Sophia R Arjana
Western Kentucky University, Philosophy & Religion, Faculty Member
- Islam, antisemitism and Islamophobia, Islamophobia, Comparative Religion, Islamic Studies, Liberation Theology, and 9 moreIslamic Art, Iranian Studies, Iranian Art History, Postcolonial Theory, Shi'ism, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Postcolonial Studies, Monsters and the Monstrous, and Queer Theoryedit
- Associate Professor of Religious Studies Potter College of Arts and Letters Western Kentucky University I am a sch... moreAssociate Professor of Religious Studies
Potter College of Arts and Letters
Western Kentucky University
I am a scholar of Religion who specializes in Islam. I work in a number of sub-fields including pilgrimage, gender, sexuality, race, and popular culture. My first monograph titled Muslims in the Western Imagination (Oxford 2015) was noted as an Outstanding Academic Title of 2015 by the American Association of Academic Librarians. It has sold over 1,000 copies (as of October 2016) and is being published in Arabic and Turkish editions.
My second monograph is titled Pilgrimage in Islam: Traditional and Modern Practices. It provides a thorough examination of Islamic pilgrimage—the foundational cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, debates in Islam concerning the visitation of graves and other sites, the history of ziyarat, Shi'i pilgrimage, the use of substitutive rituals for hajj, Sufi and shared pilgrimages, virtual/symbolic pilgrimages, the use of technology in pilgrimage/cyber-hajj—as well as discussions on some of the historical, theoretical, and methodological challenges in the study of pilgrimage. I was thrilled to that Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review. It received high accolades from scholars in my field and is used in many college and university classrooms, as is my first book.
My third book is on Muslim super-heroines in graphic narratives and popular culture, including Ms. Marvel, Dust, Qahera, Raat, and Burka Avenger. Titled Veiled Superheroes: Islam, Feminism, and Popular Culture, it was published by Lexington Books (Rowman and Littlefield) in November of 2017. This past year it was released in paperback edition.
My fourth book is Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi: Orientalism and the Mystical Marketplace, it examines the ways in which modern people see Mysticism and spirituality as alternatives to institutionalized religion. This book looks at Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam and how their associated devotional practices inspire commercial products. Some of the topics I explore are the history of Mysticism as a category of knowledge, the guru, celebrity spirituality, the commodification of Rumi, and mystic Hollywood.
I also have published (or have publications going to press) on the following subjects: Shi'i pilgrimage and shrine architecture, race and Orientalism, Islamophobia, postcolonial liturgy, Islamic reform, Jewish and Islamic liberation theology, Muslims in popular culture, Islamism, the role of Muslim bodies in notions of sexual democracy, contemporary hajj, and domestic violence awareness in Singaporean Muslim activist communities.
I spent five years at Iliff School of Theology as the resident scholar of Islam in the role of Visiting Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, where I taught graduate (MA, MTS, PHD-level) courses in Islam as well as courses in Comparative Religion, including Introduction to Islam, Islam and Social Justice, Sufism, Religions of the World, Comparative Approaches to the Study of Pilgrimage, Religion and Cinema, Abrahamic Ethics, Islam and the West, and Islam, Gender, and Sexuality. In addition to my visiting position, I have taught undergraduates at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado. I joined the faculty at Western Kentucky University in the Department of Philosophy and Religion in the Fall of 2017, where I teach courses in Islam, comparative religion, and other subjects. In May of 2020, I earned early tenure and promotion.
My next major project is under contract with Oxford University Press. This book looks at religion and memory in Indonesia. I’m planning to return to Indonesia next year to finish this book.
I also have what will be my sixth book under contract with Routledge, a study of mystical tourism and imaginative geographies.edit
Book review of Abu-Lughod in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences.
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Introduction to 2017 book Pilgrimage in Islam: Traditional and Modern Practices (Oneworld).
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Inclusion of Muslims in the Western Imagination in Outstanding Academic Books of 2015.
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Review of my first monograph Muslims in the Western Imagination by Katie Sisneros in the Journal of Islamic Studies.
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Review of my first monograph Muslims in the Western Imagination in Reorient Journal.
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This chapter is from the volume Liturgy in Postcolonial Perspectives: Only One Is Holy, edited by Claudio Carvalhaes. It examines the question of "liberal/progressive" Islam in respect to the concept of reform in contemporary Islam and... more
This chapter is from the volume Liturgy in Postcolonial Perspectives: Only One Is Holy, edited by Claudio Carvalhaes. It examines the question of "liberal/progressive" Islam in respect to the concept of reform in contemporary Islam and discusses the views of female and queer imams in North America.
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Preview of list of chapters.
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Editorial Description from Oxford University Press: Throughout history, Muslim men have been depicted as monsters. The portrayal of humans as monsters helps a society delineate who belongs and who, or what, is excluded. Even when... more
Editorial Description from Oxford University Press:
Throughout history, Muslim men have been depicted as monsters. The portrayal of humans as monsters helps a society delineate who belongs and who, or what, is excluded. Even when symbolic, as in post-9/11 zombie films, Muslim monsters still function to define Muslims as non-human entities. These are not depictions of Muslim men as malevolent human characters, but rather as creatures that occupy the imagination -- non-humans that exhibit their wickedness outwardly on the skin. They populate medieval tales, Renaissance paintings, Shakespearean dramas, Gothic horror novels, and Hollywood films. Through an exhaustive survey of medieval, early modern, and contemporary literature, art, and cinema, Muslims in the Western Imagination examines the dehumanizing ways in which Muslim men have been constructed and represented as monsters, and the impact such representations have on perceptions of Muslims today.
The study is the first to present a genealogy of these creatures, from the demons and giants of the Middle Ages to the hunchbacks with filed teeth that are featured in the 2007 film 300, arguing that constructions of Muslim monsters constitute a recurring theme, first formulated in medieval Christian thought. Sophia Rose Arjana shows how Muslim monsters are often related to Jewish monsters, and more broadly to Christian anti-Semitism and anxieties surrounding African and other foreign bodies, which involves both religious bigotry and fears surrounding bodily difference. Arjana argues persuasively that these dehumanizing constructions are deeply embedded in Western consciousness, existing today as internalized beliefs and practices that contribute to the culture of violence--both rhetorical and physical--against Muslims.
Throughout history, Muslim men have been depicted as monsters. The portrayal of humans as monsters helps a society delineate who belongs and who, or what, is excluded. Even when symbolic, as in post-9/11 zombie films, Muslim monsters still function to define Muslims as non-human entities. These are not depictions of Muslim men as malevolent human characters, but rather as creatures that occupy the imagination -- non-humans that exhibit their wickedness outwardly on the skin. They populate medieval tales, Renaissance paintings, Shakespearean dramas, Gothic horror novels, and Hollywood films. Through an exhaustive survey of medieval, early modern, and contemporary literature, art, and cinema, Muslims in the Western Imagination examines the dehumanizing ways in which Muslim men have been constructed and represented as monsters, and the impact such representations have on perceptions of Muslims today.
The study is the first to present a genealogy of these creatures, from the demons and giants of the Middle Ages to the hunchbacks with filed teeth that are featured in the 2007 film 300, arguing that constructions of Muslim monsters constitute a recurring theme, first formulated in medieval Christian thought. Sophia Rose Arjana shows how Muslim monsters are often related to Jewish monsters, and more broadly to Christian anti-Semitism and anxieties surrounding African and other foreign bodies, which involves both religious bigotry and fears surrounding bodily difference. Arjana argues persuasively that these dehumanizing constructions are deeply embedded in Western consciousness, existing today as internalized beliefs and practices that contribute to the culture of violence--both rhetorical and physical--against Muslims.
Research Interests:
Editorial Preview from Oneworld Publications: Muslim pilgrims travel to a wide variety of places, not only the holy cities of Mecca and Karbala. Around the world there are countless sacred sites, including the graves of important... more
Editorial Preview from Oneworld Publications:
Muslim pilgrims travel to a wide variety of places, not only the holy cities of Mecca and Karbala. Around the world there are countless sacred sites, including the graves of important historical and religious individuals, the tombs of saints, and natural sites such as mountaintops and springs. All of these places are located within an Islamic universe that is present with the spirit of Allah and holds the promise of barakat — the blessings that pilgrims often seek.
Challenging the simplistic presentations of Islamic pilgrimage existent in much of the scholarship, Dr. Sophia Rose Arjana explores the diverse traditions practiced by the 1.7 billion Muslims across the world. Issues such as time, space, tourism, virtual pilgrimages, and the use of computers and smartphone apps all come under consideration in this wide-ranging study. Lucidly written, informative and accessible, Pilgrimage in Islam is perfectly suited to students, scholars and the general reader seeking a comprehensive survey of this critical element of Islam.
Muslim pilgrims travel to a wide variety of places, not only the holy cities of Mecca and Karbala. Around the world there are countless sacred sites, including the graves of important historical and religious individuals, the tombs of saints, and natural sites such as mountaintops and springs. All of these places are located within an Islamic universe that is present with the spirit of Allah and holds the promise of barakat — the blessings that pilgrims often seek.
Challenging the simplistic presentations of Islamic pilgrimage existent in much of the scholarship, Dr. Sophia Rose Arjana explores the diverse traditions practiced by the 1.7 billion Muslims across the world. Issues such as time, space, tourism, virtual pilgrimages, and the use of computers and smartphone apps all come under consideration in this wide-ranging study. Lucidly written, informative and accessible, Pilgrimage in Islam is perfectly suited to students, scholars and the general reader seeking a comprehensive survey of this critical element of Islam.