An amiable session with Dr. Shanneik, a women Specialist
Dr. Yafa Shanneik is a specialist in Islam and Christianity. Joining the university of South Wales in 2015, she has been writing and editing many books on her specialty since then. She is interested in Sunni and Shia women in Europe and their transnational networks to the Middle East. Her main focus is on Muslim women’s leadership and authority in private and public spheres and examining the changing nature of women’s participation in religious practices in Europe as well as in the Gulf (in countries such as Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain and Iran). In addition, she works intensively on religious conversion and focus on women’s narratives of identity and belonging.
The subject of the workshop has been announced to be “the Shia propagation’s state in the Europe”, however, the turnout was something different. Dr. Shanneik has started her speech with an introduction of herself and her way of teaching in the university. She talked about the very prejudices hold in the mind of her students about Islam and especially the role of women in Islamic cultures. As an ethnographer, she used to study the lifestyle of her sample from a close-up view by participating in their everyday life, ranging from Hosseini Majalis to their kitchens! Since due to the hijab issue the close-up life of Muslim women cannot be published globally, the worldwide picture of Islamic rituals is confined to men. Trying to utilize the appropriate lifestyle picture of Muslim women, she made the effort to change the biases formed in the mind of her audience. Spending a couple of years on the subject of Islamic Majalis and rituals and witnessing Muslims’ lives from a close view, she is now in the middle of writing a book on the role of women in spreading Islam through rituals and practices. “Women with a comprehensive understanding of the duty of Hazrat Zeinab (a.s.), bear the responsibility for spreading the message of Islam through generations.” she said.
Her new project, marriage and its related customs and traditions, has become the subject of the rest of the workshop. Started from her recent travel to Iran, she tried to get in touch with various cases gathering information about their customs regarding marriage’s ceremonies considering the role of Shia teachings in them. Many Questions were arising among the audience, representing the importance of the subject in everyday life. From this point forward, the lecture has turned into a mutual discussion on the subject, engaging everyone on the issue either giving their personal views and experiences or challenging the whole matter.
This friendly conversation had lasted until the noon prayer time and was finished by presenting a small gift on behalf of the institute to Dr. Shanneik. Over 50 students were present at the workshop and the early feedbacks have shown a high level of satisfaction, especially as an English training workshop.