Degrees of Difference: Islam and "Race" in Modern and Contemporary Anglo-Iranian
and Anglo-Arab Diasporic Literature

Despite its importance in popular culture, the invented image of the post 9/11 British Muslim figure remains surprisingly under-researched, at least as far as literary studies are concerned. This thesis will explore the experience documented by Anglo-Arab and Anglo-Iranian writers who are attempting to challenge the racialization of Islam, and negotiate a modern Islamic identity.

Dr. Pablo Mukherjee and Dr. Rashmi Varma

• Course Director for - The Centre for Lifelong Learning at The University of Warwick - October 2013 - Present
  • Feminism, Sexuality and Gender in Literature
  • Banned Books: Literature and Censorship
• Part Time Tutor - The University of Warwick - 2012-2015 - EN122 Modes of Reading.
• Guest Speaker - The University of Warwick - 21/11/13 - EN270 Transnational Feminism.
• Resident Tutor - Sherbourne, The University of Warwick - September 2012 - Present.
• Part Time Teacher of English - Princethorpe College - September 2013 - December 2013.
• Part Time Teacher of English and Critical Thinking – King Henry VIII School – January 2012 – August 2013.
• Qualified Teacher of English – Barking Abbey School – July 2009 – August 2011.
• Graduate Training Programme – Teacher of English – Archers Court Maths and Computing College – September 2008 – June 2009.

• Winner of The Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence for Postgraduate Research Students (WATE PGR) 2013-14 - more information can be found here.
• Nominated for The Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence for Postgraduate Research Students (WATE PGR) 2012-2013.
• Awarded a letter of commendation for the Post-Graduate Award for Higher Education Teaching. I have furthered my teaching qualification to University level pedagogy, achieving Associate Fellowship status.

• "Marginalized Voices: The Search for Identity in Monica Ali's Brick Lane and Gautam Malkani's Londonstani" - 6th Annual Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference - Marginal Cartographies: Researching Beyond Borders - Department of Sociology - The University of Warwick - 28th April 2012
• "Psychoanalytical Constructions of Identity in Monica Ali's Brick Lane and Gautam Malkani's Londonstani" - Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society Postgraduate Conference - Centre for Psychoanalysis - Middlesex University London - 9th June 2012
• I was involved in organising and delivered a paper at The Eighth Annual Postgraduate Symposium - Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies - The University of Warwick - 27th June 2012

• "Women in Exile: Islam and disempowerment in Fadia Faqir's My Name is Salma" - Islam and the West: A Love Story? - A Postgraduate Interdisciplinary Symposium - The University of Glasgow - 24th November 2012

• "Gendered Violence and Resistance" - Centre for the Study of Women and Gender Graduate Seminar Series -The University of Warwick - 28th November 2012
• "Women in Exile: Islam and disempowerment in Fadia Faqir's My Name is Salma" - Mapping the Self: Place, Identity, Nationality - A Postgraduate Symposium - Oxford Brookes University - 15th December 2012
• "Women in Exile: Islam and disempowerment in Fadia Faqir's My Name is Salma" - The Fourth Biennial Conference of the Postgraduate Contemporary Women’s Writing Network - Queens University Belfast - 4-5th April 2013
• Othering the Muslimah: “Islamicis[ing] the process of ‘writing back’” in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret, The Translator, and Coloured Lights - Going Local: African Texts and Cultures - an Interdisciplinary Conference - The University of Birmingham - Monday 24th June 2013
• Othering the Muslimah: “Islamicis[ing] the process of ‘writing back’” in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret, The Translator, and Coloured Lights - “Contact and Connections”: Travel and Mobility Studies Symposium - The University of Warwick - Thursday 27th June 2013
• Negotiating Borders in Betool Khedairi’s A Sky So Close - Writing Beyond Borders - University of Manchester's School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Graduate School Inaugural Conference for 2013-2014 - The University of Manchester - Friday 20th September 2013
• Re-imagining Iran from a female perspective: Yasmin Crowther's The Saffron Kitchen - British Culture after 9/11 - Teeside University - 27th June 2014

Conference Chair:

• 'Islam and Literature' - Islam and the West: A Love Story? - A Postgraduate Interdisciplinary Symposium - The University of Glasgow - 24th November 2012
• 'Body Politic' - The Fourth Biennial Conference of the Postgraduate Contemporary Women’s Writing Network - Queens University Belfast - 4-5th April 2013

Forthcoming:

• Women in War and at War: Recent Developments - The University of Warwick - 18-19th September 2014

Conference Organiser:

• I organised a symposium in association with the Institute of Advanced Study and the Travel and Mobility Studies Research Network at The University of Warwick on Friday 11th July 2014. The symposium was entitled Travelling between the Centre and Periphery: Creating a Feminist Dialogue for the Diaspora. The symposium was funded by IAS, HRC, and the Faculty of Arts. The conference report and recordings of the day can be found here.

• "Women in Exile: Islam and disempowerment in Fadia Faqir's My Name is Salma" - HARTS & Minds: The Bristol Journal of Humanities and Arts - Spring Edition - Against the Grain - Reimagining in the Humanities and Arts - 14 March 2013.
• Book Review - Brooklyn Heights by Miral al-Tahawy - The Warwick Review - Friday 14th June 2013

 

Roxanne Bibizadeh

R.E.Bibizadeh@warwick.ac.uk

Visit my website: www.roxannebibizadeh.com