Ms Bianka Speidl

Bianka Speidl

UKRI Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Nature and Environmental Ethics in Islamic Thought

PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK, (2015)

Title of Dissertation: Conceptualization of Power in the thought of Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah

M.A. in English Language and Literature (2004)

Title of Thesis: “Feminism in context. A Comparative Analysis of Maps by Nuruddin Farah and Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker”

M.A. in Arabic Language and Islamic Culture (2004)

Title of Thesis: “Philosophical argumentation in the Islamic creeds. Comparative Analysis of Aqa’ids by al-Tahawi, al-Juwayni and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi”

M.A. in History (2007)

Title of Thesis: “Intellectual trends amongst the Lebanese Shia and the impact of the civil war (1975-1990)”

Research Associate

Pázmány Péter Catholic University (2020 – 2023)

Senior Lecturer at the Department of Arabic Philology

Pázmány Péter Catholic University (2016– 2020)

Contracted lecturer

Pázmány Péter Catholic University (2003–2011)

ACADEMIC RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2023 –

Marie Skodowska Curie / UK Research and Innovation Postdoctoral Research Fellow on “Nature and Environmental Ethics in Contemporary Shiite Thought”, University of Exeter

2020 – 2023

Research Centre Pope St. John Paul II, Pázmány Péter Catholic University

2013 – 2019

Research Group for the Study of Religious Culture-Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Senior Research fellow

RESEARCH AND GRANTS PROFILE

2022

Horizon Europe Marie Skodowska Curie / UK Research and Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship

2011–2014

Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter

PhD Studentship in the framework of the Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence in Islamic Thought (LIVIT) project

2012–2013

Institut français du Proche-Orient, Beirut - research in Lebanon

2002–2003

Damascus University, Syria - scholarship of the Hungarian Ministry of Education

2000–2001

Istituto Orientale di Napoli, Italy - Erasmus scholarship

1999–2000

Institut Bourghiba des Langues Vivantes, Tunisia - scholarship of the Hungarian Ministry of Education,

1994–2003

Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary

Monograph

Islam as Power – Shii Revivalism in the Oeuvre of Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah, Routledge, London, New York, 2020.

Book Chapters (selected)

Speidl, B. (2023) “Exegesis that connects: Matta el-Meskeen in Conversation with Muslim Intellectuals”. in The Living Stones Yearbook 2023. Living Stones of the Holy Land Trust 2023, Melisende UK Ltd. 332-349.

Horvath-Sántha, H., Speidl, B., (2020) “Resilience as advocacy in European Islam” in Resilience Approach in Public Policies. S. Villani, D. Crocco, B. Speidl (eds.), Jovene, Naples, pp. 195-205. (ISBN978-88-243-2642-1)

Speidl, B. (2017) “The Rhetoric of Power in Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah's al-Islam wa mantiq al-quwwa.” In: Heydar Shadi (ed.) Islamic Peace Ethics. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2017. pp. 205-225. (Studien zur Friedensethik / Studies on Peace Ethics; 57.) (ISBN:978-3-8487-4050-5)

Speidl, B. (2016) “The Ideology of the ‘Islamic State’” (in Hungarian: “Az ‘Iszlám Állam’ ideológiája) in Az Iszlám Állam, Terrorizmus 2.0 – Történet, ideológia, propaganda. Attila Nádori (ed.), Kossuth Kiadó, Budapest, pp. 99-155. (ISBN 978-963-09-8441-6)

Co-authored book

Belhaj, A., Speidl, B., (2018) Migration as Disruption: Politics, Society and Media. Gábor Barna (ed.), Szeged: Research Group for Religious Culture Hungarian Academy of Sciences – University of Szeged, 2018. (ISBN: 978-963-30-66300)

Co-edited books

Resilience Approach in Public Policies. S. Villani, D. Crocco, B. Speidl (eds.), Jovene, Naples, (ISBN978-88-243-2642-1)

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles (selected)

Speidl, B. (Forthcoming) “Shiite perspectives on relations with ‘the religious other’”. The Review of Faith and International Affairs (Routlegde)

Speidl, B. (2015) “Modern Shi'i Islam and the Narrative of Social Power: The Views of Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah”. Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 60: (1) pp. 225-237.

Other Publications (selected)

Belhaj, A., Speidl, B., (2018) “Islamic Ecumenism Redefined: A Hungarian Muslim Leader’s Reformed sharia for Everyday Muslims and Europe.” In: Barna, Gábor(ed.) Religion, Culture, Society: Yearbook of the MTA-SZTE Reserarch Group for the Study of Religious Culture 4 (2018) pp. 26-42.

Belhaj, A., Speidl, B., (2017) "The Good, the Junk and the Profitable: The New Halal Food in Budapest and London" Barna Gábor (ed.), Yearbook of the MTA-SZTE Research Group for the Study of Religious Culture 4, 2017, pp. 167-185.

Belhaj, A., Speidl, B., (2016) “Legitimacy and Exchange: The Moral Economy of Authority among Hungarian Muslims”. In Barna Gábor (ed.) Religion, Culture, Society: Yearbook of the MTA-SZTE Research Group for the Study of Religious Culture 3. pp. 96-115.

Belhaj, A., Speidl, B., (2015) “The Sacred Body and the Fascination of Ortohopraxy: The Religious Corpus of Hungarian Muslim Women.” In Barna Gábor (ed.) Religion, Culture, Society: Yearbook of the MTA-SZTE Research Group for the Study of Religious Culture 2. pp. 134-153.

Belhaj, A., Speidl, B., (2014) “Marriage as Appropriation: Evidence from the Hungarian Muslim community”. In Barna Gábor (ed.) Religion, Culture, Society: Yearbook of the MTA-SZTE Research Group for the Study of Religious Culture 1. pp. 129-155.

Speidl, B. (2014) “Syria in the crossfire of international power games” (in Hungarian: “Szíria a nemzetközi hatalmi játszmák kereszttüzében”), Seregszemle [Journal of the Joint Headquarters of the Hungarian Defence Forces]. 2014. pp. 122-136.

Speidl, B. (2010) “Distance in Vicinity: Beirut’s Zuqaq el-Blat, a Place of Transformation, Conflict and Co-existence”. Études Sur La Région Méditerranéenne, Szeged, 2010. pp. 29-49.

Speidl, B. (2009) “Lebanese Christians and Shifts in Political Power: from Taif Accords to the Second Lebanese War”. Études Sur La Région Méditerranéenne: Szeged, pp. 77-100.

Speidl, B. (2007) “The roots and transformations of the Shiite concept of martyrdom in the Lebanese civil war” (in Hungarian: “A síita mártirium gyökerei és átalakulása a libanoni polgárháborúban”), Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, pp. 57-77.

Speidl, B. (2005) “Radical Islam: enemy or ally?” (Radikális iszlám – ellenség vagy szövetséges?) Part 1. Magyar Szemle Új folyam XIV. 9-10. pp. 134-152; Part 2. XIV. 11-12. pp. 91-106.