Ruminations comprises social criticism, political analysis and a
biographical description of Tahir Abbas, a social scientist working on
issues of ethnicity, social conflict, and politics. Born in Birmingham,
UK, Abbas has lived and worked in London and Istanbul, and is now in The
Hague, Netherlands. In this autoethnographic narrative, he examines the
intersections of race, class, ethnicity, and Islam in the context of the
British Muslim landscape through subjective experiences: growing up in
Birmingham; navigating the precariousness of the education system;
working in central government during the 9/11 attacks; and eventually
becoming a leading expert in the field.