Tahir Abbas
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| Dr Tahir Abbas FRSA | |
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| Born | March 23, 1970 Birmingham, United Kingdom |
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| Residence | England |
| Nationality |  British |
| Ethnicity |  Pakistani |
| Fields | Sociology of Ethnicity, Islamic Studies |
| Institutions | University of Birmingham |
| Alma mater | Queen Mary, University of London University of Birmingham University of Warwick |
Dr Tahir Abbas FRSA (b. 1970) is a renowned social scientist, currently Associate Professor (Reader) in Sociology and the founding Director of Birmingham University’s Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Culture[1] at the Department of Sociology. His teaching and research expertise is in the areas of 'race', ethnicity, multiculturalism, and British Muslims. He was previously Senior Research Officer at the then Lord Chancellor's Department (2002-2003), Senior Research Officer at the Home Office (2001-2002), Director of Race Equality West Midlands (1999-2001, with Dr Waqar Azmi OBE and Dr Frank Reeves), ESRC Research Fellow at the University of Central England Business School (1998-1999, with Professor Monder Ram FRSA OBE et al.) and PhD Research Assistant at the University of Warwick Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations (1995-1998, with Professor Muhammad Anwar OBE).
A prolific author of books, papers, articles, reviews and opinion columns in national and international publications. Tahir has a BSc(Econ) Economics with Mathematical Studies (Queen Mary, University of London, taking Introduction to Individual and Social Psychology at the London School of Economics), MSocSc Economic Development and Policy (University of Birmingham), and a PhD Ethnic Relations (University of Warwick). He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Lunar Society. He has held numerous small scale research grants and has been consulted by government departments and civil society organisations in Asia, Europe and North America.
In the Summer of 2006, Tahir hosted twelve episodes of the topical discussion programme, Politics Today, on Raj TV. Guests included, Sir David Logan, former British Ambassador to Turkey; Peer Sultan Fiaz-ul-Hassan, descendent of Hazrat Peer Sultan Bahu; Councillor Salma Yaqoob, Respect for Sparkbook; Khalid Mahmood Labour MP for Perry Barr; Arun Kundnani, the Institute of Race Relations; Zareen Roohi Ahmed, British Muslim Forum; Dr Virinder Kalra, Manchester University; and Dr Yunus Samad, Bradford University.
In 2007-2008, Dr Abbas is Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
media: CV_Full.pdf
media: Publications_Full.pdf
Contents |
[edit] Key publications (2007-)
(2009b) British Islam: The Road to Radicalism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.[2]
(2009a) ‘Multiculturalism, Islamophobia and the City’, V S Kalra (ed.) Oxford in Pakistan Readings in Sociology and Social Anthropology: Pakistani Diasporas: Culture, Conflict, and Change, Karachi: Oxford University Press.
(2008b) ‘Ethnomethodology in the study of Islam and Muslim minorities: seeing, believing, knowing’, in B Spalek and A Imotal (eds.) Religion, Spirituality and Social Science: Challenging Marginalisation, Bristol: Policy Press.[3]
(2008a) 'Introduction - Islamic Political Radicalisation in Britain: Appraising an emergent phenomenon', in A A Malik (ed.) The State We Are In: Identity, Terror and the Law of Jihad, second edition, Bristol: Amal Press, pp. xv-xxiv.[4]
(2007e) ‘Teaching the study of Muslim minorities in higher education in UK’, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 24(3): 143-149.
(2007d) (ed.) Islamic Political Radicalism: a European Perspective, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press and New York: Columbia University Press + introduction.[5] [6] Launched at the House of Lords by Baroness Falkner of Margravine, January.
(2007c) 'Ethno-Religious Identities and Islamic Political Radicalism in the UK: A case study', Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 27(3): 356-368.
(2007b) 'British Muslim Minorities Today: Challenges and Opportunities to Europeanism, Multiculturalism and Islamism', Sociology Compass, doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00041.x [7]. [Translated into Bosnian]
(2007a) 'Muslim minorities in Britain: integration, multiculturalism and radicalism in the post-7/7 period', Journal of Intercultural Studies, 28(3): 287-300 (in special issue, ‘Negotiating Belonging: Migration and Generations’, edited by Zlatko Skrbiš, Loretta Baldassar and Scott Poynting).
[edit] External appointments
2007-2008, Visiting Fellow, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
2007 – present, Centre Fellow, Centre for Studies in Security and Democracy, University of Birmingham.
2001 – present, Associate Fellow, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Warwick.
[edit] International activities
2008, British Muslim Delegation to Indonesia, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1-6 March 2008.[8] [9]
2007, British Muslim Delegation to Pakistan, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 29 April - 5 May 2007.[10]
[edit] Making news
'Muslim Britain is becoming one big no-go area' (London, Sunday Times) 13 January 2008 [11].
'Radical thinker' (London, Guardian) 13 November 2007 [12].
'The changing face of Islam in UK' (Karachi, Dawn Features) 29 October 2007 [13].
'7/7 death knell for British Muslim leaders' (Karachi, Dawn) 26 October 2007 [14].
'Delegate' (Prague, Forum 2000) 7-9 October 2007 [15].
'Flight of middle class Muslims' (BBC Radio 4) 24 April 2007 [16].
'Vote 2004: the battleground' (BBC News Live) 24 May 2004 [17] [18].
'Rejected and dejected - the new generation of Muslims' (London, Guardian) 1 April 2004 [19].
[edit] Research funding
As principal [PI] or co-investigator [CI], funding has been obtained from the Home Office (2007-2008, PI), Dudley Muslim Association (2008, CI with Dr Frank Reeves), Heritage Lottery Fund (2006, CI with the Bangladeshi Writer's Association), Commission for Judicial Appointments (2005, PI), European Commission (1998-1999, CI with Professor Muhammad Anwar, Warwick University), ESRC and Birmingham Chamber of Commerce (1998-1999, CI with Monder Ram, Balihar Sanghera, and Trevor Jones), Runnymede Trust (1997, CI with Alex Hall and Nusrat Shaheen), City College (Birmingham, 1997, PI), Centre for the Study of Islam-Christian Relations (Birmingham University, 1996, PI), ‘East’ (BBC, Pebble Mill, Birmingham, 1995, CI with Karima Imtiaz).
[edit] Book reviews (2005-)
(2008b) Book review of Gareth Stansfield (2007) ‘Iraq: People, History, Politics’ (Cambridge: Polity), Muslim World Book Review, 28(2): 51-52.
(2008a) Review Essay, ‘Educating Muslims: current national and international debates’. A book review of Sofia Chanda-Gool’s South Asian communities: catalysts for educational change (Trentham Books, 2006), the Linda Herrera and Carlos Alberto Torres edited book Cultures of Arab Schooling: Critical Ethnographies from Egypt (State University of New York Press, 2006) and Rosarii Griffin’s edited book Education in the Muslim World: different perspectives (Symposium, 2006), British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29(2): 243-245.
(2007b) Book review of (2006) (eds.) N Ali, V Kalra and S. Sayyid ‘A Postcolonial People: South Asians in Britain’, Muslim World Book Review, 28(1): 43-44.
(2007a) ‘ “The Islamist”: a journey around faith and nation’. Book Review of The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left, by Ed Husain, Penguin, pp. 304, OpenDemocracy, Uploaded 21 June 2007.[20]
(2006d) Book review of M Begg (2006) ‘Enemy combatant: A British Muslim's Journey to Guantanamo and Back’ (London: Simon and Schuster), Muslim News, May, issue 205, p. 15.
(2006c) Book review of T Modood (2005) ‘Multicultural Politics: Racism, Ethnicity and Muslims in Britain’ (Edinburgh: University Press), Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29(3): 596-598.
(2006b) Book review I Manji (2005) ‘The Trouble with Islam Today: A Wake-Up Call for Honesty and Change’ (Edinburgh: Mainstream), OpenDemocracy, Uploaded 24 April.[21]
(2006a) Book review of H Daun G Walford (eds) Educational Strategies Among Muslims in the Context of Globalization: Some National Case Studies, Leiden: Brill (2004) (Muslim Minorities Series), vi + 285pp, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29(1): 200-201.
(2005) ‘The roots of British Islamophobia’. Book review of H Ansari (2005) ‘ ‘The Infidel Within’: The History of Muslims in Britain, 1800 to the present’, London: Hurst, Patterns of Prejudice, 39(3): 348-350.
[edit] Opinion-editorials (2007-)
(2007c) ‘We have not yet reached the end of the road’, Birmingham Post, p.5 [Weekend Supplement], 27 October.
(2007b) ‘Listen to the new voice of Birmingham’s Muslims’, Birmingham Post, pp. 8-9, 18 September.
(2007a) ‘Muslim Cultural Youth: Paving the way to the future’, Spanda News: e-Newsletter of the Spanda Foundation, Netherlands, Hague, pp. 6-7 [ISSN 1824-7180].[22]
[edit] Government advisory roles (2005-)
Belgium Commission on Islam and Muslims, British Embassy in Jakarta, British High Commission in Islamabad, British Council Czech Republic, British Council Indonesia, Embassy of the United States in Canberra, Chicago Council on Foreign Relations[23], Department of Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Immigration and Citizenship Australian Government, Franco-British Council[24], Goethe-Institute Pakistan, High Commission for Pakistan in Canberra, High Commission for Pakistan in London, Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw[25], UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Research Analysts, UK Improvement and Development Agency, UK Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, UK Prisons Service, United Nations Development Programme, Islamic Conference Youth Forum, Heyder Ali Foundation, Council of Europe, and ISESCO (in Baku, Azerbaijan), United States Institute for Peace, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (at Wilton Park), Forum 2000[26].
[edit] Membership
2007- Trustee of the Oxford Centre for British Islam, 2007- Academic Forum, Runnymede Trust, 2006- Editorial Board of Sociology, 2004- Editorial Board of Vista: Perspectives on Probation Criminal Justice and Civil Renewal, 2003- Muslims in Britain Research Network, 2003- British Sociological Association, 2003- Association of Muslim Social Scientists, 2003- Trustee of Kashmiri and Pakistani Professionals Association (Chair, 2006-), 1998, Member of European Research Forum on Migration and Ethnic Relations.
[edit] Awards
Muslim Power 100, and nominated for the category of 'Excellence in Education', sponsored by the Islamic Bank of Britain and Carter Anderson, January 2007.[27]
For Contributions to the Muslim Community, presented by Baron Patel of Blackburn and Mr Khurshid Alam of the Progressive Muslims Forum, House of Lords, London, 14 June 2007.
