Islamic Studies

General Description
Languages
Doctoral Examinations
Special Resources
Faculty

General Description:

The field of Islamic Studies takes a global, interdisciplinary, and comparative approach to the study of Islamic religion and Muslim cultures. Utilizing literary, historical, sociological, anthropological, and other critical approaches, students explore a broad array of Islamic religious traditions, both elite and popular. Students also work closely with program faculty to develop their own particular sub-fields in Islamic Studies.

Languages:

In addition to the requirement of two modern research languages, all students must develop proficiency in at least one Islamicate language (usually Arabic, Persian, Turkish, or Urdu) before taking the Doctoral Examinations. Additional languages may be required by the faculty in the field, and the student’s advisor, depending on the research trajectory of the student.

Doctoral Examinations:

All Ph.D. candidates will be expected to pass a set of four Doctoral Examinations. Program faculty members, in consultation with the student, will determine the topics of the examinations based upon the individual needs and interests of the student. In general, written exams will cover the following areas:

1. A formulation and interrogation of a problematic in Islamic studies, which both defines and critically examines a series of issues that connect major categories of Islamic thought and practice (e.g., Sufism and reformism, gender studies and the methodologies of Islamic law, Qur'an and literary theory, Shi`ism and performance theory).
   
   
2. Theory and methodology of Islamic studies, focusing on the general historiography of the field as well as the ways in which scholars in others disciplines (such as anthropology) and in previously marginalized sub-fields (such as Islam in America or Shi`ism) have sought to reconstruct its boundaries.
   
   
3. The religious history of one geographic region, usually the region in which the student expects to do field research (including, for example, the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, or North America). This exam is implicitly comparative in approach, since it requires dealing with non-Muslim religious traditions in the region of choice.
   
   
4. A thematic examination, focusing on a particular subfield of Islamic studies (such as Sufism, Islamic philosophical and political thought, Qur’anic studies, or Islamic rituals).

Upon completion of the written exams, the student will take an oral examination based primarily on issues raised in the written exams.

Special Resources:

One feature of the program is its close cooperation with the Islamic studies faculty from The Department of Religion at Duke University, located just ten miles from Chapel Hill. Graduate students from both programs regularly participate in joint graduate seminars and informal reading groups, and ask faculty from both universities to serve on their examination and Ph.D. committees.

Additional resources for the comparative study of Islam in the area include the following:

Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies programs at UNC and in the Triangle are coordinated by the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, housed in the Global Education Center.

The Center for the Study of Muslim Networks, located at Duke, is a research facility that aims to create an interlocking research program involving visiting fellows and workshops, international conferences, cyber resources and other forms of public awareness and outreach. The center also hosts the Muslim Networks Consortium, a collaborative network of scholars from Duke, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Emory University, together with several national and international universities around the world.

The North Carolina Center for South Asia Studies is a National Resource Center for South Asia studies, based at N.C. State, and cosponsored by UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, North Carolina Central University, and North Carolina State University. It has a particular interest in South Asian Islam.

University of North Carolina Press has launched a manuscript series on Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks edited by Bruce Lawrence and Carl Ernst.

Faculty:

CORE FACULTY:

Carl W. Ernst Kenan Distinguished Professor Ph.D., Harvard University, 1981
107 Saunders Hall (919) 962-3924 cernst@email.unc.edu	Personal website
Field of specialization: Islamic Studies; Religions of Asia
Research interests: Sufism, with a focus on west and south Asia; Muslim interpretations of Hinduism; the Qur'an as literature

Omid Safi Professor Ph.D., Duke University, 2000
120 Saunders Hall (919) 962-4890 omid@email.unc.edu	Curriculum vitae  Personal website
Field of specialization: Islamic Studies; Religions of Asia
Research interests: Progressive Islamic thought; social and intellectual history of pre-modern Islam; Islamic mysticism

ASSOCIATED FACULTY:

Jodi Magness Kenan Distinguished Professor Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1989
121 Saunders Hall (919) 962-3928 magness@email.unc.edu	Biographical profile  Curriculum vitae  Yotvata Dig website
Field of specialization: Ancient Mediterranean Religions; Islamic Studies
Research interests: Early Judaism; archaeology of Palestine

ADJUNCT FACULTY:

Charles Kurzman Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1992

Department of Sociology, UNC-CH kurzman@unc.edu Charles Kurzman's webpage

Specializations: Islamic movements and political thought; Iran.

Bruce B. Lawrence Ph.D., Yale University, 1972

Department of Religion, Duke University bbl@duke.edu Bruce Lawrence's webpage

Specializations: Comparative study of religious movements; institutional and contemporary aspects of Islam; Indo-Persian Sufism; religion and violence.

Tony K. Stewart Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1985

Department of Philosophy and Religion, North Carolina State University tony_stewart@nscu.edu

Specializations: Religious traditions of India (especially Vaishnavism and Islam); premodern Bengali religious literature in Bengali and Sanskrit languages.