Dr. Tajri Leads a Research Seminar on ‘Female Experiences of Hijab Observance’

On the 18th of October 2023, Dr. Tajri, from AMI’s Department of Studies in Comparative Religion (DSCR), was invited to lead a virtual research seminar hosted by Shaheed Beheshti University in Tehran, Iran. This seminar was part of the University’s wider series on exploring attitudes towards hijab and hijab-observance. Dr. Tajri presented aspects of a recently completed ethnographic social science research involving Shīʿa Muslim higher education students in the UK. A significant segment of that broader research covered gender-related factors impacting attitudes and performances to Shīʿī religious authority. This brought it into conversation with Shaheed Beheshti University’s seminar series. Having given a contextual backdrop to the research, Dr. Tajri’s presentation theorised about the notions of religious interpretive agency and authority, with particular attention to Shīʿī authority. The seminar was attended by in excess of 45 participants, who had the opportunity to ask further questions about the research after the main presentation. Questions involved queries about methodology as well as requests for further reading resources on the discussed ideas.