Gujaratis in the West: Evolving Identities in Contemporary Society Tapa dura - 2007

Anjoom Mukadam is Lecturer at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. She received her doctorate in Sociolinguistics from the University of Reading. Her thesis is entitled Gujarati Speakers in London: Age, Gender and Religion in the Construction of Identity. The aim of this research was to investigate the formation of new ethnicities of two ethnolinguistic religious communities, the Nizari Ismaili Muslims and Swaminarayan Hindus. The research contested the use of widely accepted terms, such as, 'diaspora' and 'immigrant' when used in the context of the second generation and generated new models by which the identities of these individuals can be better understood. Sharmina Mawani obtained her doctorate from the Department for the Study of Religions at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her thesis, entitled The Construction of Identities Amongst Young Adult Nizari Ismaili Muslims in Toronto and Mumbai, investigated the centrality of the ginans (devotional songs) in the formation of the ethno-religious identities of the Nizari Ismaili Muslims of Gujarati ancestry. Sharmina is particularly interested in the manner in which traditional religious practices are evolving in contemporary western society. At present she is a Lecturer at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London.