Renata Holod is Professor, and Curator in the Near East Section, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. She received her BA in Islamic Studies from the University of Toronto, MA in the History of Art from University of Michigan and Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Harvard University. She has done archaeological and architectural fieldwork in Syria, Iran, Morocco, Central Asia and Turkey, and on the island of Jerba, Tunisia. Her most recent project is a collaborative study of the grave goods of a Qipchaq kurgan in the Black Sea steppe of the thirteenth century.

Noora Lori’s research broadly focuses on the political economy of migration, the development of security institutions and international migration control, and the establishment and growth of national identity systems. She is particularly interested in the study of temporary worker programs and racial hierarchies in comparative perspective. Regionally, her work examines the shifting population movements accompanying state formation in the Persian Gulf, expanding the study of Middle East politics to include historic and new connections with East Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Kristian Petersen is Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and co-director of the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Nebraska Omaha. He is on the advisory board for the forthcoming Introductions to Digital Humanities: Religion series published with De Gruyter, and is co-editing Introductions to Digital Humanities: Research Methods in the Study of Religion with Christopher Cantwell. He is Assistant Director of MRB Radio at Marginalia Review of Books where he hosts a podcast called Directions in the Study of Religion and contributes to the First Impressions series. As the host of the New Books in Religion and New Books in Islamic Studies podcasts he discusses exciting scholarship with authors of new books. His first book is Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab (Oxford University Press, 2017). He is currently editing a collection for the Mizan Series with ILEX Foundation, Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology, and writing a monograph entitled The Cinematic Lives of Muslims.

Greg Fisher earned a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford (2008) where he studied under the supervision of Averil Cameron; this thesis was examined by Fergus Millar and Robert Hoyland. His research interests focus on the Middle East in late antiquity (AD 200–800), particularly on the political impact of the Roman and Persian empires in the region’s frontier zones.

Dr. Thomas Barfield’s current research focuses on problems of political development in Afghanistan, particularly on systems of local governance and dispute resolution. He has also published extensively on contemporary and historic nomadic pastoral societies in Eurasia with a particular emphasis on politics and economy.

Jeg har en mastergrad i arabisk og religionshistorie fra Stockholms Universitet (1989), og doktorgrad i religionshistorie fra Uppsala Universitet (2001) med avhandlingen "The True New Testament: Sealing the Heart's Covenant in al-Tabari's History of the Messengers and the Kings." Min forskning handler om islam. Takket være en kollega som for mange år siden, varslet meg til den franske religionshistoriker , Michel de Certeau (d. 1986), har jeg blitt mer og mer fascinert av hvordan moderne akademia begrepsligjører 'religion' og sin egen relasjon med det som 'vitenskap'. Jeg prøver å utforske skjæringspunktene mellom 'religion' og akademisk og teoretisk tenkning, og hva disse skjæringspunktene innebærer for hvordan indvider og institusjoner begrepsligjører og 'behandler' religiøse mennesker, gjenstander og bevegelser.

Olga M. Davidson earned her Ph.D. in 1983 from Princeton University in Near Eastern Studies. She is on the faculty of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations, Boston University, where she has served as Research Fellow since 2009. From 1992 to 1997, she was Chair of the Concentration in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University. Since 1999, she has been Chair of the Board, Ilex Foundation.