Mr. Maël Le Noc

Professional Background

Maël Le Noc is currently PhD Candidate in geography at Texas State University (United States). Mr. Le Noc earned his undergraduate degrees in history and geography from the University of Rennes 2 (France). He also received an MS in geography from Texas State University with a thesis entitled, “Family arrests and separations during the Holocaust in Italy,” for which he was awarded the 2017 Outstanding Master’s Thesis Awards in Digital Scholarship by the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools.

Mr. Le Noc collaborates with several French and international transdisciplinary research groups investigating various spatial aspects of the Holocaust, including the Holocaust Geographies Collaborative. His research has been supported by multiple institutions, including the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Studies, the Holocaust Educational Foundation, and and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, amongst others.

Fellowship Research

While in residence at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Mr. Le Noc will conduct research for his dissertation, “Towards a geography of persecution: The case of the Arts-et-Métiers and the Enfants-Rouges quarters of the third arrondissement of Paris, 1940-1946.” During his Fred and Maria Devinki Memorial Fellowship, Mr. Le Noc will draw upon Museum resources to examine the effect of anti-Jewish persecution on the everyday geography of two Parisian districts. Using survivors’ testimonies, archival records, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies, he seeks to uncover the ways in which persecution affected the spatial practices, the spatial experiences, and the social relations of the Jews who lived these districts. His work aims to shed light on the interplay between place, space, and social relations in the context of genocide, and to contribute to the theorization of the geography of persecution.

Residency Period: September 1, 2020, through January 31, 2021