IAHR Executive Committee Members 2010-2015
Vice President: Prof. Abdulkader Tayob, South Africa
I hold the National Research Foundation Chair on Islam, African Publics and Religious Values. This is one among many chairs established throughout South Africa in order to promote research in strategic and priority areas. My own work lies in the field of Islamic Studies with a focus on Africa and modern Islamic Thought. History of Religions provides the disciplinary foundation for my work. I am currently based at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Cape Town.
I completed a Phd at Temple University in 1989, and soon thereafter joined the University of Cape Town. My doctoral and initial post-doctoral work focused on early Islamic historiography and Qur’anic traditions, but I soon turned to the study of Islam in modern contexts. Over the next few years, I completed two books on Islam in South Africa (Islamic Resurgence in South Africa (1999), Mosques, Imams and Sermons (1999)). The first focused on a youth movement, and included a study on Islamism which has since become a key area of global research in Islamic Studies. The second focused on the history and analysis of Islamic institutions. During this time, I also completed a much-utilized Islam, a Short Introduction (1999), numerous articles, edited books and collaboration on the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (2003) with Richard Martin and others. My most recent book is Religion in Modern Islamic Discourse (2009).
I have held a number of teaching and research fellowships over the years. These include periods of various lengths at the American University Cairo (1997), University of Virginia (1998), Hamburg University (1997, 2009/2010). I was also honoured to hold the first Heinrich Barth Visiting Professorship at Bayreuth University in Germany (2008-2009). From 2002 to 2006, I was Professor of Social Processes of Modern Islam at the Radboud University (Nijmegen) and the International Institute for the Study of Islam in Modern World (ISIM).
