Sapelo Square & Sacred Writes Media Collaboration Award

I am very grateful and so excited to be awarded a partnership opportunity with Sapelo Square and Sacred Writes. The award will allow me to continue my work on Muslim movie stars and bring it to a broader public audience. I will be writing about the relationship between activism and fame though the example of…

Review of Interpreting Islam in China – ReOrient: The Journal of Critical Muslim Studies

One more review of Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab has been published in ReOrient: The Journal of Critical Muslim Studies. Alexander Wain, International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies, works on Islam in the Malay World, especially the role of Sino-Muslims within it. Wain offers some excellent ways to make the study…

Blurb: Driscoll & Miller, Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion

                I’m really excited about a new book by Christopher M. Driscoll and Monica R. Miller. They’ve co-written Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion, where they tackle how the study of religion has been constructed as a discipline over time and provide a rigorous critique of…

Muslims and the Chinese State: From the Qing to the Present, Florida International University, January 17

I’m looking forward to a visit to Florida International University on January 17. Here is the abstract: American media has recently highlighted the social circumstances of Muslims living under the Chinese Communist Party. What may be unknown to many is that the tense relationship between Muslim communities and the state have gone back for centuries. This…

2019 International Conference on Religion & Film

I’ve really enjoyed working with The Journal of Religion & Film folks over the past few years, including it’s founder Bill Blizek and its current editor John C. Lyden. Bill was my colleague at the University of Nebraska Omaha for several years. Recently, the main event has been the International Conference on Religion & Film. We’ve had wonderful turnouts for…

Interpreting Islam in China, George Mason University, November 1

I’m excited to visit the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University on November 1. I’ll be discussing my book, Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab. I’m honored to be invited by Huseyin Yilmaz and Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu. All the details are HERE if you are in the DC area. Free and open to…