Nov
The Sociology and Social Anthropology Seminar Series presents: Tahseen Shams
A public seminar with Tahseen Shams, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She studies how migration and global inequalities affect immigrants, particularly those from Muslim-majority countries in the West.
Here, There, and Elsewhere: The Making of Immigrant Identities in a Globalized World
Tahseen Shams, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania
Based on 80 interviews of South Asian Muslim Canadians, from 2021-2022, Tahseen Shams shows how many Muslims in the West perceive an out-group partner’s views on certain geopolitical contentions, like Israel/Palestine and Ukraine/Russia, as a litmus test to assess the compatibility of an interracial/interfaith relationship.
The participants perceived a discrepancy in the West’s response to the plights of Ukrainians and Palestinians, one that represented to them a hierarchical world where Muslims, as a racialized group, occupy a less-than-equal status than “whites” (a lable they use interchangeably to mean “non-Muslims”). Similar opinions signaled that the out-group partner will understand the participants’ experiences as a racialized religious minority and that values about marriage and family will also coincide. Geopolitics does not seemingly matter in partnerships within the same ethnicity and religion.
Overall, Tahseen Shams shows how the racialization of Muslims, Islam’s structure as a global religion, and the participants’ perception of a West-centric world-order penetrate even the intimate spheres of their lives.
The Seminar Series
The Sociology and Social Anthropology Seminar Series (Allmänna seminariet) invites international and national researchers to present and discuss on-going research. Each presenter talks for about an hour, followed by about an hour's discussion.
Find more research seminars in this series at soc.lu.se/en/research.
All are welcome including students!
About the event
Location:
R236, Gamla kirurgen, Sandgatan 13A
Contact:
annika [dot] elwert [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se