The Shiʿi Studies Network is excited to announce a new lecture series, Reflections on Shiʿi Studies. The series aims to act as a forum for scholars working on the academic study of Shiʿi Islam to reflect on the state and fate of the field. Over the past few decades, scholarship on Shiʿism has grown significantly, with major contributions reshaping our understanding of the history and development of Shiʿi Islam from its emergence until the present day. However, dominant analytical frameworks still often reflect reductive assumptions, shaped by sectarian or minority-status framings. This series brings together leading scholars to critically reflect on these dynamics, share insights from their respective areas of focus, and propose new methodological and conceptual approaches to move the field forward.
Join us for the first instalment of this ongoing lecture series where we will be joined by Karen Ruffle, Professor of South Asian Shiʿism in the Departments of Historical Studies and the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto.
The lecture will be held online over Zoom. To join, please register here and you will receive a link to join. You will need to register to attend the lecture. For those having difficulty registering with their institutional accounts, please use your personal email address to register instead. If you are still having difficulties, please get in touch.
Karen Ruffle
Professor of South Asian Shiʿism
University of Toronto
Karen Ruffle is Professor of South Asian Shiʿism in the Departments of Historical Studies and the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on ritual practice and Shiʿi material and sensory cultures in the early modern Deccan and contemporary South Asia. Among her publications are Gender, Sainthood, and Everyday Practice in South Asian Shiʿism (2011), Everyday Shiʿism in South Asia (2021), and (as editor) Sensing Muḥarram in Asia: Shiʿi Poetics of Space and the Religious Sensorium (Special Issue of Asian Ethnology, 2025), as well as numerous articles on Deccani Shiʿi material practices. She is the co-editor of the International Journal of Islam in Asia, and book series Studies in Shiʿi Materiality and the forthcoming Sensory Histories and Cultures.