Peter Gottschalk

Department of Religion                                                                                              office – (860) 685-2293

Wesleyan University                                                                                                    home – (860) 434-7012

171 Church Street                                                                                                pgottschalk@wesleyan.edu

Middletown, Connecticut 06459                                      http://pgottschalk.faculty.wesleyan.edu/

Education

Ph.D.                        University of Chicago, 1997 (History of Religions).

M.A.                          University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1989 (South Asian Studies).

B.A.                          College of the Holy Cross, 1985 (History) – cum laude with Honors.

 

Relevant Employment Experience

Professor: Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (2009-present).

Director, Office for Faculty Career Development: Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (2016-present).

Associate Professor: Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (2004-2009).

Assistant Professor: Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (2003-2004).

Visiting Assistant Professor: Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (2002-2003).

Assistant Professor: Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas (1997-2003).

Adjunct Assistant Professor: Asian Studies Department, University of Texas at Austin (1999-2002).

 

Publications

Published books

American Heretics: Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and the History of Religious Intolerance (Palgrave, 2013).

Religion, Science, and Empire: Classifying Hinduism and Islam in British India (Oxford University Press, New York, 2012).

Engaging South Asian Religions: Boundaries, Appropriations, and Resistance. Volume with ten contributors co-edited with Mathew N. Schmalz (SUNY Press, 2011).

Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy. Co-authored with Gabriel Greenberg (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007).

Beyond Hindu and Muslim: Multiple Identity in Narratives from Village India (Oxford University Press, New York and Delhi, 2000 and 2001).

 

Published essays and entries in books

“The Equality Paradigm in Warner v. Boca Raton: Winnifred Sullivan and The Impossibility of Religious Freedom” from The Social Equality of Religion or Belief, Alan Carling, ed. (Palgrave, 2016). 88-81.

“Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Sentiment” in The Oxford Handbook of American Islam. Yvonne Haddad and Jane Smith, eds. (Oxford University Press, 2014). 507-519.

“Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear: Islamophobia in the United States and British India, 1687–1947” co-authored with Gabriel Greenberg in Islamophobia in America: The Anatomy of Intolerance. Carl W. Ernst, ed. (Palgrave, 2013). 21-51.

“Mapping Boundaries: The Science of Knowing Communal Identity in British Cartography” in Lines in the Water: Religious Boundaries in South Asia. Tazim R. Kassam and Liza Kent, eds. (Syracuse University Press, 2013). 187-212.

“Religion Out of Place: Islam and Cults as Perceived Threats in the United States” in From Moral Panic To Permanent War: Lessons And Legacies Of The War On Terror. Gershon Shafir, Ev Meade, and William Aceves, eds. (Routledge, 2012). 108-127.

“Introduction” in Muslims and Others in Sacred Space. Margaret Jean Cormack, ed. (Oxford University Press–AAR Series, 2012). 3-14.

“Promoting Scientism: Institutions for Gathering and Disseminating Knowledge in British Bihar” in Knowledge Production and Pedagogy in Colonial India. Daud Ali and Indra Sengupta, eds. (Palgrave, 2011). 171-197.

“A Science of Defining Boundaries: Classification, Categorization, and the Census of India” in Engaging South Asian Religions: Boundaries, Appropriations, and Resistance, Mathew N. Schmalz and Peter Gottschalk, eds. (SUNY Press, 2011). 21-37.

“Introduction: Engaging South Asian Religions” co-authored with Mathew N. Schmalz in Engaging South Asian Religions: Boundaries, Appropriations, and Resistance, Mathew N. Schmalz and Peter Gottschalk., eds. (SUNY Press, 2011). 1-17.

“From Muhammad to Obama: Caricatures, Cartoons, and Stereotypes of Muslims” co-authored with Gabriel Greenberg in Islamophobia: A Challenge to Pluralism in the 21st Century, John Esposito, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2011). 191-209.

“Islamophobia” entry co-authored with Gabriel Greenberg in Routledge Companion to Race & Ethnicity, Stephen Maynard Caliendo and Charlton McIlwain, eds. (Routledge, 2010). 162-163.

“A Village as Hermeneutical Lens: Spaces of Rural Hindu-Muslim Interactions” in Village Matters: Relocating Villages in the Contemporary Anthropology of India, Diane Mines and Nicolas Yazgi, eds. (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2010). 173-198.

“On Method and Narrative – OR, How A Textualist Gave Birth to Two Ethnographers” co-authored with Mathew Schmalz in Notes from a Mandala: Essays in Honor of Wendy Doniger, Laurie L. Patton and David L. Haberman, ed. (University of Delaware Press, 2010). 276-294.

“Teaching Bihari Rural Life through ‘The Virtual Village’ on the World Wide Web“ co-written with Mathew Schmalz in Speaking of Peasants: Essays on Agrarian History in India in Honor of Walter Hauser, Vijay Pinch, ed. (Manohar, 2007). 453-470.

“A Categorical Difference: Communal Identity in British Epistemologies” in Religion, Violence and Globalization: The South Asian Experience, John Hinnells and Richard King, eds. (Routledge Curzon, 2006). 195-210.

“Muslim Traditions” in Religions of South Asia, Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby, eds. (Routledge, 2006). 201-245.

“Visions of Incompatibility: Categorizing Islam and Hinduism in Scholarship” in Incompatible Visions: South Asian Religion in History and Culture, James Blumenthal, ed. (Center for South Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006). 1-20.

“Foreword” in Building Communities in Gujarat: Architecture and Society during the Twelfth through Fourteenth Centuries, Alka Patel (E.J. Brill, 2004). xvii-xx.

“Mapping Muslims: Categories of Evolutionary Difference and Interaction in South Asia” in Lived Islam: Liminality, Accommodation, and Adaptation, Imtiaz Ahmad and Helmut Reifeld, eds. (Social Science Press, 2004). 3-17.

“Introduction” in Surprising Bedfellows: Hindus and Muslims in Medieval India, Sushil Mittal, ed. (Lexington Books, 2003). 1-10.

“Dead Healers and Living Identities: Narratives of a Hindu Ghost and a Muslim Sufi in a Shared Village” in The Living and the Dead: The Social Dimensions of Death in South Asian Religions, Elizabeth Wilson, ed.(SUNY Press, 2003). 177-200.

Entries for The (Oxford) Dictionary of Islam, John Esposito, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2003). Including: Hinduism & Islam, Zorastrianism & Islam, Abu al-Fath Jalal al-Din Muhammad Akbar I, Delhi Sultans, Ghaznavids, Jahangir, Nadwat al-Ulama, Nizaris, Nur Jahan, and Ashraf Ali Thanawi.

“It Is My Privilege to Say…” in Justice for All, Jake B. Schrum, ed. (Southwestern University, 2001). 20-28.

 

Other published articles, entries, and essays

“The Interpretative Pivot: Hermeneutics and the Contemporary Decline of Islamic Pluralism” in Marginalia. August 26, 2016. http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/interpretative-pivot-hermeneutics-contemporary-decline-islamic-pluralism-peter-gottschalk/

“Three Tales of Three Houses” in Journal of Asian Studies (Vol. 73, No. 2, May 2014). 301–304.

“The Period of British Rule (1757 – 1947)” entry in Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Knut A. Jacobsen, ed. (Brill, 2012). 103-120.

“Material Culture in an Indian ‘Virtual Village’: Not Just Hindu and Muslim” co-authored with Mathew N. Schmalz for journal Material Religion. (Vol. 5, No. 3, November 2009).

“Jam‘îyatul ‘Ulamâ’-i Hind” entry in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, volume 3. John L. Esposito, ed. (Oxford University Press, 2009).“Introduction: Engaging South Asian Religions” co-authored with Mathew N. Schmalz in Engaging South Asian Religions: Boundaries, Appropriations, and Resistance, Mathew N. Schmalz and Peter Gottschalk., eds. (SUNY Press, October 2010).

“A Mahatma for Mourners and Militants: The Social Memories of Mohandas Gandhi in Arampur,” in “Mourning and Memory,” a special issue of Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East(Vol. 25, No. 1, 2005).

“Political Hindu Nationalism: Riptides in the Saffron Wave” in Sightings, a twice-weekly on-line publication of the Martin Marty Center of the University of Chicago Divinity School (August 25, 2005): http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/sightings/archive_2005/0825.shtml.

“Being an ‘Other’ Other than Myself: ‘Take It to the Bridge’” in Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, vol. 13 (2001).

“The Problem of Defining Islam in Arampur,” International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World Newsletter (August 2001).

 

Essays and entries in press

“Foiled Again: Muslims, Terrorism, and Hollywood” in Screening Terror: Cinematic Representations of Terrorism and State Terror, Fabiola Salek and Charle Strozier, eds. (Columbia University Press).

 

Published reviews

S. Sayyid and AbdoolKarim Vakil, eds., Thinking Through Islamophobia: Global Perspectives and Maleiha Malik, ed., Anti-Muslim Prejudice: Past and Present in Contemporary Islam (September 2012).

Vasudha Damlia, The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions: Bharatendu Harischandra and Nineteenth-century Banaras in History of Religions (vol. 39, no. 4; May 2000).

Lise McKean, Divine Enterprise: Gurus and the Hindu Nationalist Movement in South Asia Newsletter (Autumn 1996).

 

Electronic and visual productions

“Hinduism and Islam” entry, Oxford Bibliographies Online (2012).

“‘Better Left Unsaid’: Representation and Discernment in ‘A Virtual Village’ co-authored with Mathew N. Schmalz for Practical Matters, vol. 3 (spring 2010).

“A Virtual Village” version 2.0: http://virtualvillage.wesleyan.edu (2004).

“A Virtual Village. ” A virtual Indian village on the World Wide Web: (2001).

“History of Religion Timeline.” Encyclopedia Britannica CD-ROM (1998).

“Living Together and Apart: Hindus and Muslims in South Asia.” Scriptwriter, photographer, and narrator for still-image video produced by the University of Wisconsin–Madison South Asian Outreach Center (1993).

“Living with Geography: Everyday Life in Pakistan.” Scriptwriter, photographer, and narrator for still-image video produced by the University of Wisconsin–Madison South Asian Outreach Center (1992).

 

Opinion essays

“Why Sufis Pose Such a Threat To Islamic State Ideology,” Newsweek. March 11, 2017. http://www.newsweek.com/why-sufi-pose-threat-islamic-state-ideology-565362

“Perception of gay life as a threat still too widespread in America,” Las Vegas Sun. June 30, 2016. https://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/jun/30/perception-of-gay-life-as-a-threat-still-too-wides/

“Kansas, the KKK and Hate Without End,” Los Angeles Times. April 16, 2014.http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-gottschalk-kkk-hate-crimes-20140417-story.html

“Islam from news cycle to protest cyclone,” OnFaith website of The Washington Post. September 20, 2010. http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2010/09/20/news-cycle/8231

 

Professional Presentations

Invited Lectures

“Deciding Who Counts: Hindus and Muslims in the Indian Census.” Nalanda University, Rajgir, Bihar, India (March 2017).

“Sidestepping Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism: Resetting the Terms of Empirical Description.” Columbia University (April 2016).

“Beyond Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism: The Quest for Compatible Categories of Comparison in the Academic Study of Religion.” Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University (April 2016).

“A Secret History of Islamophobia.” Goodspeed Lecture at Denison University (April 2016).

“Sidestepping Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism: Resetting the Terms of Secular Description.” Ohio State University (March 2016).

“‘Sacred’ River Ganges.” State University of New York—Orange (October 2015).

“Information You Can Count On: The Indian Census, Hindus, and Muslims from the Mughals to Modi.” University of Vermont (September 2015).

“Patterns of Intolerance: America’s Struggle to Accept Jews, Catholics, & Muslims.” Niagara University (September 2015).

“Myth: A Classroom Heuristic Tool.” American Society for the Study of Religion conference. Rice University (April 2015).

“Sites of Interaction, Times of Crisis: Peace and Conflict among Indian Hindus and Muslims.” Saint Louis University (March 2015).

“Globalized Islamophobia: Nonsense, Commonsense, or Imperial Origins?” City University of New York (November 2014).

“The Brahm’s Revenge: Inequality and Justice in Memory and Practice.” Realizing Justice? Encountering Normative Justice and the Realities of (In)justice in South Asia conference, Erfurt, Germany (June 2014).

“Islamophobia: An Imperial Inheritance.” Beyond Islamophobia conference, School of Oriental and Asian Studies, University of London (June 2014).

“How a Ghost, a Goddess, and a Sultan Disciplined an Empire, Then a Nation (and Vice Versa),” Harvard University (February 2014).

“Islamophobia in Context.” Islamic Center of Northern California, Oakland (February 2014).

“Religious Plurality and the Sentiments of Prejudice.” Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University (November 2013).

“The Faces of Intolerance: Ethnicity, Race, and Religion.” Second International Workshop of Imagology at Necmettin Erbakan Cultural Center (January 2013).

“Enduring Islamophobia.” Emerson College, Boston (September 2011).

“The Specter of Islam: The Perceived Threat of Mosques and Sharia in the U.S.” University of California, San Diego (May 2011).

“The Many Faces of Islam in South Asia.” State University of New York–Orange (May 2011).

“American Islamophobia: Roots, Nativism, and Political Advantage.” New York University (April 2011).

“Between Dargah and Masjid: Paying Attention to the Village through Prayer.” Prayer in the City – Islam, Sacred Spaces and Urban Life workshop at Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Germany (June 2009).

“Islamophobia and Political Cartoons.” Uncovering Islam workshop, Indiana University (March 2009).

“It Takes Two to Tango: Religion and Science in the Imperial Ballroom” and “Picturing Islam: 50 years of Making Muslims the Enemy.” Wickenden Lectures, Miami University (September 2008).

“Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy” at Deconstructing Islamophobia workshop, University of California, Berkeley (April 2008).

“Fear and Loathing: Extremism, the Norm, and the Limits of Religious Tolerance.” Hartford Seminary (April 2008).

“Foiled Again: Muslims and Mainstream America.” Trinity College, Hartford (March 2008).

“Issues and Trends in the Study of South Asian Religions.” Symposium on South Asia: Issues and Trends in Research at Missouri State University, Springfield (March 2008).

“Images of the Enemy: from Caricature to Stereotype.” Islamophobia workshop, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center of Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University (September 2007).

“The Problem with Religion in India.” The University of Connecticut (April 2007).

“Putting Bihar on the Map: British Efforts to Know Biharis.” Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, India (January 2007).

“Classified Information: The Science of Religion in British India.” Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University (December 2006).

“The Science of Communalism: Epistemologies of Difference in British India.” Yale University (November 2006).

“Questioning How Things Are (in South Asia) through a Liberal Arts Education.” University of the Liberal Arts, Bangladesh (March 2005).

“Between Imagination and Experience: Muslims in American Political Cartoons.” Bath Spa University College, England (November 2004).

“The type of difference and the difference of the type: British categories of religion and society in an Indian village.” South Asia History seminar, School of Oriental and African Studies, England (October 2004).

“Knowing the Difference: Indian Religious Identity in Popular and State Discourse.” “Comparative Perspectives on Religious Coexistence: The State and the Everyday” seminar, Duke University (April 2004).

“Mapping Muslims: Categories of Evolutionary Difference and Interaction in South Asia.” “Lived Islam: Liminality, Accommodation, and Adaptation” workshop, Goa, India (December 2002).

“Making Place with Religion in a Village and Making a Place for a Religion in Taxonomy.” Department of Asian Studies Seminar, University of Austin at Texas (September 2002).

“Globalization and A Virtual Village.” Colloquium on Transnational Religion, Washington & Lee University (July 2002).

“Planet of the Ocean of the Streams of Story: Narrative Strands and Multiple Identity in North India.” University of Wisconsin–Madison (April 1997).

 

Conference Papers

“‘A Bloody and Degrading Superstition’: Coalescing Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Sentiment in British Bihar.” Asian Development Research Institute conference – Patna, Bihar, India (March 2017).

“Adding Another Dimension: Changes in the Views of Muslims in American Editorial Cartoons.” Anti-Judaism, Islamophobia, and Interreligious Hermeneutics conference – University of Lund, Sweden (November 2016).

“Christian and Hindu Scientism: Not Postsecular, Just More of the Same.” Postsecular Age? New Narratives of Religion, Science, and Society conference – The University of Oxford (July 2016).

“‘America’s First Muslim President’: Obama, Anti-Muslim Nativism, and the Failed Consensus on US Secularity.” Boston College Biennial Conference on the History of Religion: Religion in Public Life (April 2016).

“Contexts for Muslim Marginalization: Islamophobia, Anti-Muslim Sentiment, and the History of American Religious Intolerance.” American Institute for Psychiatric Services conference – New York (October 2015).

“The Triumph of Evolution and Scientific Taxonomy: Race, Religion, and Tribe in Nineteenth Century Bihar.” Annual Conference on South Asia – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 2015).

“Is Islam (or Hinduism or Christianity) an Appropriate Term in the Secular Study of Religion?” Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 2015).

“Race, Religion, and Nationalism: The Place of South Asia Muslims in American Islamophobia and anti-Muslim Sentiment since 1974.” Annual Conference on South Asia – University of Wisconsin-Madison (October 2014).

“The Past as a Shared and Contested Country: Between History and Memory.” American Academy of Religions conference – Baltimore (November 2013).

“Recentering the Material Temple in Studies of Ritual, Memory, and Archaeological Practices.” American Academy of Religions conference – Baltimore (November 2013).

“The Ghost in the Text: Harsu Brahm and the Coalescence of Folklore Studies” at Conference on the Study of Religions of India – Drew University, New Jersey (June 2013).

“A Temple as Embodied Narrative: Mundesvari of Bihar” at Association of Asian Studies Conference – San Diego (March 2013).

“Fitting the Study of Religion into the Frameworks of Science” at American Academy of Religions Conference – San Francisco (November 2012).

“Militant Muslims and the Wackos from Waco: Religious Marginalization and the Christian Norm” at Plenary Panel on Islamophobia, Middle East Studies Association annual conference, Washington, D.C. (December 2011).

“Mapping Boundaries: The Science of Knowing Communal Identity in British India.” American Academy of Religions conference – San Francisco (November 2011).

“Shared Fears, Divergent Expressions: Islamophobia in British India and the United States.” Annual Conference on South Asia – University of Wisconsin-Madison (October 2010).

“Bodies of Evidence.” American Academy of Religions Conference – Montreal (November 2009).

“A Colonial Heritage: Historical Islamophobia in the United States.” Rockefeller Brothers Foundation conference (November 2009).

“Hindu and Muslim Processions Defining a Shared Village.” International Society for the Study of Religion – Santiago de Compostela, Spain (July 2009).

“Candor, Fear, and Respect: Picturing Muslims.” Candor or Respect? Talking about the Religion of Others conference – Columbia Law School. (February 2009).

“Promoting Scientism: Institutions for Gathering and Disseminating Knowledge in British Bihar.” Conference on Knowledge Production and Pedagogy in Colonial India: Missionaries, Orientalists, and Reformers in Institutional Contexts –School of Oriental and African Studies and German Historical Institute, London (November 2008).

“Picture Perfect: Religion, Representation, and Categories of Comparison.” American Academy of Religions Conference – Chicago (November 2008).

“De-centering Muslim Studies.” Annual Conference on South Asia – University of Wisconsin-Madison (October 2007).

“Between Memory and Science: Local and State Views of Bakhtiyar’s Rauza.” Annual Conference on South Asia – University of Wisconsin-Madison (October 2007).

“In a Class of Their Own: Categorizing Difference in the Processions of a North Indian Village.” ‘Drawing a line in water’: Religious Boundaries in South Asia conference – Syracuse University (April 2004).

“Through the Historiographic Lens: Religion in Arampur.” American Academy of Religions Conference – Atlanta (November 2003).

“Roots vs. Routes in the Study of South Asian Religions.” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 2003).

“Knowing Arampur: Western Epistemologies in Colonial Knowledge of Village Religions.” Association of Asian Studies Conference – New York City (March 2003).

“Representation, Reciprocity and Concealment in the Virtual Village.” Co-presented with Mathew Schmalz at Association of Asian Studies Conference – Washington, D.C. (March 2002).

“Hinduism and Islam in the Virtual Village.” Co-presented with Mathew Schmalz at American Academy of Religion Conference – Denver (November 2001).

“The Raj that Memory Forgot: Local Forgetting During National Remembering.” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 2001).

“Mahatma in Memory: Gandhi in Myth, History, and Group Memory.” American Academy of Religion Conference – Nashville, Tennessee (November 2000).

“Challenging Identities: Muslims and Hindus in ‘A Virtual Village.’” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 2000).

“As Brothers and Others: Multiple Identities among Hindus and Muslims in India.” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 1999).

“Reluctant to Leave the Beach.” Going Native: Recruitment, Conversion and Identification in Cultural Research conference at The Ohio State University (May 1999).

“Being an Other Other than Myself: Religious Identity among Multiple Identities.” American Academy of Religion Conference – Orlando, Florida (November 1998).

“Who Will Write Our History?” South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 1998).

“Powers of Association: Narratives of Healing among a Sufi, Shahid, and Brahm in Rural Bihar.” American Academy of Religion Conference – San Francisco (November 1997).

“Multiple Narratives and Multiple Identities among Hindus and Muslims in Bihar.” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 1996).

“An Historian of Religions as Other.” Wednesday Lunch Lecture – University of Chicago (October 1996).

“The Mahâvamsa as Memory.” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (November 1992).

 

Fellowships, Grants, and Awards

National Endowment for the Humanities Enduring Questions Grant – (2015-2018).

Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship Grant – (2004-2005).

Mellon New Initiative Grant – (2004-2006).

Pedagogy Grant – Wesleyan University (2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014).

Project Grant – Wesleyan University (2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017).

Middle East Studies Course Development Grant – (2010-2011).

Faculty Fellow – Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University (fall 2006, fall 2015).

Visiting Fellow – Divinity School, Cambridge University (summer 2001).

Group Project Grant – Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion (2000-2001).

Brown Fellowship – Southwestern University (2000-2001).

Cullen Faculty Development stipend – Southwestern University (1998-1999, 1999-2000).

Dissertation Fellowship – Committee on South Asian Studies, University of Chicago (1994-1997).

Advanced Overseas Dissertation Research Fellowship – University of Chicago (1994).

Ross Fellowship – University of Chicago (1993-1994, 1996-1997).

Century Scholarship – University of Chicago (1990-1994).

Title VI Language Fellowship – University of Chicago (1991 -1993, summer 1994).

Berkeley Urdu Language Program in Pakistan Fellowship (1989-1990).

Title VI Language Fellowship – University of Wisconsin–Madison (summer 1988, 1988-1989).

 

Teaching

Undergraduate courses

Hindu Lives (RELI 205); Islam and Muslim Cultures (RELI 221); Cinematic Encounters: Muslims and/in/of the West (RELI 230); Islamic Movements and Modernities (RELI 250); Islam in/and the West (RELI 259), Constructing Hinduism and Islam (RELI 310); Religion, Science, and Empire (RELI 373); Religions Resist Modernity (RELI 381); From Jerusalem to Ground Zero: From Jerusalem to Ground Zero: Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Sioux, and Hindu Notions of Sacredness (RELI 291); Introduction to the Study of Religion (RELI 151); Colloquium for Majors (RELI 398).

 

Adult education courses

Religion and Film (SOCS 638), Religions Resisting Modernity (SOCS 612), Islam and/in the West (SOCS 612), Islam and Muslim Cultures (SOCS 641), Religion, Science and Empire (SOCS 612).

Prison education courses

What Makes the Sacred Sacred?: The Consequences of the Ultimate Comparison

 

Teaching Workshops

Participation: Teagle Workshop on the Teaching of Writing (spring 2012).

Participant: The Transylvania Seminar on Twenty-first Century Liberal Education: A Contested Concept. Transylvania University (July 2011).

Speaker: “Teaching Islam and Asia: Beyond the Stereotypes.” Directors meeting of the Asian Studies Development Center, Morgan State University (September 2011).

Speaker: “Muslim Voices from South Asia” and “A Virtual Village.” Islam in Asia workshop, United States and China Institute, University of Southern California (May 2007).

Speaker: “South Asia: One of the Largest Communities of Muslims Defy the Stereotypes.” Symposium on Asia in the Curriculum, University of California, Los Angeles (November 2006).

Speaker: “Islamic Diversity in South Asia.” “Islam in Asia” workshop at University of California, Los Angeles Asia Institute (May 2006).

Speaker: “Muslims and Islam in A Virtual Village” at teachers’ workshop sponsored by the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin (March 2002).

Consultant: On teaching Islam, Hendrix College Global Intellectual Traditions program (February 2002).

Panel moderator: World 2000, teacher’s conference conducted by the World History Association and the National Council for Geographic Education – Austin (February 2000).

Presenter and discussion facilitator: “Religious Asian Others in American Cinema,” teachers’ workshop conducted by the Asia Studies Center, The University of Texas at Austin (June 1999).

Facilitator: Associated Colleges of the South Teachers’ Workshop: Rollins College (June 2002).

Speaker: “Hinduism: Teaching Religion or Culture?” 2000 Summer Teachers Institute at the University of Texas at Austin (June 2000).

Participant: Associated Colleges of the South Teachers’ Workshop: Rollins College (June 1998).

University Service

Wesleyan University

Positions

Chair: Department of Religion (2009-2012).

Director: Certificate for South Asian Studies (2010-2012).

Vice-Chair: Advisory Committee on tenure and promotion (2013-present).

Faculty fellow: Bennet and Butterfield Halls (2011-present)

Faculty vice-marshal: University commencement (2012-present).

Faculty marshal: University commencement (2004, 2006-2011).

Member: Committee on International Studies (2005-2006, 2013-present).

Chair: Non-traditional Scholarship Evaluation Committee (2010-2011).

Faculty adviser: Interfaith House (2009-2011).

Member: Advisory Committee on tenure and promotion (2006-2008).

Coordinator: South Asia Studies Cluster (2003-2004, 2005-2009).

Chair: Search committees for tenure-track faculty position in Department of Religion (2005-2006, 2009-2010, 2010-2011).

Assessor: Reviewed the study abroad programs of seven universities in Australia (August 2007).

Member: Working group on key capabilities (December 2005).

Representative: Social Sciences Computing Committee (2002-2004).

 

Activities

First Year Matters Seminar: “Race, Religion, and Civilization: Pretexts for Exclusion” (August 2013).

Lecture: “Religion and Science Fiction: To Infinity and Beyond (and Back)” (February 2011).

WESeminar: “Muslims in a Post 9/11 America: Perceptions and Realities” with Imam Sohaib Sultan (May 2008).

WESeminar: “The Scimitar and the Veil” in New York (May 2008).

WESeminar: “Religion in Film” co-presented with Jeremy Zwelling (May 2006).

Alumni lecturer: “Medieval Muslims of Mayhem and Modernity” in Boston (December 2006).

Presenter: Panel on the film “Contact” at request of organizer Bob Lane (April 2006).

Alumni lecturer: “Medieval Muslims of Mayhem and Modernity” in Los Angeles (March 2006).

Presenter: Panel on Danish cartoon controversy at request of Muslim Student Association (February 2006).

Invited participant: Faculty discussion regarding open curricula at Wesleyan (February 2006).

Presenter: “A Virtual Village” website demonstrated and explained, Academic (Technology) Roundtable (September 2005).

WESeminar: “The Scimitar and the Veil in American Political Cartoons,” co-presented with Gabriel Greenberg (‘04)

Participant: Islam and Politics seminar (2003-2004).

Teach-in: “Collapsed Identities: American Myopia Regarding Ethnic, Religious, and Racial Differences in the Middle East”—presentation for student-organized lunchtime lectures (April 2003).

Teach-in: “The Good, the Bad, and the Exotic: Westerners View Muslim Men and Women” – presentation for “People’s Awareness Month” (February 2003).

Lecture: “Myths about Muslims of Mayhem and Misogyny” – lecture for the CSS Lunch (March 2003)

Workshop: Non-violent conflict resolution (February 2003).

 

Southwestern University

Positions

Member: Sexual Harassment Advisory Committee (1998-2002).

Chair: Committee on International Programs and Experiences (2002).

Faculty advisor: Indian Students Association (2001-2002).

Member: Student Organizations Committee (1998-2002).

Faculty advisor: Southwestern Association of Disc Sports (1999-2001).

Member: Search committee, Department of Philosophy and Religion (1997-1998, 1998-1999, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2001-2002).

Member: Core Purpose Committee for Inauguration (2001).

Member: SACS committee on Instructional Support (2000-2001).

Representative: Student Affairs Council (1999-2001).

Member: Search committee, Department of English (2000-2001).

Member: FacultyAdvisory Career Team @ Southwestern (FACTS) (2000-2001).

Member: Search Committee, Department of Communications (2000).

Secretary: Humanities Division (1998-2000).

 

Activities

Teach-in: Co-presented “From Banyan to Burmingham: Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebrations (2000, 2002).

Teach-ins: “Islam” (September) and “Afghanistan” (November), Southwestern University.

Lecturer: “Religion, Modernity, and Star Trek” for Family Weekend (Spring 2000).

 

Other Professional Experience

Positions held         

Expert guest: Interviews on variousnews programs and talk shows on radio, television, and the internet, including CNN, National Public Radio, Voice of America, C-SPAN’s Book TV, and Air America (2007-present).

Manuscript evaluator: Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Indiana University Press, University of North Carolina Press, State University of New York Press, Longman Publishers, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal Of The American Academy Of Religion, International Journal for Hindu Studies, and Australian Journal of Linguistics.

Tenure and promotion evaluator: Baruch College – City University of New York, Bucknell University, Connecticut College, University of Toronto, Washington University in St. Louis.

Reviewer: ACLS/Mellon Dissertation Fellowship (2012).

Steering Committee member: Religion and Colonialism group, American Academy of Religion (2013-present).

Board member: South Asian Muslim Studies Association (2000-present).

Elected member: American Society for the Study of Religion (2010-present).

Proposal evaluator: Harris Faculty Fellowship, Grinnell College (fall 2008).

Freelance editorial assistant: Criterion magazine (1994, 1996).

Research assistant to Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago (Summer 1996).

Research assistant to Robert Frykenberg, University of Wisconsin–Madison (1987-88).

Financial Aid Officer: PSI Institute, Silver Springs, Maryland (1986-87).

Research assistant to Greg Dening, University of Melbourne, Australia (1983).

Intern: Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, Washington, D.C. (1986).

 

Related academic experience

Steering Committee member: Religion and Colonialism group, American Academy of Religion

Conference panel respondent: “Jains, Muslims, Christians: Interrogating Religious Borders In Sultanate, Mughal And Colonial India” panel at American Academy of Religions Conference, Chicago (November 2012).

Permanent respondent: Rethinking Religion in India III, Pradubice, Czech Republic (October 2011).

Panel presider: “Law, Legislation, and Religious Formations in South Asian Nation-States” panel at American Academy of Religion conference, San Francisco (November 2011).

Panel respondent: “Muslims, Media, and Marginalization” panel. American Association of Anthropology – San Francisco (November 2008).

Panel discussant: “Legacies of Partition” panel at Association of Asian Studies conference, Boston (March 2007).

Panel presider: “Teaching Religion and Violence: Approaches and Traditions” panel at American Academy of Religion conference, Philadelphia (November 2005).

Lecture respondent: P. Misra, “American Views of India.” Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, India (April 2005).

Panel respondent: “Rooting Religions Abroad: Case Studies on Sri Lankan Hinduism in Europe.” International Association of the History of Religions Congress, Tokyo (March 2005).

Tenure case recommendation: University of Vermont (2004).

Panel organizer: “South Asian Religions through Western Lenses.” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 2003).

Panel organizer: “Knowing South Asian Religions: Western Constructions.” Association of Asian Studies Conference – New York City (March 2003).

Member: Islamic Studies Program, University of Texas at Austin (Fall 2000 to Spring 2002).

Panel organizer: “Accounting for Islam in Hindu Experience.” American Academy of Religion Conference – Denver (November 2001).

Panel organizer: “Teaching about Muslims.” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 2000).

Panel discussant: “Hindu and Muslim in Pre-Colonial South Asia.” Symposium in Center for Asian Studies at University of Texas, Austin (November 1998).

Panel organizer: “Religion, Healing, and Discourse in India: Ethnographic Approaches.” American Academy of Religion Conference – San Francisco (November 1997).

Panel organizer: “Narrative and Identity in South Asian Religions.” Annual Conference on South Asia Conference – University of Wisconsin–Madison (October 1996).

Symposium organizer: “What Is the Role of Faith in the Secular Classroom for the Study of Religions?” University of Chicago (April 1994).

Symposium organizer and moderator: “What Is the Role of the Historian of Religions’ Faith in Research and the Classroom?” University of Chicago (February 1994).

Panel respondent: “Who Is Represented? Issues in Indigenous Buddhist, Jain and Sikh ‘Texts.’” Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs – University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (October 1992).

 

Community Service

Panel presentation – “Boston and Stereotypes”at “Resilience in Adversity: Boston bombings and the aftermath” panel organized by Critical Connections. Longmeadow, Massachusetts (May 2013).

Meet the author event: Islamic Community Center of Northern California. Oakland, California (April 2013).

Pre-Performance Talk: “Islamophobia and the Committee on Un-American Activities.” Green Street Arts Center, Middletown, Connecticut (November 2011).

Lecture: ”A Colonial Heritage: Historical Islamophobia in the United States.” Cheshire Correctional Facility (July 2010).

Lecture: “Islam or Islamophobia” at Xavier High School, Middletown, Connecticut (November 2009).

Lecture: “Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy.” Beyond Stereotypes: Islamophobia and the War on Terror panels at Ohio State University, Columbus and Xavier University, Cincinnati. Sponsored by Council on Islamic-American Relations (February 2008).

Lecture: “Making Muslims the Enemy” at Old Avon Farms School, Avon, Connecticut (May 2007).

Lecture: “Islam and the West: Sensationalized Conflict” for Georgetown Senior University (Southwestern University, June 2002).

Lectures and discussions in Georgetown area schools and organizations with regard to the September 11 attacks, Islam, and American responses (2001-2002).

Lecture: “Introduction to Islam” at Christ of the Hills Methodist Church (Hot Springs Village, February 2002).

Workshop: Non-violent conflict resolution for Operation Achievement (October 2001).

Lecture: “Religion, Modernity, and Star Trek” for Georgetown Senior University (Southwestern University, June 2000).

 

Overseas Experience

Archival research, India (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008); England (2001, 2004, 2007, 2008).

Field research, Bihar, India (1994-1995, 2000, & 2005).

Berkeley Urdu Language Program in Pakistan (1989-1990).

Volunteer, Damien Social Welfare Center, India (1985-1986).

University of Melbourne, Australia (1983): college junior year abroad.

 

Languages

Speaking, reading, and writing fluency: Urdu, Hindi.

Reading ability: Sanskrit, German, French.

 

Professional Societies

American Academy of Religion

Association for Asian Studies

American Society for the Study of Religion

South Asian Muslim Studies Association