Joseph Hill: Curriculum Vitae

Joseph Hill

Curriculum Vitae

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, and Egyptology

The American University in Cairo

P.O. Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt

Forwarding: AUC Faculty Services, Joseph Hill/SAPE Department
The American University in Cairo
420 Fifth Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10018-2729

office +20 2 2615 1862 – cell +20 1 8002 3627 – fax +20 2 2795 7565

josephhill@aucegypt.edu — http://keemtaan.net — http://medinabaay.org

	Education
2007	Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Ph.D., Sociocultural Anthropology. Advisor: Kamari M. Clarke. •Dissertation Title: Divine Knowledge and Islamic Authority: Religious Specialization among Disciples of Baay Ñas.
1999	Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. B.A., Honors Humanities and Sociocultural Anthropology, Philosophy and Music minors. Senior honors thesis on the changing social roles and art of “griot” performers.
	Research and Teaching Interests
	West Africa, Middle East and North Africa; Islam, Sufism, and Religion; Gender; Politics of Language and Semiotics; Transnationalism, Globalization, and Cosmopolitanism
	Academic and Teaching Experience
2008-Present	American University in Cairo. Visiting Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Fellow in Anthropology. •Courses taught: º“Islam, the West, and Western Muslims” (Anth 199, Spring 2009, 2010, 2011) º“Religion, Ideology, and Society” (Anth/Soc 525, Spring 2009) º“Peoples and Cultures of Africa” (Anth 382, Spring 2009) º“The Social Construction of Difference: Race, Class, and Ethnicity” (Anth/Soc 332 Fall 2009) º“Language, Meaning, and Politics” (Anth 400/510, Spring 2010) º“Contemporary Anthropological Theory” (Anth 311, Spring 2011) º“Ethnographic Fieldwork Methods” (Soc/Anth 505, Fall 2010) º“Language in Culture” (Anth 352, Fall 2011) º“Introduction to Cultural Anthropology” (Anth 202, Fall 2008, 2010, 2011) º“Arab Society” (Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011) º“Anthropology of Food” (Fall 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) º“Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa” (Anth 312, projected Spring 2012) •Independent study courses taught: “Language and Semiotics,” “Contemporary Anthropological Theory,” “Directed Anthropological Research” •Graduate supervision: advisor for 5 completed M.A. theses and 2 M.A. theses in progress; reader for numerous other theses.
2007-2008	University of Rochester, Frederick Douglass Institute for African & African-American Studies. Postdoctoral Fellow. •Courses taught: º“Sovereignty and the Postcolonial State in Africa” (Spring 2008) º“Religion and Power in Africa” (Fall 2007)
2007	Yale University, Department of Anthropology. Instructor. •Course taught: “Food and Culture” (Summer 2007)
2007	Yale University, Directed Independent Language Study (DILS) Program. Language Tutor (Wolof). Taught two students Wolof conversation, vocabulary, and grammar.
2002-2006	Yale University, Department of Anthropology. Teaching Fellow. Led weekly discussions, coached and evaluated student writing projects, delivered occasional lectures.
	•Courses assisted in teaching: •“Men, Women, and Family in the Muslim Middle East” (Fall, 2006) •“Peoples and Cultures of China” (Spring, 2005) •“Anthropology of Myth and Ritual” (Spring, 2003) •“Great Hoaxes and Fantasies in Archaeology” (Fall, 2002) •Co-author of official Anthropology Department Handbook (2007) •Co-founder and co-organizer, Ethnography and Social Theory Colloquium (2001-2002, 2006)
1999-2000	Sequoia Charter School, Mesa, Arizona. Teacher, Geography and English Writing.
1998-1999	Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Teaching Assistant, Department of Humanities and Honors Program. Led weekly discussion sections. Coached and evaluated student writing projects. •Courses assisted in teaching: º“History of Modern Civilization” (Humanities 202) º“History of Ancient Western Thought and Literature” (Honors Philosophy 201)
	Honors, Grants, and Awards
2004	Social Science Research Council, International Dissertation Research Fellowship
2004	Fulbright-Hays, Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship
2003	Yale Center for International and Area Studies, Dissertation Research Fellowship
2003	Yale Program in Agrarian Studies, Fellowship for Arabic study in Ma`ta Mulana, Mauritania
2002	Foreign Language and Area Studies, Summer Fellowship for Arabic study in Fez, Morocco
1999	University Honors (awarded to 1% of graduates), Brigham Young University
1999	Magna Cum Laude (top 5% of class), Brigham Young University
1999	Speaker at Honors Graduation Ceremony, Brigham Young University
1995-1999	Full University Academic Scholarship, Brigham Young University
1998	Office of Research and Creative Activities (Brigham Young University) grant for undergraduate project in Senegal
1998	Brigham Young University Study-Abroad research grant for undergraduate project in Senegal
	Academic Publications
Under review	“Sovereign Islam in a Secular State: Hidden Knowledge and Sufi Governance among Taalibe Baay in Senegal.” In Mamadou Diouf, ed., Tolerance, Democracy, and Sufis in Senegal. New York: Columbia University Press.
Forthcoming	“The Cosmopolitan Sahara: Building a Global Islamic Village in Mauritania.” City and Society.
2011	“Languages of Islam: Hybrid Genres of Taalibe Baay Oratory in Senegal.” Islamic Africa 2.1: 67-104.
2010	“‘All Women Are Guides’: Sufi Leadership and Womanhood among Taalibe Baay in Senegal.” Journal of Religion in Africa 40, no. 4: 375-412.
2007	Divine Knowledge and Islamic Authority: Religious Specialization among Disciples of Baay Ñas. Doctoral Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University.
2006	“Sufi Specialists and Globalizing Charisma: Religious Knowledge and Authority among Disciples of Baay Ñas.” In Kamari Maxine Clarke, ed., Local Practices, Global Controversies: Islam in Sub-Saharan African Contexts. New Haven: MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale.
	Works in Progress
	Hidden Authorities: Women Sufi Leaders in the Fayḍa Tijāniyya in Senegal. Book manuscript. Requested by Indiana University Press.
	“Women Who Are Men: Shaykha Maryam Niasse and the Qurᵓān in Dakar.” In Zulfikar Hirji, ed., Approaches to the Qur’an in Sub-Saharan Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
	“The Politics of Paradox: Accommodating Contradiction through Sufi Discourse among Fayḍa Tijāniyya adherents in Senegal.”
	“Mystical Specialists, Institutional Specialists, and the Construction of a National Sufi Movement in Senegal.”
	“The Life of an Almost-Identity: The Njolofeen, Islamic Knowledge, and Liminality in Senegal.”
	Non-Academic Publications
2010	‘Ground Zero Mosque’: Sensible People Fearing Islam. Salon, August 2. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/08/02/ground_zero_us_them.
	Conference Presentations and Lectures
May, 2011	“Women Who Are Men: Shaykha Maryam Ñas and the Qurᵓān in Dakar.” Presented at the conference, “Approaches to the Qur’an in Sub-Saharan Africa,” York University and the Institute for Ismaeli Studies, Toronto.
November, 2010	“Veiling Authority: Femininity, Mysticism, and ‘Hiddenness’ Among Sufi Women Leaders in Senegal.” Presented at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans.
November, 2009	“The Cosmopolitan Sahara: Building a Global Islamic Village in Mauritania.” Presented in an invited session at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia.
November, 2008	“The Cosmopolitan Desert: Place-making in a Global Saharan Village.” Presented at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco.
November, 2008	“Terms of Engagement: Mediating Multiple Knowledge Regimes through ‘Taalibe Baay’ Sufi Oratory.” Presented at the conference “Constituting Bodies of Islamic Knowledge,” Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
November, 2008	“Terms of Engagement: Mediating Multiple Knowledge Regimes in Sufi Oratory through Codeswitching.” Presented at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Chicago.
October 2008	“Terms of Engagement: Mediating Multiple Knowledge Regimes in Sufi Oratory through Codeswitching.” Presented at Sociology/Anthropology Seminar Series, American University in Cairo, Egypt.
March, 2008	“Sovereign Religion in a Secular State: Hidden Knowledge and Sufi Authority in Senegal.” Presented at Works in Progress Seminar, Frederick Douglass Institute for African & African-American Studies, University of Rochester.
March, 2008	“Sovereign Religion in a Secular State: Sufi Sovereignty and Hidden Knowledge among ‘Taalibe Baay’ in Senegal.” Presented at the conference “Tolerance, Democracy, and Sufis in Senegal,” Columbia University, New York.
December, 2007	Invited participant in round-table discussion, “Revitalizing African Studies at Yale University.” New Haven, Connecticut.
November, 2007	“The Politics of Religious Disengagement: Islam, Hidden Knowledge, and the Secular State in Senegal.” Presented at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
November, 2007	“Mystical Specialists and Bureaucratic Specialists: Nationalizing Sufism in Senegal.” Presented at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Colloquium Series, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.
October, 2007	“Mystical Specialists, Institutional Specialists, and the Construction of an Urban Sufi Movement in Senegal.” Presented at African Studies Association Annual Meeting, New York, New York.
May, 2007	“Cosmopolitan Subjects and Divine Sovereignty: Learning Discipleship in West African Islamic Schools.” Presented at the Canadian Anthropological Society (CASCA) and American Ethnological Society (AES) Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada.
April, 2007	“Sovereign Religion in a Secular State: Learning Sufi Discipleship in Senegal.” Presented at the Ethnography and Social Theory Colloquium, Department of Anthropology, Yale University.
December, 2005	“Sufi Specialists: Embodying Divine Knowledge and Authority in Senegal.” Presented at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
February, 2005	“Hidden Knowledge: Reflections on Fieldwork in a Transnational Sufi Community.” Presented at the Ethnography and Social Theory Colloquium, Yale University Department of Anthropology, New Haven, Connecticut.
2002	“Sufi Orders and Popular Culture in Senegal.” Presented at the Islam in the Modern Day Colloquium, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
	Field Research
2009, 2010	Ethnographic research on Sufi women in Senegal (Dakar and Kaolack)
2001, 2003-2005	Ethnographic dissertation research on Sufism in Senegal and Mauritania
2004–present	Founded and direct Medina Baay Research Association, Kaolack, Senegal (see http://medinabaay.org).
Summer 2002	Arabic study, Fez, Morocco
1998	Ethnographic research on “griot” performing artists, Dakar, Senegal
	Languages Spoken and Written
	English, French, Wolof, Arabic (literary and Egyptian colloquial)