Dr Dominic Pasura

Senior Lecturer in Sociology (Sociological & Cultural Studies)

telephone: +440141 330 4090
email: Dominic.Pasura@glasgow.ac.uk

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Sociology (Sociological & Cultural Studies) at the University of Glasgow. My research examines the social worlds created through migration—especially African diasporas, transnational religion/spirituality, youth, race and gender—and how these reshape belonging, identity, and social change across the UK and Africa.

I lead the ESRC-funded project Religious and Spiritual Lives of Transnational Young People of African Migrant Background (RASTAY) (UK–Nigeria–Zimbabwe–South Africa). The project generates comparative evidence on religion/spirituality, youth mobility and diasporic belonging across multiple urban sites and is producing a portfolio of peer-reviewed outputs, public-facing resources and partner-led engagement.

My publications include African Transnational Diasporas (Palgrave, 2014), Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism (Palgrave, 2016, with Marta Bivand Erdal), and the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Migration (Routledge, 2024, with Daniel Makina). I publish in leading journals including Ethnic and Racial Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, International Migration, Ethnography, Men and Masculinities and Journal of Contemporary Religion.

Research interests

My work sits at the intersection of migration studies, African diaspora studies and the sociology of religion. I use comparative and multi-sited qualitative methods to examine how mobility reshapes belonging, identity and social change across the UK and Africa.

Key themes

African diasporas, race and transnationalism (belonging, identity, citizenship, diaspora infrastructures)
Religion/spirituality and mobility (lived religion, digital religion, African Indigenous Religions, Christianity/Islam in transnational fields)
Youth, generation and social change (transnational youth identities; “in-between” lives; aspiration, precarity and belonging)
Gender and masculinities (diasporic masculinities; family, care and intimacy across borders)
Comparative and multi-sited qualitative methods (ethnography, interviews, stakeholder engagement, collaborative research)

Selected recent publications

Pasura, D. (in press, 2026). ‘Reframing the lens: transnational youth, lived religion and rethinking mobility and transnationalism’. Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Pasura, D. (in press, 2026). ‘Africa’s clicks to faith: digital religious practices among transnational Nigerian and Zimbabwean youth in the diaspora’ (with S. Kazira). Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Pasura, D. (2025). ‘Negotiating diasporic leisure among Zimbabwean migrants in Britain’. Ethnography, 26(4), 772–791.
Pasura, D. (with D. Makina) (2024). Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Migration. Routledge.

Research groups

Social Anthropology & Migration

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2026 | 2025 | 2023 | 2022 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006

Number of items: 41.

2026

Kazira, Sarah and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2026) Africa's clicks to faith: digital religious practices among transnational Nigerian and Zimbabwean youth in the diaspora. Ethnic and Racial Studies, (In Press)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2026) Reframing the lens: transnational youth, lived religion and rethinking mobility and transnationalism. Ethnic and Racial Studies, (In Press)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107, Chitando, Ezra, Williams, Dodeye and Matolino, Bernard (2026) Introduction: Roaming and rooted – migration, religion, spirituality and the transnational lives of African youth. Ethnic and Racial Studies, (In Press)

Sande, Nomatter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4177-8391, Kazira, Sarah and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2026) Navigating continuity and change: a multi-scalar analysis of religion and spirituality among African youth in the UK. Ethnic and Racial Studies, (In Press)

2025

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2025) Negotiating diasporic leisure among Zimbabwean migrants in Britain. Ethnography, 26(4), pp. 772-791. (doi: 10.1177/14661381221115798)

2023

Makina, Daniel and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (Eds.) (2023) Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Migration. Routledge. ISBN 9780367437558 (In Press)

Makina, Daniel and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2023) The future of immigration in Africa. In: Makina, Daniel and Pasura, Dominic (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Migration. Routledge: London, pp. 407-418. ISBN 9781003005551 (doi: 10.4324/9781003005551-29)

Mutambasere, Thabani and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2023) The nature and “lived” experiences of contemporary African diasporas. In: Makina, Daniel and Pasura, Dominic (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Migration. Routledge: London, pp. 286-295. ISBN 9781003005551 (doi: 10.4324/9781003005551-21)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 and Makina, Daniel (2023) Contemporary African migration: An introduction. In: Makina, Daniel and Pasura, Dominic (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Migration. Routledge: London, pp. 1-20. ISBN 9781003005551 (doi: 10.4324/9781003005551-1)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2023) De-centring pilgrimage studies: understanding neo-pentecostal journeys and pilgrimage in Africa. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 38(1), pp. 79-96. (doi: 10.1080/13537903.2023.2170575)

2022

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2022) Transnational religion. In: Yeoh, Brenda S.A. and Collins, Francis L. (eds.) Handbook on Transnationalism. Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, Massachusetts, USA, pp. 262-275. ISBN 9781789904000 (doi: 10.4337/9781789904017.00024)

2018

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 and Christou, Anastasia (2018) Theorizing black (African) transnational masculinities. Men and Masculinities, 21(4), pp. 521-546. (doi: 10.1177/1097184X17694992)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2018) Multi-religious diasporas: rethinking the relationship between religion and diaspora. In: Cohen, Robin and Fischer, Carolin (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Diaspora Studies. Series: Routledge international handbooks. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY, pp. 113-119. ISBN 9781138631137

2017

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2017) Rootedness and openness: experiences, practices and theologies of Zimbabwean Catholics in Britain. In: Budde, Michael L. (ed.) Scattered and Gathered: Catholics in Diaspora. Series: Studies in world Catholicism (3). Cascade Books: Eugene, Oregon, pp. 202-220. ISBN 9781532607097

2016

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 and Erdal, Marta Bivand (Eds.) (2016) Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism: Global Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137583468

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2016) Transnational religious practices among Zimbabwean Catholics in Britain. In: Pasura, Dominic and Erdal, Marta Bivand (eds.) Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism: Global Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 121-144. ISBN 9781137583468 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-58347-5_6)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 and Erdal, Marta Bivand (2016) Introduction: migration, transnationalism and Catholicism. In: Pasura, Dominic and Erdal, Marta Bivand (eds.) Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-20. ISBN 9781137583468 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-58347-5_1)

2015

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2015) Language and Muslim immigrant childhoods: the politics of belonging. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38(8), pp. 1457-1459. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2014.973433)[Book Review]

2014

D’Angelo, Alessio, Kathrecha, Preeti, Kofman, Eleonore, Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107, Puniskis, Magdolna, Lorinc, Misak and Clarke, L. (2014) Emerging Communities in Hounslow And West London: Mapping and Needs Assessment: Afghan, Algerian, Burmese, Sri Lankan, Romanian and Bulgarian Communities. Project Report. London Borough of Hounslow, 2014.

Kufakurinani, Ushehwedu, Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 and McGregor, JoAnn (2014) Transnational parenting and the emergence of 'diaspora orphans’ in Zimbabwe. African Diaspora, 7(1), pp. 114-138. (doi: 10.1163/18725465-00701006)

McGregor, JoAnn and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2014) Frameworks for analyzing conflict diasporas and the case of Zimbabwe. African Diaspora, 7(1), pp. 1-13. (doi: 10.1163/18725465-00701001)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2014) African Transnational Diasporas: Fractured Communities and Plural Identities of Zimbabweans in Britain. Series: Migration, diasporas and citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137326584

Tinarwo, Moreblessing Tandeka and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2014) Negotiating and contesting gendered and sexual identities in the Zimbabwean diaspora. Journal of Southern African Studies, 40(3), pp. 521-538. (doi: 10.1080/03057070.2014.909258)

2013

Pasura, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107, Jones, A.D., Hafner, J.A., Maharaj, P.E., Nathaniel-DeCaires, K. and Johnson, E.J. (2013) Competing meanings of childhood and the social construction of child sexual abuse in the Caribbean. Childhood, 20(2), pp. 200-214. (doi: 10.1177/0907568212462255)

Pasura, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107, Jones, A. and Da Breo, H. (2013) IMPACT: interventions and mitigations to prevent the abuse of children: it’s time a public health oriented systems model for change. In: Adele, A. (ed.) Understanding Child Sexual Abuse: Perspectives from the Caribbean. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 239-222. ISBN 9781137020048

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2013) Modes of incorporation and transnational Zimbabwean migration to Britain. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(1), pp. 199-218. (doi: 10.1080/01419870.2011.626056)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2013) Rights beyond borders: the Zimbabwean diaspora and the politics of citizenship. In: Kaulemu, D. (ed.) Imagining Citizenship in Zimbabwe. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung: Harare, pp. 138-147.

2012

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2012) A fractured transnational diaspora: the case of Zimbabweans in Britain. International Migration, 50(1), pp. 143-161. (doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2435.2010.00675.x)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2012) Religious transnationalism: the case of Zimbabwean Catholics in Britain. Journal of Religion in Africa, 42(1), pp. 26-53. (doi: 10.1163/157006612X629069)

2011

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2011) Shades of Belonging: African Pentecostals in twenty-first century Ireland. African Affairs, 110(438), pp. 154-155. (doi: 10.1093/afraf/adq071)[Book Review]

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2011) Toward a multisited ethnography of the Zimbabwean diaspora in Britain. Identities, 18(3), pp. 250-272. (doi: 10.1080/1070289X.2011.635372)

2010

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2010) Catholic Women of Congo-Brazzaville: Mothers and sisters in troubled times. African Affairs, 109(437), pp. 685-686. (doi: 10.1093/afraf/adq054)[Book Review]

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2010) A gendered analysis of land reforms in Zimbabwe. Womens Studies International Forum, 33(5), pp. 443-454. (doi: 10.1016/j.wsif.2010.04.002)

McGregor, JoAnn and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2010) Diasporic repositioning and the politics of re-engagement: developmentalising Zimbabwe's diaspora? Round Table, 99(411), pp. 687-703. (doi: 10.1080/00358533.2010.530413)

Pasura, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2010) Zimbabwean transnational diaspora politics in Britain. In: Primorac, R. and McGregor, J. (eds.) Zimbabwe’s New Diaspora: Displacement and the Cultural Politics of Survival. Series: Studies in forced migration (31). Berghahn Books: New York, NY, pp. 103-121. ISBN 9781845456580

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2010) Competing meanings of the diaspora: the case of Zimbabweans in Britain. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(9), pp. 1445-1461. (doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2010.498670)

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2010) Regendering the Zimbabwean diaspora in Britain. In: Crush, J. and Tevera, D. (eds.) Zimbabwe's Exodus: Crisis, Migration, Survival. International Development Research Centre: Cape Town, pp. 208-222. ISBN 9781920409227

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2010) Diaspora. In: Battistella, Graziano (ed.) Migrazioni: Dizionario Socio-Pastorale. San Paolo: Milano, pp. 371-376. ISBN 9788821566615

2009

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2009) Zimbabwean Migrants in Britain: An Overview. Project Report. Network Migration in Europe.

2008

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2008) Gendering the diaspora: Zimbabwean migrants in Britain. African Diaspora, 1(1), pp. 86-109. (doi: 10.1163/187254608X346060)

2006

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2006) Zimbabwe: Mapping Exercise. Project Report. International Organization for Migration United Kingdom, London.

This list was generated on Tue Feb 10 19:25:06 2026 GMT.

Number of items: 41.

Articles

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2008) Gendering the diaspora: Zimbabwean migrants in Britain. African Diaspora, 1(1), pp. 86-109. (doi: 10.1163/187254608X346060)

Books

Book Sections

Book Reviews

Edited Books

Makina, Daniel and Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (Eds.) (2023) Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Migration. Routledge. ISBN 9780367437558 (In Press)

Research Reports or Papers

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2009) Zimbabwean Migrants in Britain: An Overview. Project Report. Network Migration in Europe.

Pasura, Dominic ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7155-1107 (2006) Zimbabwe: Mapping Exercise. Project Report. International Organization for Migration United Kingdom, London.

This list was generated on Tue Feb 10 19:25:06 2026 GMT.

Grants

I am Principal Investigator of the ESRC-funded project Religious and Spiritual Lives of Transnational Young People of African Migrant Background (RASTAY) (May 2023–December 2026). The project investigates the role of religion and spirituality in constructing youth identities and a sense of belonging among transnational young people (aged 15-35) of Nigerian and Zimbabwean migrant backgrounds in London and Birmingham (UK), Lagos (Nigeria), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Johannesburg (South Africa).

Towards the Prevention and Intervention of Child Sexual Abuse: Cross-cultural Explorations, Explanations and Impact Evaluations (April 2011-January 2012). ESRC Knowledge Exchange Small Grants Scheme (RES-192-22-0132) £9,150. Investigators: Professor Adele Jones (Principal Investigator) and Dr Dominic Pasura (Co-investigator). The research project explored international, cross-cultural understandings of research into child sexual abuse and identified ways to address the problem.

Religious Transnationalism: The case of Zimbabwean Catholics in Britain. ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Grant Number: PTA-026-27-2212 (July 2009- June 2010) £78,375.11. The project examined the ways in which mainstream churches engendered migrants’ maintenance of transnational ties and improved their integration into British society.

Supervision

I welcome PhD proposals using qualitative, comparative and multi-sited methods on migration, African diasporas, transnational religion/spirituality, youth and belonging, race and decolonial approaches to migration studies and gender/masculinities in diasporic contexts. I particularly welcome projects that combine strong conceptual framing with careful empirical design (ethnography, interviews, digital methods, stakeholder research) and have pathways to policy, community or public engagement.

I am especially interested in supervising projects on:

African diasporas, race, migration and belonging
Transnational religion/spirituality, lived religion and digital religion
Transnational youth identities, generation and social change
Gender, family, care and diasporic masculinities
Comparative UK–Africa research; multi-sited qualitative designs

Current PhD students

Akwasi Asirifi, 'Gender, Sexuality and African Christianity in Family Life of Asante Communities in postcolonial Ghana'.

Jamie Gladstone, 'Towards Anti-Racist Pedagogy: Fostering Criticality for British Caribbean Students Through Capoeira Angola'.

Kazira, Sarah
The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Transnational Young People of African Migrant Background
Li, Keying
The Formation and Development of Ethnic Identity
MacPherson, Campbell
Transnationalising Scottishness: Reconciling ‘civic Scottishness’ with the Scottish identity of the lived diaspora.

Maria Mercedes Saavedra Corrada, 'The Virgin of Altagracia in the transnational context of Dominican women living in Puerto Rico', successfully defended in September 2021, University of Glasgow.

Stephen Trotter: ‘Leavening Society - The Role of Religious Institutions in integrating Migrants in Norway,’ successfully defended June 2019, University of Glasgow.
William Suk, ‘Collaboration and Conflict in Transnationally-Dispersed Zimbabwean Families’, successfully defended October 2017, Syracuse University, the US.
Helen Shipman, Conceptualizing Child Sexual Abuse: Voices from an Informal Settlement in Nairobi, successfully defended October 2016, University of Huddersfield.
Gloria Seruwagi, Examining the Agency and Construction of 'Orphans and Vulnerable Children' in rural Uganda, successfully defended March 2013, University of Huddersfield

Teaching

My teaching is research-led and internationally oriented, with a focus on migration, diaspora, race and religion from African and Global South perspectives. I use comparative case studies and applied assessments to support students to connect theory with contemporary debates on mobility, belonging and inequality. I integrate emerging findings from externally funded research into postgraduate and honours curricula and emphasise critical thinking, methodological reflexivity and research-informed writing.

Current teaching and convening includes:

Religions on the Move: Comparative Perspectives on Religion (Honours)
Global Migrations: Histories, Structures, Experiences (PGT)
Diaspora: The Experience of Migration and Displacement (PGT)

Additional information

For prospective PhD students: please email with a brief outline (c. 300–500 words) indicating your research question, proposed case(s), methods and how your project speaks to relevant literature in migration/diaspora studies and the sociology of religion/spirituality.

External sites

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School of Social & Political Sciences

Dr Dominic Pasura

Biography

Research interests

Research groups

Publications

2026

2025

2023

2022

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2006

Articles

Books

Book Sections

Book Reviews

Edited Books

Research Reports or Papers

Grants

Supervision

Current PhD students

Teaching

Additional information

External sites