Professor S. Sayyid

Professor S. Sayyid

Profile

I have a first degree in International Relations, a Masters in Ideology and Discourse Analysis and my doctorate was in Government. One of the ironies of my academic career is that I have found myself mainly working in sociology departments. Perhaps, then, it is not that surprising that my work is interdisciplinary.

Before joining Leeds on a five-year University Research Fellowship, I had worked in universities in London and Manchester.  In 2010 I had an opportunity to take time off from Leeds and was appointed Professor and the inaugural director of a newly formed research centre in Adelaide, Australia.  Intellectually, my time in Australia was spent developing the field of Critical Muslim Studies.  This development began with a programme of international conferences, symposia and workshops which I organized under the theme of ‘Reorienting the World; Decolonial Horizons’.

Since returning to the UK, I have continued my work in Critical Muslim Studies with the launch of a new interdisciplinary peer reviewed academic journal: ReOrient, and the publication of the book Recalling the Caliphate.

My previous monograph A Fundamental Fear has had a rather curious reception.  It has helped to transform the way in which Islamism is analyzed, it has been translated into a number of languages, it is in its third edition; but since 2006 it has been banned by the Malaysian government.  The ban is based on British colonial legislation which allows for the proscription of publications deemed to be, among other things, prejudicial to public morality… which I suppose can be seen as example of impact.

More prosaic instances of impact however are provided by my frequent briefing (including writing commissioned reports) to senior government officials, including minsters, as well as contributions to national and international media. I have been interviewed and contributed to programmes of national and international broadcasters including ABC (Australia), BBC, CBC (Canada), Press TV (Iran), Channel Four (UK) and  ORF (Austria).  I have also contributed frequent opinion pieces to newspapers in this country and abroad.

Responsibilities

  • Head of the School Sociology and Social Policy

Research interests

The series of questions that animate my research across various mediums revolve around the processes by which systems of societies are formed and develop through history.  All my publications, research bids, invitations to speak are attempts at exploring this process of world-making and its implications.  These explorations have two main dimensions. One dimension arises from theoretical issues and is organized around the relationship between a postructuralist discourse theory and decolonial thought. In particular, my emphasis has been to explore the constitutive interplay between rhetoric and social order.  At a substantive level, I study specific instances of the process of world-making, such as the part played by racism in the formation of modern societies, investigations of alternative worlds signalled by the various Islamist projects or, or the constitutive role of rhetoric in the formations of collective identities.  

Some of these research interests are bundled together under the umbrella of Critical Muslim Studies.

I am the Founding Editor of ReOrient

Some past research projects include:

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://essl.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • B.A (Hons) in International Relations
  • M.A M.A (Hons) in Ideology and Discourse Analysis

Current postgraduate researchers

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>The school welcomes enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>