Dr. Ibrahim Abraham
Senior Lecturer, Sociology
Campus
Biography
Ibrahim Abraham joined Federation University in 2023 after four years as the Hans Mol Research Fellow in Religion and the Social Sciences at the Australian National University (2018–2022) where he also convened the Freilich Project for the Study of Bigotry. He remains affiliated with the ANU as an honorary senior lecturer.
Prior to joining the ANU, Ibrahim was a research fellow at the University of Helsinki (2013–2018) carrying out research on two Academy of Finland–funded projects in South Africa. From 2012 to 2013 he was a research associate at La Trobe University’s Centre for Dialogue, working with multicultural communities in Melbourne. Ibrahim received his PhD in sociology from the University of Bristol in 2012.
Ibrahim is the author of two books and over forty journal articles and book chapters, and in 2024 was included on the Elsevier/Stanford global list of the top 2% of researchers, by citation, in his discipline.
Ibrahim is currently enjoying teaching a range of sociology units at Federation, and working on his third book, a literary sociology of the Lebanese diaspora.
Fields of research
- Religion, society and culture
- Sociology of religion
- Sociology of culture
More about Ibrahim
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Bristol
- Master of Arts, Monash University
- Bachelor of Laws, Monash University
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Monash University
Areas of interest
- Serious leisure
- Sociology of culture
- Sociology of religion
- South Africa
Areas of expertise
Ibrahim is an expert on the sociology of religion, especially the intersections of contemporary Christianity and Islam with ethnicity, sexuality, popular culture and leisure. He is also an expert on contemporary South African society.
Grants
- ‘Increase Awareness of Africa in ANU and Canberra’. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 2019–2021. ($20,000)
- Research Development Scheme. ANU. 2020. ($3,000)
- ‘The Morality of Success among the Emerging Black Middle Class in South Africa’. Academy of Finland, with Tuulikki Pietilä. 2016–2020. (480,000 EUR)
- ‘Youth, Music and the Construction of Social Subjectivities and Communities in Post-Apartheid South Africa’. Academy of Finland, with Tuulikki Pietilä. 2013–2016. (376,454 EUR)
Awards
- 2012: School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol: Hilary Hartley Prize for best PhD dissertation.
- 2008: Monash University: Vice-Chancellor’s Commendation for Excellence.
- 2008: Faculty of Arts, Monash University: Award for best Master’s thesis.
Current
- PhD student, Federation University, co-supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Helsinki, co-supervisor.
Past
- PhD student, Australian National University, co-supervisor.
- PhD student, Australian National University, co-supervisor.
- Sociology
Professional association memberships
- Australian Association for the Study of Religion (Vice-President, 2025–2026)
- Australian Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies
- International Sociological Association
Future Regions Research Centre
- Publications
You have your Gibran and I have my Gibran: representations of Kahlil Gibran, a century after The Prophet
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1080/20581831.2025.2552630
Millennial Muslims in Lebanese-Australian Literature: Pure and Vernacular Religion in the Bildungsromane of Michael Mohammed Ahmad and Omar Sakr
- Book Chapters
- DOI reference: 10.1163/9789004737372_007
Book review: Called and Queer: Lived Religion and LGBTQ Methodist Clergy in South Africa
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1558/jasr.33913