After earning his PhD with the highest score from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, on June 29, 2021, Dr. Shakir (Muhammed Usman) has presented a conference paper and published four pieces of scholarship. Since arriving in Sulaimani as the first CGDS Jan Warner Visiting Scholar in October 2020, he has made significant contributions to CGDS, AUIS, and the international community.
Dr. Shakir conducted research not only in Sulaimani, but he also traveled to Kufa and Najaf, Karbala, Baghdad, Khanaqin, Erbil, Lalesh, and Duhok. There, he conducted interviews and gathered other data for his doctoral thesis, “History of Shia, Sunni and Yazidi Conflict: A Political, Social, or Religious Conflict and its Impact on the Peace Process in the Middle East,” with a focus on Kurdistan-Iraq.
On July 9, 2021, Dr. Shakir presented his paper at the Sixth International Paris Conference on Social Sciences (via Zoom). The paper, “The Idea of Female Muezzins and Imams in Islam: A Challenge to the Pakistani Patriarchal Forces,” was well received by the audience.
Dr. Shakir’s “Yazidis: A Tale of a Lost, Found, and Misunderstood Legacy in the Light of Mimetic Theory” is now in print, in Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture Volume 28. Contagion is a Michigan State University Presspublication.
Dr. Shakir is the first author, with co-author Gilmário Kassandro Xavier Pinheiro, of “Religãlo Islã e os Equívocos Sobre o Islâ” ("Islam and the Misconceptions About Islam") and “Maria e Jesus no Islâ.” (Status of Mary and Jesus in Islam"). Both chapters appear in the second volume of Religião em Suas Diversas Faces (Religion in its Diverse Faces), edited by Danielle Ventura de Lima Pinheiro, Marinilson Barbosa da Silva, and Suelly Maux (Editora do Ccta João Pessoa, 2021). Dr. Shakir is fluent in English, Hindi, Portuguese, Punjabi, and Urdu.
His most recent publication is “The Idea of Female Muezzins and Imams in Islam: A Challenge to the Pakistani Patriarchal Forces” This appeared in the Pakistan Journal of Society, Education, and Language Vol 7 (2) July, 2021.
Dr. Shakir taught courses as an adjunct instructor for the Department of Social Science at AUIS in the 2020 winter term (“Israel and Palestine”), the spring term (“Gender and Islam”), and summer 2021 (”Modern Civilizations” and “Kurdish History.”) He also directed a capstone study, “History of Kurdish-Iraqi Conflict since the Establishment of Modern Iraq.”
He organized two student seminars: on April 1, 2021, he hosted an open forum, "Israel-Palestine and Iraq-Kurdistan Conflicts: The Similarities, Lessons and the Way Forward" in which four students presented research that resulted from their work in the class “Israel and Palestine.” AUIS students Liva Saadi, Gash Salar, Supa Shakali, and Hasan Baway read their papers; Kizhe Majeed served as the moderator. On July 27, 2021, he organized the open forum “Gender Roles and Islam,” in which AUIS students Raz Mohammed Abdullah, Hasan Majeed Baway, Heschu Barzengi, and Chenar Chalak Qader presented their work, developed in his spring semester class.
As part of CGDS’s International Women’s Week, he organized and hosted the community colloquium “Disability, Diversity, and Inclusion.” Before organizing the event, Dr. Shakir visited several organizations of people with disabilities in Sulaimani. Local and international disabled and nondisabled participants, including AUIS student-facilitators Raz Mohammed Abdulla, Naivan Sartip Abdalrahman, Sawen Gelas, and Zheera J Hassan, explored issues of full participation of people with disabilities in the Global South. The event took place on March 3- March 10, 2021. A. summary of this event will be offered as an academic paper at the World Disability and Rehabilitation Professionals Conference in November 2021.
Currently, Dr. Shakir is co-authoring two articles: “Religion (Islam), National Identity and the Conflict in Swat” with Syed Wasif Azim, and “Women, Disability, and Colonialism in Iraq-Kurdistan” with Lynn Rose. He is also working with former AUIS students and Yazidi people on a compendium of Yazidi sacred sites. With AUIS alumni and other community members, he is preparing a collection of essays on Kurdish cultural history.
We congratulate Dr. Shakir on his many accomplishments and we thank him for his contributions. We thank Ms. Jan Warner, CGDS Patron and Champion, for her generosity in funding the Jan Warner Visiting Scholarship. We also thank Dr. Jill Derby, CGDS Champion, for providing the travel expenses for last year’s visiting scholars.
Image description: A smiling man with short dark hair stands outdoors against a large Doric column. He wears blue trousers, a red shirt, and a brown jacket. He holds a cup in his left hand; his right hand is in his jacket pocket. In the background is a garden; the horizon appears to be just before sunset.