Kathryn Spellman-Poots @ Al-Khoei Foundation:Young Shi’a Muslims in Britain

Kathryn Spellman is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the AKU-ISMC.

On Monday, 15 February 2010, Dr. Kathryn Spellman-Poots delivered a lecture at the inaugural event for The Centre for Academic Shia Studies, held at the Al-Khoei Foundation. The lecture, entitled ‘Contesting Customs: Young Shi’a Muslims in Britain’ was based on her current research which examines Shia commemoration rituals in the UK. This research attempts to map out the Shia community in the UK, thereby placing these communities within the wider context of Muslim minorities in non-Muslim settings.

In particular, the lecture concentrated on how young British Shias, from a range of ethnic, national and socio-economic backgrounds, orient themselves to varying conceptions and practices of Shia traditions in the UK. Dr. Spellman-Poots looked specifically at the example of Shia rituals for Ashura, the day of mourning the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Hussain.


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Dr. Spellman-Poots is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the AKU-ISMC. Please click here for more information about Dr. Spellman-Poots’ research.

Dr Kathryn Spellman Poots, Assistant Professor, received her MSc and PhD in Politics and Sociology from Birkbeck College, University of London. Her areas of interest include gender and Islam in the Middle East and North Africa, the Iranian Diaspora and transnational migration networks, Islam in Europe and gender and religious practices in contemporary Libyan society. Her book is entitled: Religion and Nation: Iranian Local and Transnational Networks in Britain (Berghahn Publishers, Oxford and New York, 2005).

Dr Spellman previously taught courses on the sociology of religion, migration and gender in contemporary societies at Syracuse University, London campus. She is currently a Research Associate at the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and on the Editorial Board of the Middle East in London magazine. She has been involved in organisations that focus on the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, including the London Detainee Support Group, and has been a researcher for projects relating to the Middle East and North Africa at a number of organisations including the Imperial War Museum and Manchester International Festival.

Contact Details

Email address: kathryn.spellman@aku.edu
Telephone: 020 7907 1020

Publications

Books

* Spellman, Kathryn, (2005) Religion and Nation: Iranian Local and Transnational Networks in London, Berghahn Books, Oxford and New York. Reprinted in paperback form.

Articles, reviews and book chapters

* Spellman, Kathryn, (2007) ‘Higher Education and Study Abroad Programmes for Female Students in Libya’ in Social Beliefs, Pracbtices and Gender Equality in the MENA Region, published by Ford Foundation and Centre of Arab Women For Training and Research, New York and Tunis.
* Spellman, Kathryn, (2007) Book Review of Vandewalle, D. The History of Modern Libya in Mediterranean Politics, Taylor & Francis, October 2007, Volume 12 Issue 3, 437.
* Spellman, Kathryn, (2007) ‘Women, Gender and Conversion to and from Islam in Iran’ in Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (EWIC), Brill Publishers.
* Spellman, Kathryn, (2004) ‘ A National Sufi Order with Transnational Dimensions: The Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi Shahmaghsoudi Sufi Order in London ’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
* Spellman, Kathryn, (2004) ‘Women, Gender and Religious Associations: Iran and Afghanistan’ in Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (EWIC), Brill Publishers.
* Spellman, Kathryn, (2004) ‘Gendered Spaces of Exchange: Iranian Women’s Religious Practices in London’, Titley, G. (ed.) Re-Situating Culture. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
* Spellman, Kathryn, (2003) ‘Change and Continuity: Iranians in Britain’, in Singer, Caroline (ed.) Middle East in London, Stacey International Publishers.
* Spellman, K and Lehmann-Hesse, K, (2003) ‘Iranian Religious Networks in Hamburg and London’ in Zuwanderung und Integration. (ed.) by Klaus Roth. München: Münchner Beiträge zur Volkskunde.
* Spellman, Kathryn, (2001) ‘The Persian Community in Britain’. Published in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Columbia University Press.

Other Publications

* Spellman, Kathryn (2009) ‘Born Again Iranians in London’, The Middle East in London, 3(5): 10-11
* Spellman, Kathryn (2008) ‘My Play Conveys the Impossibility of True Communication’, interview with playwright Amir Reza Koohestani in The Middle East in London, 3(6): 14-15