Elvire Corboz

Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Islam and Middle East

Biography

Background

After a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies (along with another major in musicology) from the University of Geneva, I studied at the University of Oxford for an MPhil in modern Middle Eastern Studies (with Persian) and a DPhil in Oriental Studies. Before coming to Edinburgh in 2018, I worked as postdoctoral research associate and lecturer at Princeton University, lecturer at Rutgers University, and assistant professor at Aarhus University.  

Qualifications

DPhil in Oriental Studies, University of Oxford.

MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford.

Licence ès Lettres in Musicology and in Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Geneva.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Learning and Teaching director, Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (since 2022)

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World, former deputy director (2019-2022)

Undergraduate teaching

Course organiser (current)

  • Modern Middle Eastern History B: Postwar Independence and Conflict (pre-Honours) 

Course organiser (past)

  • Islamic Movements in the 20th-21st Century (Honours)
  • Iraq: From "Republic of Fear" to the Islamic State (Honours)

Guest lecturer

  • History and Culture of Iran (Honours)
  • Modern Middle Eastern History A: Domestic Transformation and International Challenges (pre-Honours) 
  • Introduction to Islam (pre-Honours)

Postgraduate teaching

Course organiser (current)

  • Critical Readings in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

Course organiser (past)

  • Ideology and Political Practice in the Modern Middle East
  • Iraq: From "Republic of Fear" to the Islamic State 
  • Islamic Movements in the 20th Century

Guest lecturer

  • History and Culture of Iran
  • Research Methods and Problems in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
  • Regional Perspectives in a Globalised Muslim World

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I welcome enquiries in the following areas of research: modern Shi‘ism; modern Iraqi history and politics; modern Iranian history and politics; Sunni-Shi‘i relations; Shi‘i Islamism; Shi‘ism in Europe; Muslim religious authority.

Current PhD students supervised

Principal supervisor:

Carlos Mendez, IMES PhD. 

Robert Riggs, IMES PhD. 

Konstantin Rintelmann, IMES PhD. 

Assistant supervisor:

Bahar Fayeghi, IMES PhD. 

Sinan Siyesh, IMES PhD. 

Research summary

My research interests lie with contemporary Shi‘ism, with a particular focus on the clerical establishment and its transnational networks, Iraqi Shi‘i Islamism, as well as Shi‘i communities and institutions in the United Kingdom.  I'm also at work with the study of Sunni-Shi'i relations, especially in European contexts.  

 

I have been involved in the following collaborative projects:

2018: Lead applicant in the project ‘Sunni-Shi‘i Relations in Europe’, funded under the workshop grant scheme by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS).

2015–2018: Affiliated researcher in the project ‘SWAR: Sectarianism in the Wake of the Arab Revolts’, funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research – Social Sciences (FSE).

2012–2013: Core group member in the project ‘Traditional Authority and Transnational Religious Networks in Contemporary Shi‘i Islam: Results from Recent Empirical Research’, Oxford-Princeton Collaborative Grant.

Past project grants

2018 ‘Sunni-Shi‘i Relations in Europe’, funded under the workshop grant scheme by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS).

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