and public-facing outlets. He is currently revising his first book, Ordinary Copts, and is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing for Egyptian Americans: History, Culture, and Experiences.
A public historian, he is the Founder and Executive Director of Egypt Migrations, a public history and digital storytelling project that preserves and amplifies Egyptian immigrant narratives. An active member of York University鈥檚 Diaxporas: Migration Memory Research Collective, he is preparing podcasts and digital educational resources to promote innovative teaching and student and public engagement. He also serves as Vice President of the Coptic Museum of Canada and advises cultural and archival initiatives on heritage, memory, and identity in diasporic communities.
Publications
Publications in Progress
鈥斺斺. 鈥溾榃e Brought the Middle East Here with Us鈥: Egyptians in Cold War Montreal and Toronto.鈥 In Making Immigrants Insiders: New Directions in Canadian Migration History, edited by Roberto Perin and Abril Laberatori. Vancouver: UBC Press. (In publication)
鈥斺斺. Ordinary Copts: Ecumenism, Activism, and Belonging in North American Cities. Montreal: McGill鈥換ueens University Press. (In revision)
鈥斺斺. Egyptian Americans: History, Culture, and Experiences. New York: Bloomsbury Academic/ABC鈥揅LIO. (Commissioned)
Refereed Publications
Candace Lukasik and Michael Akladios, eds. 鈥淪pecial Issue: Toward Critical Coptic Studies.鈥 Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context 54, no. 1 (2025).
Michael Akladios. 鈥淐ritical Events and the Formation of a Coptic Diaspora in North America, from Al鈥揔hanka to Al鈥揨膩wiya Al鈥揌amr膩.鈥 In Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas, edited by Dalia Abdelhady and Ramy Aly, 52-65. London: Routledge, 2022.
鈥斺斺. 鈥淐ompeting Notions of Integration in Canada鈥檚 First Coptic Orthodox Parishes, 1971鈥1985.鈥 Journal of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies 13 (Winter 2021): 79鈥91.
鈥斺斺. 鈥淗eteroglossia: Interpretation and the Experiences of Coptic Immigrants from Egypt in North America, 1955鈥1975.鈥 Histoire sociale / Social History 53, no. 109 (Fall 2020): 627鈥650.
鈥斺斺. 鈥淣avigating Sacred Spaces: Coptic Immigrants in 1960s Toronto.鈥 Left History 21, no. 1 (2018): 109鈥122.
Book Reviews
鈥斺斺. Review of Beyond Accommodation: Everyday Narratives of Muslim Canadians, by Jennifer Selby et al. Canadian Ethnic Studies 51, no. 3 (2019): 165鈥166.
鈥斺斺. Review of A Place in the Sun: Haiti, Haitians, and the Remaking of Quebec, by Sean Mills. Canadian Ethnic Studies 49, no. 3 (2017): 153鈥154.
鈥斺斺. Review of Invisible Immigrants: The English in Canada since 1945, by Marilyn Barber and Murray Watson. Histoire sociale / Social History 50, no. 102 (2017): 450鈥451.
Non鈥揜efereed Publications and Editorials
鈥斺斺. 鈥淐optic Orthodox Christians.鈥 World Religions and Spirituality Project. Last modified August 1, 2025, .
鈥斺斺. 鈥淭he Akladios Brothers: Finding the Copts in Cosmopolitan Alexandria.鈥 Rowayat, April 25, 2023.
鈥斺斺. 鈥淓gypt Migrations.鈥 Oral History Journal 50, no. 1 (2022): 24鈥25.
Michael Akladios and Amy Fallas. 鈥淩esearch under Covid Lockdowns, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Online Resources.鈥 Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, July 16, 2021.
Michael Akladios and Miray Philips. 鈥淭he Contested Politics of Coptic Diasporic Activism.鈥 The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, June 7, 2021.
鈥斺斺. 鈥淗oly Smoke: Egypt鈥檚 Copts Discover the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church.鈥 Egypt Migrations, October 11, 2020.
Michael Akladios and Candace Lukasik. 鈥淒ebating Christmas Day: Copts, Calendars and the Immigrants鈥 Church.鈥 Public Orthodoxy, Feb 20, 2020.
鈥斺斺. 鈥淪top Victim鈥揃laming Egypt鈥檚 Copts.鈥 Mada Masr (English), November 5, 2018. / 鈥溫堎傎佡堌 毓賳 賱賵賲 丕賱囟丨丕賷丕 賲賳 兀賯亘丕胤 賲氐乇,鈥 Mada Masr (Arabic), November 13, 2018.
Education
Ph.D., History, York University, Toronto, ON, 2014鈥2020
M.A., History, York University, Toronto, ON, 2013鈥2014
B.A. (Spec. Hons.), History, York University, Toronto, ON, 2006鈥2013
Teaching
Michael is a dedicated educator whose teaching blends academic rigour with creativity, emphasizing participatory and applied learning in Canadian cultural, migration, and labour history. At 红桃视频, his courses encourage students to cultivate curiosity, critical inquiry, and effective communication skills in the age of AI.
Courses 2025鈥26:
HIST 3441 Modern Canada (Fall)
HIST 3491 Migration in Canadian History (Fall)
HIST 2421 Canada after 1871 (Winter)
HIST 3811 Canadian Working Class and Labour History (Winter)
HIST 3411 New France (Winter)
Research
Dr. Akladios investigates how migration, religion, and transnationalism shape immigrant identities and collective memory, with a focus on Coptic and Egyptian communities in North America and the Middle East. His scholarship includes topics on Church-state relations in Egypt, immigrant integration and institutional life, and long-distance diasporic
activism. He explores themes such as the politics of being 鈥淎rab Canadian鈥, the nostalgia of immigrant associational life, collective memory as it is translated to new contexts, and the ways migrants navigate living in between and across spaces and places.
As Founder and Executive Director of Egypt Migrations, he leads archival, educational, and outreach projects that preserve immigrant voices through exhibitions, digital initiatives, and collaborative programming. He has organized and co-organized major conferences, including 鈥淎rchiving Everyday: Home, City, and Migrant Routes鈥 at the American University in Cairo (2023), and annual Egypt Migrations conferences at York University. He has also contributed to open-access resources such as Confronting Canadian Migration History (2019) and the Canadian Immigration History Syllabus (2018), and is currently editing the digital series Egypt in Global and Comparative Perspectives.
Together, these projects reflect a central agenda: to understand how immigrant communities negotiate belonging, faith, and identity across borders, and how their histories reshape both local and global narratives of diaspora.
Grants, awards & honours
路 Humanities and Social Sciences (HUSS) Grant, American University in Cairo, 2023鈥2024
路 Global South Project Grant, Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, 2020鈥2022
路 Doctoral Award, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 2019鈥2020
路 Avie Bennett Dissertation Scholarship in Canadian History, York University, 2018鈥2019