Dr. Leslie Vandeputte is a social anthropologist and a sociolinguist. She holds a PhD from the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), France. Before joining the American University of the Emirates, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of New Caledonia (South Pacific). She also taught in Vanuatu and Vietnam and advised Vanuatu’s Ministry of Education on language planning.

Her research interests focus on the processes of identification (particularly through language practices), linguistic ideologies, the links between national language and national identity. She has lived and worked in the South Pacific for nearly 10 years and she is a member of the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania.

Her teaching philosophy relies upon a student-based approach and implies a socio-constructivist vision of education including a practical dimension.