Department of Anthropology and Sociology

Dalia El Ariny

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Key information

Department: Department of Anthropology and Sociology
Qualifications: BA Modern Humanities (University of Milan); MA Social Anthropology and Arabic Study (SOAS University of London)
Thesis title: Navigating Multiple Religious Belongings in London: An Ethnographic Approach
Internal Supervisors: Professor Marloes Janson & Dr Zerrin Özlem Biner

Biography

Biography: Born into an Italian-Egyptian, Catholic Muslim family, Dalia has always been interested in the intersection of multiple religious and cultural identities, which led her to pursue a PhD.

Her research focuses on the everyday experiences of mixed-faith families in London, that is households where more than one religion coexists. These families offer rich, often overlooked insights into how religious boundaries are lived, negotiated, and reimagined. Her work asks: how can mixed-faith families help shape the future of interfaith work in London, making it more nuanced, intersectional, and grounded in everyday life?

Outside academia, Dalia is actively involved in promoting interfaith dialogue. She is a member of Harrow Interfaith, volunteers with the Faith & Belief Forum, and regularly shares her work at interfaith events. She founded My Mixed Heritage, an online initiative that aims to make interfaith discourse more accessible and inclusive of mixed-faith families' experiences. On this topic, she recently co-authored “Interfaith Work and Interfaith Families: A Toolkit” with US-based activist and journalist Susan Katz Miller. In 2023–2024, she served as Inter-Faith Advisor at Goodenough College.

Research interests

Dalia's research interests include the anthropology of religion, Islam, and conversion to Islam; the interplay between conversion, gender, and race; inter-religiosity, inter-religious families, and heritage; the making of inter-faith discourse and politics in the UK and Europe.