The Institute of Ismaili Studies

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Dr Zulfikar Hirji

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Biography

Zulfikar Hirji is an Anthropologist and Social Historian of Muslim Societies and Cultures. He is currently Assistant Professor of Anthropology at York University, Toronto. He was formerly a Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, and Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford. Professor Hirji received his DPhil from the University of Oxford, MPhil from University of Cambridge, and B.A. (Joint Honours) from McGill University. He also studied at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in the Graduate Programme in Islam and the Humanities. Professor Hirji also trained in Western Classical Voice Performance and studied at Vancouver Community College. He has sung with the Cambridge University Musical Society, Vancouver Chamber Choir and other semi-professional choirs.

Professor Hirji specializes in the social and cultural expressions of Muslims in historical and contemporary contexts. He has conducted fieldwork in East Africa, Oman, Syria and Canada. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Anthropology of Islam and Muslim Societies, Ethnicity and Nationalism and Visual Anthropology. He has published a number of articles in edited volumes, journals and reference works. He is the co-author and co-editor of The Ismailis: An Illustrated History (Azimuth Editions in association with IIS, 2008), editor of Plurality and Pluralism in Muslim Contexts (IIS, forthcoming) and co-editor of Places of Worship and Devotion in Muslim Societies (Berghahn, forthcoming). Professor Hirji is also co-editor of Routledge series on the Indian Ocean.

Professor Hirji is also an experienced fundraiser, having lead major campaigns for international development agencies including Oxfam Canada and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. He has worked for the Government of Ontario in communications and has managed community-based projects for the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. His career highlights include:

  • Working with local volunteers across Canada to raise awareness about the international development work of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.
  • Mounting an Exhibition on the Ugandan Asian migration to Canada at the Museum of Civilization, Ottawa and the Ontario Heritage Society, Toronto.
  • Organizing and moderating a seminar and workshop in Zanzibar with local craftsmen and women on the history, aesthetics, production and sale of Swahili-Muslim male skullcaps.
  • Photographing over 100 historic mosques in Oman for the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
  • Teaching a course in Anthropology and Muslim Societies in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to Tajik social and cultural historians.