Elias, Jamal J.

Class of 1965 Term Professor of Religious Studies

Contact

215.898.5838
jjelias@sas.upenn.edu
www.sas.upenn.edu/~jjelias

Education

B.A., Stanford University (1983)
M.A., University of Pennsylvania (1985)
M.A., Yale University (1987)
Ph.D., Yale University (1991)

Languages

Arabic, French, Persian, Punjabi, Turkish (modern and Ottoman); Urdu-Hindi.

Courses

Islamic Ethics, Sufism, Sufi Tafsir Literature, Islamic Constructions of Gender

Overseas Research Experience

Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Uzbekistan

Recent Publications

"The Sufi Robe (khirqa) as a Vehicle of Spiritual Authority" in Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture, ed. Steward Gordon; "Truck Decoration and Religious Identity: Material Culture and Social Function in Pakistan" in Material Culture; "Sayyid 'Ali-yi Hamadani and the Making of His Charisma" in Muslim World; "Not Reading the Writing on the Wall: Monumental Calligraphy as Visual Sign" in Design: Essays on Popular Visual Culture and Iconography by Saima Zaidi.

Representative Awards and Distinctions

Council of the American Overseas Research Centers Fellow; Miner D. Crary Fellow, Amherst College; American Research Institute in Turkey Fellow; Dana Foundation Faculty Fellow.

Research Interests

Islamic mystical thought and metaphysics; Popular Culture in South Asia and Turkey; Sufi literature.