Khairallah Assar

Khairallah Ahmad Assar, خيرالله أحمد عصار, (May 23, 1935, Hama, Syria - April 28, 2015) was professor of sociology at the University of Annaba, Algeria, from 1976 to 1996.

Khairallah Assar was married to Elsie Benander, (January 12, 1940 - February 23, 1987), a woman from Höör, Sweden; they met at Göteborg University in 1961–62.

Native of Hama in Syria, he studied at the American University of Beirut in 1956 and obtained his PhD from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, in 1964.

Dr Khairallah Assar provided an essential contribution in teaching and researching sociology at the University of Annaba.

He published several books in Arabic, some of them being reedited and are considered as fundamental assets for post-graduate students at the University of Annaba, e.g. محاضرات في منهجية البحث الإجتماعي ["Lectures in methodology for social research"].

He supervised 5 PhD dissertations and 15 MSc thesis at University of Annaba and other universities in Algeria.

They had together three children : Saïd (1963), Leila (1967) and Selma (1968).

Before joining the University of Annaba, he taught philosophy, psychology and educational sciences in Hama, Syria (1965-1972), and in Algiers, Algeria (1972-1976).

He was since 1982 an active member of the International Sociological Association and participated actively in seminars and activities organized by Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and ISODARCO.

Since he retired in 1996, he was doing research on religious education and how religions are taught in children textbooks in collaboration with Prof. Johannes Lähnemann (University of Nürnberg, Germany).