Professor Madawi Al Rasheed

Teaching Activities

Undergraduate Teaching
Professor Al-Rasheed teaches undergraduate courses on religion and society, religion and politics, religion and gender, and religious experience and practice. In addition to introductory courses on social anthropology, and theory and methodology, Professor Al-Rasheed offers specialised courses that draw on her research interests and expertise. For example, she teaches material on Islam and modernity, women in Muslim societies, and Islamist movements.

A selection of courses
Introduction to the Anthropology of Religion: a course designed to introduce students to anthropological studies of religion

Advanced Theory in the Anthropology of Religion: a course designed to enhance knowledge in previous and contemporary perspectives of religions in the Western and non-Western worlds.

Topics in the Anthropology of Religion: a course designed to analyse a wide range of religious practices, for example, initiation and death rituals, worship, symbolism, and pilgrimage.

Gender in Muslim societies: a course is designed to understand Muslim women’s religiosity in a changing world, debate about the status of women in Islam, Western images of Muslim women, marriage and divorce, Islamic and Western feminism, Islamic dress code and identity.

Muslim Communities in the West: a course is designed to examine the status and experience of Muslims in non-Muslim societies, especially Europe and North America, the challenges of being a Muslim in the twenty first century, question about adaptation, integration, multiculturalism, the Islamic Diaspora, Islamic activism, and other relevant issues.


Graduate teaching
Professor Al-Rasheed teaches MA and PhD students. Her focus is on theory and method courses and specialist subject areas. She is the co-ordinator of a new MA programme (see below).

Religion in Contemporary Society MA
This MA provides training in analysis and understanding of religion in contemporary societies. It examines religious responses to modernity among three religious traditions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Professor Al-Rasheed is responsible for teaching courses on Muslim societies within this MA programme.

Programme description
This unique interdisciplinary MA is designed to develop knowledge and skills in social science and humanities, and to encourage constructive, critical and independent thought in this field. While focusing on Christianity, Islam and Judaism, the course will allow students to specialise in broad issues cutting across these traditions and societies (for example fundamentalism, new religions, transnational religious flows, or religious pluralism), or to concentrate on a particular society or religion. Moreover, the programme aims to master a number of transferable skills that are necessary for professional expertise in a range of areas, from the academic study of religion to public policy and social work.

Professor Al-Rasheed’s MA Course
The Social Scientific Study of Religion: a course designed to teach theoretical and methodological aspects of studying religion from a social scientific perspective.

Religions and Modernities: a course designed to examine how modernity is experienced by people belonging to different religious traditions.

Religion and Politics in Muslim Societies: a course designed to analyse the intersection between religion and politics in a variety of Muslim countries, for example Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

Religion and Gender in Muslim Societies: a course designed to analyse Muslim women’s religious experience in the modern world, gender, Islam and politics, identity and society.

Professor Al-Rasheed supervises undergraduate, MA and PhD dissertations on a variety of topics.