PROFESSOR ROBERT ROZEHNAL
Lehigh University, Department of Religion Studies

240 Maginnes Hall, 9 West Packer Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18015
(610)758-3335
email:ror2@lehigh.edu

BIOGRAPHY:

Robert Rozehnal is a native of Colorado. He graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1991 with majors in History and Asian Studies. His final year at university was spent abroad, traveling in Asia. He never quite recovered from the experience. After teaching English in Japan, he fled from the madness of the 'real world' into the warm sanctity of graduate education. His M.A. in South Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison culminated in a year of language immersion in Pakistan. Rozehnal's interests in Indo-Muslim culture then led him to Duke University where he completed his doctorate in Islamic Studies and the History of Religions in 2003. He has traveled widely in the Muslim world, with prolonged periods of training and fieldwork research in Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, India and Malaysia. In addition to the history and practice of Sufism in South Asia, his research interests include ritual studies, postcolonial theory and religious nationalism. At Lehigh, Rozehnal teaches classes on Islam and comparative South Asian religions. In his spare free moments, he pursues other passions, including skiing, biking and music.

EDUCATION:

Ph.D., Duke University, Department of Religion (2003)
- Islamic Studies and the History of Religions
- Minor Fields: Cultural Anthropology and Post-colonial Theory

M.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, South Asian Studies Department (1995)

B.A., University of Puget Sound, summa cum laude (1991)

AWARDS:

- Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (2002)
- Social Science Research Council, International Dissertation Research Fellowship (2001)
- American Institute of Pakistan Studies Dissertation Fellowship (2000)
- Duke University Graduate School and International Studies Fellowships (2000)
- American Institute of Iranian Studies, Persian language study in Tehran (2000)
- American Academy of Religion, graduate student paper award (2000)
- Duke University, Religion Department Fellowships (1996-2000)
- Social Science Research Council, Pre-Dissertation Fellowship (1996)
- Amercian Research Center in Egypt Fellowship (1995)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (1994)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, South Asian Studies Department Fellowships (1993-1994)

TEACHING and RESEARCH AREAS:

Islam Related: Islamic Civilization; Islam in South Asia; Islam in Southeast Asia; Islam in America; Qur'an; The Life and Legacy of Prophet Muhammad; Sufism; Islam and Modernity; Digital Islam; Anthropology of Islam

General: Religions of South Asia; Theories of Religion; Ritual Theory and Practice; Comparative Mysticism; Comparative Fundamentalisms; Religion and the Internet; Religious Nationalism

PUBLICATIONS:

- "Faqir or Faker?: The Public Battle Over Sufism in Contemporary Pakistan." In Visions of Community: The South Asian Muslim Imaginaire, eds. David Gilmartin, Bruce B. Lawrence and Tony Stewart (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, forthcoming).
- "Debating Orthodoxy, Contesting Tradition: Islam in Contemporary South Asia." In Religions in Contemporary Societies: Islam, ed. Michael Feener (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, forthcoming).
- "The Shaykh Strikes Back: A Pakistani Sufi Master's Response to Modernity." In Pearls Beyond Measure: The Legacy of K.A. Nizami, eds., Carl W. Ernst and Bruce B. Lawrence (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, forthcoming).
- "A Teacher's Guide to Karen Armstrong's Islam: A Short History." (New York: Modern Library, 2002)
- "From Sufi Practice to Scholarly Praxis: Reflections on the Lessons of Fieldwork for the Study of Islam." Items and Issues: Social Science Research Council. Vol. 3, No. 1-2 (Spring 2002): 13-15.

 

COURSES at LEHIGH, 2003-2004:

- The Islamic Tradition (Rel 77/ Asia 77)
- Religions of South Asia (Rel 96/ Asia 96)
- Islam and Modernity
- Digital Dharma: Asian Religions Online