Welsh Muslim Lives Symposium

This event has ended.

Muslims have been part of the fabric of Wales for over a century, and Islam and Wales are joined through deep historic connections. To promote this history, the Islam in Wales Project is uncovering and recording a rich archive of past and present Welsh Muslim life-stories. The first generation of pioneers who settled in Wales are ageing and passing away, and with them, the accounts, histories, and stories of Muslim settlement are moving beyond retrieval. The importance of this story is even more pronounced given that the current generation of Welsh-born Muslims are ‘coming of age’ and seeking to understand their place in Welsh society.

Collecting and telling the history of Muslims in Wales will equip them with an academic account of their communities’ experiences. In collaboration with the Dictionary of Welsh Biography (DWB), the Welsh Muslim Lives Symposium invites papers of 10 minutes length that highlight one life-story, reflecting the significant contributions of Muslims to Wales and Welsh culture, or the impact of Welsh Muslims elsewhere on the world stage.

We are hoping this symposium will lay a fruitful foundation to submit presented work for inclusion in the DWB, which provides free access to around 5,000 concise biographical articles, each fully researched and written by a named specialist author. It therefore is the starting point for anyone seeking biographical information about persons throughout history whose contribution or prominence has shaped some aspect of the life of Wales, including the impact of Welsh people in the wider world. Working in collaboration with the Welsh Muslim Lives Symposium, the DWB hopes to collect these rich and fascinating life stories and preserve them for future generations.

For more information about the Dictionary of Welsh Biography, please follow this link: https://biography.wales/about.

Please email your proposals of up to 150 words for a 10-minute presentation to Dr Abdul-Azim Ahmed (ahmedma1@cardiff.ac.uk) by 13 November 2023.