Dr Suriyah Bi

Key information
- Roles
- Department of Religions and Philosophies Lecturer in Islam in Britain (Education)
- Email address
- sb210@soas.ac.uk
Biography
I completed my BA Hons at Magdalen College University of Oxford (2014-11), during which time I received a scholarship to study at Stanford University.
I then completed my Masters at SOAS, University of London (2014-15) after which I completed my PhD at University College London (2015-19). The final year of my PhD was completed at Yale University's Anthropology department, under Professor Marcia Inhorn's supervision (2018-19). I was previously a Senior Teaching Fellow at SOAS University of London's Department of Anthropology (2019-20) and Teaching Fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Department of Anthropology (2020-21).
Since 2020 I have lectured on the Islam in Britain/Muslims in Britain module at HPR. My research interests include migration and diaspora studies, ethnic minority studies, marriage studies, gender studies, masculinity studies, British Muslims and Islam, social policy, inequalities. In 2018, I founded the Equality Act Review to strengthen the Equality Act 2010 and have worked closely with Parliamentarians. Using anthropological research methods (ethnography), I have researched equality related issues which I have presented as parliamentary reports, policy briefings, and appeared in news media interviews.
As a result of this work, I joined the Royal Anthropological Institute's Policy and Practice Committee, which is chaired by Professor Emma Crewe (SOAS). I am particularly keen to develop anthropology in parliament as part of my theory "The Cycle of Decolonisation". I am currently also working on two manuscripts "Muslim Masculinities and Marriage Migration: South Asian Bridegrooms in Britain" (PhD research), and "Racialisaion of Islam".