About Kristian Petersen

Kristian Petersen is an Associate Professor of Philosophy & Religious Studies at Old Dominion University. You can find out more about his work on his website, follow him on Twitter @BabaKristian, or email him at kpeterse@odu.edu.

NBN Episodes hosted by Kristian:

SherAli Tareen, "Perilous Intimacies: Debating Hindu-Muslim Friendship After Empire" (Columbia UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Perilous Intimacies

SherAli Tareen

Friendship—particularly interreligious friendship—offers both promise and peril. After the end of Muslim political sovereignty in South Asia, how did …

Christiane Gruber, “The Praiseworthy One: The Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Texts and Images" (Indiana UP, 2019)

February 18, 2024

The Praiseworthy One

Christiane Gruber

In our most recent public memory, images of the Prophet Muhammad have caused a great deal of controversy, such as satirical cartoons of Muhammad in Fr…

Merin Shobhana Xavier, "The Dervishes of the North: Rumi, Whirling, and the Making of Sufism in Canada" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

February 2, 2024

The Dervishes of the North

Merin Shobhana Xavier

The thirteenth-century Muslim mystic and poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207–1273) is a popular spiritual icon. His legacy is sustained within the mystical a…

Yael Rice, "The Brush of Insight: Artists and Agency at the Mughal Court" (U Washington Press, 2023)

June 30, 2023

The Brush of Insight

Yael Rice
Listen:

Over the course of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Mughal court painters evolved from illustrators of manuscripts and albums to active …

Anna Piela, "Wearing the Niqab: Muslim Women in the UK and the US" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

June 16, 2023

Wearing the Niqab

Anna Piela
Listen:

In recent years the niqab has emerged as one of the most ubiquitous symbols of everything that is perceived to be wrong with Islam: barbarity, backwar…

Evelyn Alsultany, "Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion" (NYU Press, 2022)

May 26, 2023

Broken

Evelyn Alsultany

In Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion (NYU Press, 2022), Evelyn Alsultany, Professor at the University of Southern California, argues that…

Mark LeVine, "We'll Play Till We Die: Journeys Across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World" (U California Press, 2022)

May 19, 2023

We'll Play Till We Die

Mark LeVine

In We'll Play till We Die: Journeys across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World (University of California Press, 2022), Mark LeVine, Pr…

Elizabeth Lhost, "Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia" (UNC Press, 2022)

February 24, 2023

Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern South Asia

Elizabeth Lhost

Beginning in the late eighteenth century, British rule transformed the relationship between law, society, and the state in South Asia. But professiona…

Stephen C. Finley, "In and Out of This World: Material and Extraterrestrial Bodies in the Nation of Islam" (Duke UP, 2022)

January 27, 2023

In and Out of This World

Stephen C. Finley

With In and Out of This World: Material and Extraterrestrial Bodies in the Nation of Islam (Duke University Press, 2022), Stephen C. Finley, Inaugural…

Sarah Fatima Waheed, "Hidden Histories of Pakistan: Censorship, Literature, and Secular Nationalism in Late Colonial India" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

October 7, 2022

Hidden Histories of Pakistan

Sarah Fatima Waheed

Censorship, Urdu literature, Islam, and progressive secular nationalisms in colonial India and Pakistan have a complex, intertwined history. Sarah Wah…

Asim Qureshi, "I Refuse to Condemn: Resisting Racism in Times of National Security" (Manchester UP, 2020)

July 15, 2022

I Refuse to Condemn

Asim Qureshi

In times of heightened national security, scholars and activists from the communities under suspicion often attempt to alert the public to the more co…

Matt Sheedy, "Owning the Secular: Religious Symbols, Culture Wars, Western Fragility " (Routledge, 2021)

April 15, 2022

Owning the Secular

Matt Sheedy

In Owning the Secular: Religious Symbols, Culture Wars, Western Fragility (Routledge, 2021), Matt Sheedy, Visiting Assistant Professor at the Universi…

K. S. Batmanghelichi, "Revolutionary Bodies: Technologies of Gender, Sex, and Self in Contemporary Iran" (Bloomsbury, 2020)

March 25, 2022

Revolutionary Bodies

K. S. Batmanghelichi

Gender and sexuality in modern Iran are frequently examined through the prisms of nationalist symbols and religious discourse. In Revolutionary Bodies…

Nebil Husayn, "Opposing the Imam: The Legacy of the Nawasib in Islamic Literature" (Cambridge UP, 2021)

February 28, 2022

Opposing the Imam

Nebil Husayn

Islam's fourth caliph, Ali, can be considered one of the most revered figures in Islamic history. His nearly universal portrayal in Muslim literature …

Nicole Nguyen, "Suspect Communities: Anti-Muslim Racism and the Domestic War on Terror" (U Minnesota Press, 2019)

December 3, 2021

Suspect Communities

Nicole Nguyen

Suspect Communities: Anti-Muslim Racism and the Domestic War on Terror (University of Minnesota Press, 2019) is a powerful reassessment of the U.S. go…

Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, "Elusive Lives: Gender, Autobiography, and the Self in Muslim South Asia" (Stanford UP, 2018)

October 15, 2021

Elusive Lives

Siobhan Lambert-Hurley

Muslim South Asia is widely characterized as a culture that idealizes female anonymity: women's bodies are veiled and their voices silenced. Challengi…

Richard J. A. McGregor, "Islam and the Devotional Object" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

October 8, 2021

Islam and the Devotional Object

Richard J. A. McGregor

In Islam and the Devotional Object: Seeing Religion in Egypt and Syria (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Richard J. A. McGregor, Associate Professor…

Charles Tieszen, "The Christian Encounter with Muhammad: How Theologians Have Interpreted the Prophet" (Bloomsbury, 2020)

September 10, 2021

The Christian Encounter with Muhammad

Charles Tieszen

Muhammad has not only been at the center of Muslims discussions of prophethood but he has also been the focus for many Christians as well. In The Chri…

Nivi Manchanda, "Imagining Afghanistan: The History and Politics of Imperial Knowledge" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

August 13, 2021

Imagining Afghanistan

Nivi Manchanda

Over time and across different genres, Afghanistan has been presented to the world as potential ally, dangerous enemy, gendered space, and mysterious …

Anna Bigelow et al., "Islam Through Objects" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

July 16, 2021

Islam Through Objects

Anna Bigelow et al.

Islam through Objects (Bloomsbury, 2021) represents the state of the field of Islamic material cultural studies. With contributions from scholars of r…

Peter Morey, "Islamophobia and the Novel" (Columbia UP, 2018)

June 11, 2021

Islamophobia and the Novel

Peter Morey

In an era of rampant Islamophobia, literary representations of Muslims and anti Muslim bigotry tell us a lot about changing concepts of cultural diffe…

Hannah Hoechner, "Quranic Schools in Northern Nigeria: Everyday Experiences of Youth, Faith, and Poverty" (U Cambridge Press, 2018)

May 28, 2021

Quranic Schools in Northern Nigeria

Hannah Hoechner

In a global context of widespread fears over Islamic radicalization and militancy, poor Muslim youth, especially those socialized in religious seminar…

Caleb Iyer Elfenbein, "Fear in Our Hearts: What Islamophobia Tells Us about America" (NYU Press, 2021)

April 23, 2021

Fear in Our Hearts

Caleb Iyer Elfenbein

In Fear In Our Hearts: What Islamophobia Tells Us about America (NYU Press, 2021), Caleb Iyer Elfenbein, Associate Professor at Grinnell College, exam…

Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions: A Discussion with Stefania Travagnin

March 29, 2021

Concepts and Methods for the Study of Chinese Religions

André Laliberté and Stefania Travagnin

The study of religion in China has a long history across a number of interrelated disciplines. In recent years, scholars have been reassessing past sc…