Dr Rajnaara Chowdhury Akhtar

Associate Professor, University of Warwick

Rajnaara is a socio-legal researcher with a focus on family law. Her research has explored marriage formalities and legal treatment of non-legally binding religious-only marriages. Her research looks more broadly at family justice processes, transitional relationship norms, normative influences, legal consequences and autonomy. She has conducted extensive empirical research on family law and family justice processes in the UK, Qatar and Australia. Her work draws on a range of socio-legal theories and approaches, and is underpinned by Critical Legal Theory.

Rajnaara has undertaken several grant funded projects including collaborative research funded by the Nuffield Foundation for which she was the Primary Investigator, exploring why marriage ceremonies occur outside of the legal framework for weddings in England and Wales. A second project where she is Primary Investigator, funded by the Doha International Family Institute, explores the experiences of women in Qatar engaging with the law and legal infrastructure relating to marriage and divorce.

Rajnaara has collaborated on international interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary projects. Her research has been published in a range of law, sociology and theology journals, and she has presented her research at multiple academic, practitioner, government, and stakeholder meetings and conferences.

Areas of research interest include children’s rights in family law, international child law, gender and human rights law.

Relevant Publications:

  • Akhtar, Rajnaara C., Manjoo, Faizal Ahmed, 2024. Matrimonial property in Islamic law. Briggs, Margaret; Hayward, Andy (eds.), Research Handbook on Family Property and the Law, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar
  • Probert, Rebecca, Akhtar, Rajnaara C., Blake, Sharon, 2023. Belief in Marriage : the evidence for reforming Weddings Law, Bristol University Press
  • Akhtar, Rajnaara C., Krayem, Ghena, Buckley, Anisa, 2023. Vesting powers in officiants : reforming weddings law in England and Wales; lessons from Australia?s Muslim communities. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 35 (1), pp. 49-69
  • Akhtar, R., 2022. Contemporary issues in marriage law and practice in Qatar. HAWWA : Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World, 20 (1-2), pp. 124-158
  • Probert, Rebecca, Pywell, Stephanie, Akhtar, Rajnaara C., Blake, Sharon, Barton, Tania, Vora, Vishal, 2022. Trying to get a piece of paper from City Hall? The availability, accessibility, and administration of the register office wedding. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 44 (2), pp. 226-244
  • Probert, Rebecca, Akhtar, Rajnaara C., Blake, Sharon, Vora, Vishal, Barton, Tania, 2021. The importance of being authorized : the genesis, limitations, and legacy of the Marriage Act 1898. Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, 10 (3), pp. 394-417
  • Akhtar, Rajnaara C., 2020. Religious-only marriages and cohabitation : deciphering differences. In Akhtar, Rajnaara; Nash, Patrick; Probert, Rebecca (eds.), Cohabitation and Religious Marriage: Status, Similarities and Solutions, Bristol University Press, pp. 69-84
  • Akhtar, Rajnaara C., 2020. Case Note: ‘From non-marriage to non-qualifying ceremony?. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 42 (4), pp. 384-387
  • Akhtar, Rajnaara C., 2019. Plural approaches to faith-based dispute resolution by Britain’s Muslim communities. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 31 (3), pp. 189-214
  • Akhtar, Rajnaara C., 2019. Unregistered Muslim marriages in the UK : examining normative influences shaping choice of legal protection. In Foblets, Marie-Claire; Graziadei, Michele; Renteln, Alison (eds.), Personal Autonomy in Plural Societies, A Principle and its Paradoxes, Routledge: Law and Anthropology, pp. 140-155
  • Rajnaara C. Akhtar, Rebecca Probert and Annelies Moors (2018) ‘Informal Muslim Marriages: Regulations and Contestations’, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Volume 7 Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojlr/rwy036
  • Annelies Moors, Rajnaara C. Akhtar and Rebecca Probert (2018) ‘Contextualizing Muslim Religious-Only Marriages’, Sociology of Islam, Volume 6 Issue 3. [FORTHCOMING]
  • R.C. Akhtar (2018) ‘Modern Traditions in Muslim Marriage Practices, Exploring English Narratives’ Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Volume 7 Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.1093/ojlr/rwy030
  • Rajnaara Akhtar (2018) ‘The human right to marry: a refugee’s perspective’, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 40:2, 262-269, DOI: 10.1080/09649069.2018.1451013.
  • R.C. Akhtar (2018) ‘Unregistered Muslim Marriages in the UK; Examining Normative Influences Shaping Choice of Legal Protection’, in M.C. Foblets (et al) (Eds) (2018), Personal Autonomy in Plural Societies, A Principle and its Paradoxes, Routledge: Law and Anthropology.
  • R.C. Akhtar, ‘Unregistered Muslim Marriages: An Emerging Culture of Celebrating Rites and Compromising Rights’, in R Probert, J Miles and P Mody (2015) Marriage Rites and Rights, Hart Publishing, Oxford
Website Powered by WordPress.com.