Brief Biography:

Somaya Abdullah is social worker and holds a PhD in the study of religion, which she obtained through a joint programme from the University of Cape Town and Oxford University. In her academic career she has been a research scholar at Harvard University, a Crosscurrents Coolidge Fellow at the Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, and an Assistant Professor at Concordia College in Minnesota. Before her appointment at UCT, she worked at the University of Fort Hare. She is currently doing a second PhD in social work at the University of Johannesburg with Professor Leila Patel at the Centre for Social Development in Africa. Somaya’s research focusses on the study of religion, social work, and developmental social welfare with an emphasis on Islam in social work and social welfare. Her current PhD examines kinship care of Muslim older persons in South Africa.

Research Interest Areas:

Developmental Social Welfare

Religion and Social Work

Older Persons

Research areas for supervising postgraduate students:

Dr Abdullah supervises postgraduate students in social work and social development and welcomes applications for research in the fields of religion, culture, and indigenous practice in social work and social development, as well as research in Islam and counselling and working with older persons. Please direct queries to somaya.abdullah@uct.ac.za