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History SpeaksAuthor: Dr. Roshan Iqbal
The past, present, and future are intimately bound to one another. In short, history matters. History Speaks situates the Islamic intellectual tradition within its socio-political context and connects it to pertinent issues today. Join Dr. Roshan Iqbal as she speaks with Islamic studies scholars about their work on gender, Iaw, and theology in the Islamic tradition. In each episode we move across different time periods and regions to discuss how aspects of Islamic history speak to concerns today. History Speaks is a part of the The Maydan Podcast made possible by a generous grant from Henry Luce Foundation. Visit us at https://themaydan.com/podcast Language: en Genres: History, Islam, Religion & Spirituality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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History Speaks EP 20 | Making Muslimness | Roshan Iqbal with Asif Majid
Episode 20
Thursday, 8 October, 2026
In this episode of History Speaks, Dr. Roshan Iqbal is joined by Dr. Asif Majid to explore how British Muslim youth in Manchester use performance — on stage and in everyday life — to navigate identity, belonging, and race. Together, they discuss what it means to define “Muslimness” as something performed rather than fixed, how these communities responded in the aftermath of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, and why performance offers a powerful lens for understanding racialization and community-making. From devised theatre to the politics of visibility and absence, this conversation opens a window onto a rich and understudied intersection of religion, race, and art. Asif Majid writes fiction, (academic) non-fiction, and plays. Using community-based participatory theatre and (auto)ethnography, he works at the intersection of Islam, performance, and race as a theatre maker, educator, researcher, and consultant. His work scripts, stages, and traces local and global nodes of power, politics, and (de)coloniality. Currently, he is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Human Rights at the University of Connecticut, where he is also Area Head of Theatre Studies and Affiliate Faculty in Anthropology; Asian and Asian American Studies; Intersectional Indigeneity, Race, Ethnicity, and Politics; Middle East Studies; and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Asif has earned over $500,000 in grant and fellowship funding from funders as diverse as the Asian Cultural Council, Mellon Foundation, Wallace Foundation, and Fulbright Program. His performance work has taken him from the Kennedy Center to Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. He completed his practice-based PhD in Anthropology, Media, and Performance at The University of Manchester, and is the author of Making Muslimness: Race, Religion, and Performance in Contemporary Manchester. Asif is online at www.asifmajid.com and on Substack at Deeds and Du’as. Dr. Roshan Iqbal hails from a small hamlet of 20 million–Karachi, Pakistan. She received her PhD in Islamic Studies from Georgetown University. Prior to this she read for her MPhil at the University of Cambridge. She has studied in Pakistan, the US, Morocco, Egypt, Jordon, the UK, and Iran. Her research interests include gender and sexuality in the Qur’an, Islamic Law, Film and Media Studies, and modern Muslim intellectuals. Her recent book is titled, ‘Marital and Sexual Ethics in Islamic Law: Rethinking Temporary Marriage.’ As a...
