Associate Professor Mara Leichtman has been awarded an Institute of Advanced Study fellowship at Durham University, UK, where she is in residence at St. Aidan’s College from January through March 2024. During this time, she will be working on her next book titled “Humanitarian Islam: Transnational Religion and Kuwaiti Development Projects in Africa,” which unpacks the micropolitics of Islamic humanitarian giving, and focuses on Kuwaiti Sunni and Shi’i charities operating in Senegal and Tanzania.

During this residency period, Dr. Leichtman will also be collaborating with Dr. Christopher Bahl from Durham’s Department of History on a project entitled “An Interdisciplinary Rethinking of the Making of Shi‘i Identities beyond the Middle Eastern ‘Centre.’” Their aim is to bring a more diachronic approach to the emergence and transformation of Shi‘i Islamic identities across time and space. They plan to organize an international and interdisciplinary workshop at Durham University, with further plans to publish on the importance of interdisciplinary work in the growing subfield of Shi‘i Islamic Studies.

For more information: https://www.iasdurham.org/people/current-fellows/dr-mara-leichtman/