uiii.ac.id (Depok). Siti Sarah Muwahidah Ph.D., academic from HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World at the University of Edinburgh (UoE), Scotland, is currently a visiting fellow at the Faculty of Islamic Studies, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII).
Muwahidah is one of two academics from the University of Edinburgh who act as visiting scholars at the Faculty of Islamic Studies UIII. Another scholar from the UoE will be coming in 2023. Her two months fellowship at UIII started from June 15 until August 15, 2022.
This fellowship is part of the “The Edinburgh-UIII Postgraduate Dual Degree Partnership on Islam and the Globalized Muslim World” program funded by the British Council’s Going Global Partnership Program for 2022 and 2023.
In that program, Dr. Muwahidah, together with the Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies UIII, Prof. Noorhaidi Hasan, plays the role of leader. The ultimate purpose of this program is to build the foundations of a transnational dual degree program bringing together the UIII’s MA in Islamic Studies and the UoE’s MSc in The Globalized Muslim World.
During her visiting fellowship at UIII, she plays an essential role in several activities, such as realizing a transnational dual degree program that brings together the UIII’s MA in Islamic Studies and the UoE’s MSc in The Globalized Muslim World; carrying out a joint teaching program; and developing international exposure and research development which includes conferences and public lectures. The Memorandum of Understanding for the proposed Dual Degree Program has been signed by the UIII Rector Prof. Komaruddin Hidayat and the UoE Vice Principal International Prof James Smith.
During her activities as a visiting fellow, Dr. Muwahidah has participated in several programs, such as being involved in the ENIS/NISIS-MIDA Summer School event, which was held at the State Islamic University (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta on June 20-24, 2022. At the event, Muwahidah became Chair and Supervising students. She then delivered a workshop and lectures on “Islam and Digital Ethnographies: Experiences from the Field” for the UIII Masterclass on Digital Humanities, alongside scholars from AIPI, UIII, NISIS, and MIDA, June 27-28, 2022.
Muwahidah was also a keynote speaker at the Colloquium Faculty of Islamic Studies, Decentering Islamic Studies: Towards New Approaches in the Study of Islam and Muslim Societies event, held on July 12-13, 2022. On that occasion, she spoke about Teaching Islam in the United States: A Decolonial Approach.
In addition to her activities at UIII, she also delivered a lecture about Islamic Transformation in the Digital Era: Youth, Gender, and Ritual with Prof. Noorhaidi Hasan, and Dr. Kholoud Al-Ajarma at UIN Mataram’s International Seminar on 18 July 2022, as well as, a lecture on “What Do Muslim Learn from the Digital Age? Da’wah, Pilgrimage, and Piety as Expressions of Identity”, with Dr. Al-Ajarma, which was chaired by Dr. Yanwar Pribadi at UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin, Banten on 21 July 2022.
Dr. Siti Sarah Muwahidah is an Alwaleed Early Career Teaching and Research Fellow on Contemporary Muslim Societies in Southeast Asia at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. She holds a Ph.D. in Religion (2020) from the Graduate Division of Religion, Emory University, Atlanta, USA. Her Ph.D. dissertation examined Sunni-Shiʿi relations and the development of sectarianization in Indonesia.
Her academic interests include interfaith dialogue, religious conflict and peacebuilding, political theology, and identity politics. She has conducted research in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Her current study examines the formation of authorities and transnational networks among Indonesian Shiʿi communities.