EDUCATION
Present
Harvard
University
Joint PhD Candidate, Social Anthropology/Middle Eastern
Studies
Dissertation Title: "Cultivating Mystery: Miracles and the Coptic
Moral Imaginary"
Committee Members:
Professor Steven Caton (Chair); Professor Webb Keane (Univ. of
Michigan); Professor Smita Lahiri; Professor E. Roger Owen;
Professor Ajantha Subramanian
2006
Harvard
University
AM, Social Anthropology
2002
The University of Arizona
MA, Latin American Studies
Thesis Title: "'If I Don't Have My I.D. I'm Not Mexican. What Am I
Then?': The Zapatista
Quest for a
Place in the Nation"
1998
Oregon State University
BS, Magna Cum
Laude,
Geography
RESEARCH/TEACHING
INTERESTS
•
Anthropology of Religion
• Anthropology of Christianity
• Materiality
• Mystery and the Miraculous
• Theology & Anthropology
• Muslim-Christian Relations
• Hope
• Social Memory
• Pilgrimage
• Diaspora
• Coptic/Orthodox Christianity
• Egypt, Middle East, Latin America
AWARDS/DISTINCTIONS
2009-2010
Hartley R. Rogers Dissertation Completion
Fellowship
Weatherhead Center for
International Affairs, Harvard University
Graduate Society Dissertation Completion
Fellowship
Graduate School of Arts
& Science, Harvard University
Summer
2009
Winthrop Fund Departmental Summer Research Award
Department of Anthropology and Peabody Museum, Harvard
University
Writing
Grant
Center for Middle East Studies, Harvard
University
Spring
2009
Cora Du Bois Fellowship
For dissertation writing
30 June - 11 July
2008
Junior
Fellow
Collegium Budapest
Institute for Advanced Study
"The Vision Thing: Studying Divine Intervention"
National Humanities Center SIAS Summer Institute
Collegium Budapest, Hungary
Sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Conveners: William Christian Jr. & Gábor
Klaniczáy
2007-10
Graduate
Student Associate
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard
University
Research
Grant
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard
University
Summer
2008
Writing Grant
Center for Middle East Studies, Harvard University
Summer
Research Award
Peabody Museum, Harvard University
2007
Conference Grant
Center for Middle East Studies, Harvard University
Conference
Grant
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
26 June - 6 July
2007
"The
Vision Thing: Studying Divine Intervention"
National Humanities Center SIAS Summer Institute
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford,
CA
Sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Conveners:
William Christian Jr. & Gábor
Klaniczáy
2006-07
Fulbright-Hays
Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship
For dissertation research in Egypt
Frederick
Sheldon Traveling Fellowship
Committee on General Scholarships, Harvard
University
Fulbright
IIE Fellowship (declined)
For dissertation research in Egypt
Foreign
Language and Area Studies Dissertation Research Fellowship
(declined)
Summer
2006
Pre-Dissertation
Grant
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard
University
Summer Research Award
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
Summer
Travel and Research Grant
Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard
University
Spring
2006
Certificate
of Distinction in Teaching
Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard
University
Fall
2005
Certificate of Distinction in Teaching
Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard
University
Spring
2005
Conference Travel Grant
Department of Anthropology, Harvard
University
Summer
2004
Summer
Travel Grant
Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard
University
Spring
2004
General
Exams passed with Distinction
Department of Anthropology, Harvard
University
Fall 2003 –Spring
2005
Tuition Scholarship and Living Stipend
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
Summer 2004 &
Summer 2005
Summer Research Grant
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard
University
Summer
2001
Tinker
Foundation Field Research Grant
For fieldwork in
Chiapas, Mexico
Spring
2001
Graduate
Tuition Scholarship
Center for Latin American Studies, The University of
Arizona
Fall
2000
Graduate
Registration Scholarship
Center for Latin American Studies, The University of
Arizona
Winter
1999
Travel
Grant
Southwest Center, The University of
Arizona
Spring
1999
Cooperative
Education Internship Scholarship
Oregon State University
CONFERENCES/LECTURES
24 July
2009
“Cultivating
Mystery: Coptic Encounters with the Divine"
Presented
at Feeling the Divine (conference)
Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Berlin, Germany
23 April
2009
“The
Trick of Faith: On Miracles, Science, & Skepticism among the
Copts"
Presented
at Foregrounds and Backgrounds: Ventures in the Anthropology of
Christianity (conference)
University of Copenhagen
22 April
2009
Invited
Talk: "The Contours and Politics of a Coptic
Geography"
Department of
Cross-cultural and Regional Studies
University of Copenhagen
5 April
2009
Invited Talk: "A Brief Introduction to the Coptic Church in
Egypt"
The Egypt Forum
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Harvard University
2 April
2009
"Skepticism,
Science, & Miracles: Debating Belief among the
Copts"
Presented on Panel: "Belief & Science"
Belief Matters: Reconceptualizing Belief and its Use
Columbia University
22 November
2008
“(Re)Producing
Holiness: Coptic Christians, Mass Media, and the
Miraculous”
Presented at invited
session: “Sainthood in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
American Anthropological Association (AAA) (San Francisco,
CA)
Co-organized panel with Amira Mittermaier.
2
December 2007
"Between Piety and Criticality: Reflections on Ethnographic Work
Among Copts in Egypt"
Presented on Panel: "Missionary Impositions: Negotiating the
Ideological Gap Between Researcher and Research Community"
American Anthropological Association (Washington
D.C.)
20 November
2007
"The Hidden Debate: The Making and Unmaking of a Contemporary
Saint"
Presented on Panel: "Egypt and Christian Cultures"
Middle East Studies Association (Montreal,
Quebec)
17
November 2007
Panel
Chair: "Christians of the Middl East: Interrogating Identities from
Orientalism to the Diaspora"
Middle East Studies Association (Montreal,
Quebec)
23
May 2007
Invited Talk: "Taking
Baraka:
Copts & Materiality"
American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE)
8
May 2007
Invited Talk: "Islamic Societies are not Just Islamic: Reflections
on Doing an Anthropology of Christianity in
Egypt"
Middle East Studies in Cairo, American University in Cairo
(AUC)
28 March
2007
Invited Talk: "Muqaddima
li-anthropolojiat al-din"
(Introduction to the Anthropology of Religion)
al-Ma'had
al-'Ali lil-Funun al-Sha'biyya (Higher Institute for
Folklore Studies), Cairo, Egypt
7 Dec.
2005
Guest
lecture: “Exterior Forms, Interior States, and Material
Things”
ANTH 1630 The Anthropology of Religion, Department of Anthropology,
Harvard
University
13
May 2005
“The
Agency of Images: Copts and the Adoration of the
Saints”
Presented at the Minorities in North Africa Conference, Portland,
OR
4
Feb. 2005
Invited
paper: “The Agency of Images: Copts and the Adoration of the
Saints.”
Presented at the Luce Consultation on Art Workshop, Fuller
Seminary, Pasadena, CA
20
Feb. 2004
“Making
a Coptic Nation: Religious Memory and a Coptic Spiritual
Geography”
Presented at the Ethnic Studies in the Age of Globalization
conference, Harvard
University.
24
May 2002
Guest
lecture: “A Brief Overview of Coptic Church
History”
TRAD 101 Middle East Humanities, Center for Middle East Studies,
The University of
Arizona.
4
Sep. 2001
“Suffering
in Chiapas: Hope of Resistance, Resistance of
Hope”
Center for Latin American Studies Colloquium Series, The University
of Arizona
Spring
2001
Guest
lecture: “Religion in Latin America”
INDV 102 “Modern Latin America: A Social Science Perspective”
Center for Latin American Studies, The University of
Arizona
Spring
2001
Guest
lecture: “Gender in Latin America”
INDV 102 “Modern Latin America: A Social Science Perspective”
Center for Latin American Studies, The University of Arizona
Fall
2000
Guest
lecture: “Religion in Latin America”
INDV 102 “Modern Latin America: A Social Science Perspective”
Center for Latin American Studies, The University of
Arizona
TEACHING/EMPLOYMENT
2008-09
Instructor
Miracles, Visions, and Dreams: The Anthropology of the
(Extra)Ordinary
ANTH 98z Junior Tutorial
Department of Anthropology, Harvard
University
Senior
Paper Advisor
NELC 99r
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard
University
2007-08
Senior
Thesis Advisor
NELC 99r
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard
University
Research
Assistant to Dr. Smita Lahiri
Department of
Anthropology, Harvard University
Spring
2006
Instructor
“Readings in the History
of Mexico”
ANTH 91r Supervised
Research and Reading
Department of
Anthropology, Harvard University
Teaching
Fellow
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
ANTH 97z Sophomore Tutorial, Professor Mary Steedly
Fall
2005
Teaching
Fellow
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
ANTH 1630 The Anthropology of Religion, Professor Smita
Lahiri
Fall 2001
Teaching
Assistant
History Department, The University of Arizona
TRAD 101 Colonial Latin America, Professor Kevin
Gosner
Fall
2000 –Spring 2001
Teaching
Assistant
Center for Latin American Studies, The University of Arizona
INDV 102 Modern Latin America: A Social Science Perspective,
Professor Maria-
Carmen Lemos
Spring
2000
Research
Assistant to Professor Diana Liverman
Center for Latin American Studies, The University of
Arizona
Fall
1999
Teaching
Assistant
Department of Geography and Regional Development, The
University of Arizona
NATS 101 The Earth’s Environment: Introduction to Physical
Geography, Professor John
Kupfer
PUBLICATIONS
2009
Book Review:
American
Evangelicals in Egypt by Heather Sharkey.
Review of Middle East Studies 43(1).
The Matter of Miracles. Anthropology News
50(3):46-47.
2008
Coptic Orthodoxy.
Co-authored with Maryann Shenoda. In
Global
Dictionary of Theology. William Dyrness and Veli-Matti Karkkainan,
eds. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Dec.
2006
Waiting for a Miracle: Reflection on Copts and the
Miraculous
e-cmes
magazine, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard
University
Sep.
2005
From Scetis to Sohag: A Photo
Essay
e-cmes
magazine, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard
University
FIELDWORK/RESEARCH
EXPERIENCE
Jul
2006 – Oct 2007
Egypt
Doctoral Dissertation Research
Jun – Aug 2004
Egypt
Preliminary Research on Copts
Jan
– Feb 2004
Egypt
Preliminary Research on Copts
May – Jun. 2001
Chiapas, Mexico
Research conducted for Master’s thesis.
March
2000
Los Angeles, CA
Interviews conducted with first generation Copts in diaspora for a
seminar paper on
social memory
Dec.
1999
Sonora, Mexico
Preliminary research conducted for a potential Master’s thesis
project on the use of
Organ Pipe Cactus by the Mayo people of the
region.
ACADEMIC/COMMUNITY
INVOLVEMENT
2009-10
Graduate Student
Associate Representative
Executive Committee
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Harvard
University
Spring 2006
Anthropology Senior Thesis Reader
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
Spring
2005
Graduate Student Committee for South Asia junior faculty search,
Department of
Anthropology, Harvard University
2004-07
Senior Consultant, Luce Foundation Images and Worship Project,
Fuller Seminary
2004-05
Graduate Student Representative, Department of Anthropology,
Harvard University
2003
– 2004
High School Youth Leader, Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church,
Allston, MA
Sep. 2002 – Aug. 2003
Co-taught a class for
11th grade and up entitled, The Inner Life of the Church Holy
Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, Los Angeles,
CA
Jul. 2002 – Jun. 2003
Co-taught an adult education course entitled, What We Believe: An
Introduction to the
Nicene Constantinopolitan Creed
Holy Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, Los Angeles,
CA
Aug.
2001 – May 2002
Member, Middle East and North African Graduate Student Organization
(MENA-GSO),
The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Jun.
2001 – May 2002
Member, Pueblo Por La Paz, local Zapatista support group, Tucson,
AZ
May
2001
Observer for Peace in Chiapas, Mexico
BRICO (Brigades civiles de observación por la paz/ Civil Brigades
for Peace)
Jan.
2000 – Jan. 2001
Monthly submissions to the St. Mark Newsletter
St.Mark Coptic Orthodox Church, Scottsdale,
AZ
Aug.
1999 – May 2000
Latin America Studies Graduate Student Representative
Center for Latin American Studies, The University of
Arizona
Jun.–
Sep. 1998
Taught a class on Orthodox Christian doctrine
Holy Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, Los Angeles,
CA
Jan. – Jun. 1998
Math and English tutor to Spanish speaking students
Highland View Middle School, Corvallis, OR
STUDY/WORK
ABROAD EXPERIENCE
May
– Jun. 2000
Interim Manager
Posada Los Encuentros, Panajachel, Sololá,
Guatemala
Jan.
– May 1999
Researcher, Centro de la Conservación y Aprovechamiento de los
Recursos Naturales
(CECARENA), ITESM, Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico
Jun.
– Jul. 1996
Spanish Language Study at the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca A.C.,
Oaxaca, Mexico
Apr.
– May 1995
The Environments of Nepal: Himalayan Ecosystems Program, Wildland
Studies Study
Abroad program (Kanchenjunga region of Nepal), San Francisco State
University
LANGUAGES
reading, writing,
speaking; scale: 1 (beginning); 2 (intermediate); 3 (advanced); 4
(native)
Colloquial Egyptian Arabic: 3, 3, 4
Modern Standard Arabic: 3, 3, 3
Bohairic Coptic 1, –, –
French 2, –, –
Spanish: 3, 2, 3
Portuguese: 2, 1, 1
MEMBERSHIP
American Anthropological
Association (AAA)
American Academy of Religion (AAR)
American Research Center
in Egypt (ARCE)
Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA)
Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society
REFERENCES
Dr.
Steven Caton
Department of
Anthropology
Harvard University
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
+1.617.495.1886
caton@wjh.harvard.edu
Dr.
Matthew Engelke
Department of
Anthropology
London School of Economics, A604
Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE
England
+44.20.7955.6494
m.engelke@lse.ac.uk
Dr.
Webb Keane
Department of
Anthropology
University of Michigan
101 West Hall
1085 S University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
+1.734.763.0549
wkeane@umich.edu
Dr.
Smita Lahiri
Department of
Anthropology
Harvard University
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
+1.617.496.9647
lahiri@fas.harvard.edu
Dr.
E. Roger Owen
Center for Middle
Eastern Studies
Harvard University
38 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
+1.617.495.2817
eowen@fas.harvard.edu
Dr.
Ajantha Subramanian
Department of
Anthropology
Harvard University
33 Kirkland Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
+1.617.496.3462
subram@fas.harvard.edu
