curriculum vitae highlights
EDUCATION
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Ph.D. Religious Studies, Islamic Studies Track (Graduation December 2019)
Dissertation: “Mother of Her Father: Contemporary Devotion to Fatima al-Zahra in Iran”
Advisor: Dr. Juliane Hammer
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec
Master of Arts, Islamic Studies (2011)
Thesis: “The Jadids in Bukhara: Juxtaposing the Approaches to Reform of Aini and Fitrat”
Advisor: Dr. A. Uner Turgay
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Bachelor of Arts, High Honors, Religious Studies (2008)
BOOK (MONOGRAPH)
2026 Fatimeh Matters in Contemporary Iran: Shiʿism, Gender, and Culture (in production, Bloomsbury Press, Studies in Material Religion Series, publication date November 10, 2026)
SELECTED PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS & REVIEWS
2027 “Relics: Body and Blessings.” In Sufism and the Body, in the series Handbook of Sufi Studies, eds. Sara Abdul-Latif and Eyad Abuali (Leiden: Brill, 2027).
2026 “The Jadids of Central Asia: Comparative Reform Efforts between ‘Abdalrauf Fitrat and Sadriddin Aini.” In The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Reform, eds. Emad Hamdeh and Natana DeLong-Bas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2026)
2024 “Theology, Issues in North America.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press, 2014—. Article published March 20, 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.848
2023 “Review of Omar, LA Opera–Outlooks Series” Material Religion: 23 February 2023, DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2023.2170099.
2022 “The Riz Test: Teaching Against Islamophobia Through Film,” Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 26 no. 2, Article 4, http://doi.org/10.32873/uno.dc.jrf.26.02.04
2020 “Gender and Patriarchy in the Films of Muslim Nations: A Filmographic Study of 21st Century Features from Eight Countries (Review Essay),” Journal of Religion & Film 24 no. 2, DOI: 10.32873/uno.dc.jrf.24.2.005.
2020 “Negotiating the State and the Persianate: Ernst’s Living Legacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.” In Words of Experience: Translating Islam with Carl W. Ernst, ed. Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst and Brannon M. Wheeler (Equinox: United Kingdom, 2020).
selected FELLOWSHIPS AND HONORS
2024-2025 Polin Monograph Completion Fellowship at the Polin Institute for Theological Research, Åbo Akademi University, Finland, Residency 11/27/24-2/5/25
2022 New Harmonies Faculty Grant, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California
2018 National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar Participant: The Bhagavad Gita: Ancient Texts, Modern Readers, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
2018 Wabash Center Teaching Seminar for Doctoral Students, New York, New York
2017-2018 Dissertation Completion Fellowship, The Graduate School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2017 Graduate and Professional Student Federation Domestic Travel Award, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2017 Travel Grant, The Graduate School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (ACLA Conference in Utrect, Netherlands)
2016-2017 Ackland Art Museum Graduate Fellow, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2016 Off-Campus Dissertation Fellowship, The Graduate School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Chicago; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Iran)
2014-2016 Summer Roshan Fellowship for Excellence in Persian Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Turkey; Iran)
2016 Future Faculty Fellowship Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2015 American Academy of Religion Travel Grant Award
2015 Kenneth Gaines Smith Summer Research Fellowship, Graduate School of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2014 American Institute of Iranian Studies Pre-doctoral Dissertation Research Travel Fellowship(Iran)
Recent SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS AND CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
2026 Paper: “Teaching with Our Males and Females, Islam, Gender, Women Unit and Religion and Popular Culture Unit. American Academy of Religion. Denver, Colorado, November 21-24.
2026 Paper: “Male Clerics and Iranian Recognition of Mourning Fatimeh,” Research Conference in Theology and Religion. University of Helsinki, Finland, May 11-13.
2025 Co-Convener, Panel “Mapping Methods and Theories in Shiʿi Studies,” XXIII World Congress of the International Association for the Study of Religions (IAHR). Kraków, Poland, August 24-30.
2025 Paper, “Intangible Tangibility: Images of Ayatollahs and a Materialized Sermon / Tangibilité intangible : images d'ayatollahs et sermon matérialisé” in “The image in Muslim religious contexts / L’image en contexte religieux musulman,” 6e Congrès des études sur le Moyen-Orient et les mondes musulmans du GIS MOMM (6th Congress of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies), Strasbourg, June 24-27.
2024 Panelist, “Theory in Poetic Form: Responding to Ogunnaike’s ‘The Book of Clouds,’” Contemporary Islam Group. American Academy of Religion. San Diego, CA, November 23-26.
2024 Paper: “More Screen Time: Between Access and Representation in Film and Religion,” International Conference on Religion and Film. Pasadena, CA, June 27-28.
2022 Panel Respondent, “Islamic Piety and Devotion in New Contexts,” Contemporary Islam Group. American Academy of Religion. Denver, CO, November 19-22.
2022 “The Riz Test: Teaching Against Islamophobia Through Film,” Association for Asian Studies. Honolulu, HI, March 24-27.
2021 “Sura al-Kawthar and the Abundance of Fatima al-Zahra,” Study of Islam Group. American Academy of Religion. San Antonio, TX, November 20-23.
2021 Panel Respondent, “Islamic art and literature: philosophical themes,” Study of Islam Group. American Academy of Religion. San Antonio, TX, November 20-23.
Full Time TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2023- Present Reed College, Portland, Oregon, Visiting Assistant Professor
Religion and Humanities
2020-2023 Occidental College, Los Angeles, California, Visiting Assistant Professor
2019-2020 Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota, Visiting Assistant Professor
2019 Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire, Visiting Instructor
LANGUAGES
Reading proficiency in Arabic (Modern Standard, Classical), Persian, French and Spanish; Spoken proficiency in Persian