This article, Being a young British Iraqi Shii in London: exploring diasporic cultural and religious identities between Britain and Iraq, is based on the research project “Karbala in London”: transnational Shi’i networks between Britain and the Middle East, supervised by Oliver Scharbrodt at the Chester Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Chester.
Relying on an ethnographic research conducted both in the UK and Iraq, this article explores issues of cultural and religious identities among London-based young British Iraqi Shiis. Using Stuart Hall’s notions of ‘articulation’ and ‘new ethnicities’, I analyse how different realities and experiences of space and class shape young British Iraqi Shiis self-identification in relation to socio-political, religious and ethnic belongings.
This article is based on the research project “Karbala in London”: transnational Shi’i networks between Britain and the Middle East, supervised by Oliver Scharbrodt at the Chester Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Chester. The article expands on my research presentations at the BRAIS conference (London, April 2016) and at the Shii Minorities in the Contemporary World conference (University of Chester, May 2016).
Bibliographic Information
Title: Being a young British Iraqi Shii in London: exploring diasporic cultural and religious identities between Britain and Iraq
Author: Zahra Ali
Published in: Contemporary Islam, October 2019, Volume 13, Issue 3
Language: English
Length: 18 pages