I am an Instructor in the Religion Department at Vassar College, and completing my PhD in the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I am an ethnographer of ethics and social change in the Islamic tradition. My research is situated at the intersection of Islamic studies, ethics, and anthropology. My courses at Vassar College deal with Islam, the social sciences, gender, and ethics. I previously served as the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Study of Religion at Harvard College, where I taught the Senior Seminar in Religion and advise undergraduates.
My current project is a study of moral education and social activism in a network of Muslim communities and organizations in greater Paris. This research investigates the ways in which contemporary French Muslims have worked to transform their faith communities, their selves, and their societies through practices of learning, teaching, and activism. In the broadest sense, all of my work endeavors to understand how and why people work to improve or educate themselves morally, and the relationship between these projects of self-improvement and their efforts to change the world around them.
Before beginning my doctoral studies, I conducted 10 months of fieldwork in French Muslim communities. I have also lived and studied in Fès, Morocco, and Amman, Jordan. I received my MTS from Harvard Divinity School in 2008, and earned my BA in Philosophy from Willamette University in 2006.