Dr. Carl Ernst, William R. Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at UNC, was the principal organizer of a major workshop on “Practice, Performance, and Politics of Sufi Shrines in South Asia and Beyond,” held on August 1-4 in India. Fourteen international scholars gathered to discuss new research related to the central role of Sufi shrines in Southeast Asia, North Africa, West Africa and other regions. Afterwards, Professor Ernst traveled around India to give lectures on the subjects of Sufism and Islam in several universities and cultural centers. Please click on the link below for a full account of the workshop.
Candace Mixon, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC and recipient of Roshan Institute Fellowship for Excellence in Persian Studies in 2014, reported a successful research trip to Iran over the summer. In connection with her Ph.D. dissertation on “Representations of Public Piety in Persian Images and Texts,” she visited numerous museums, universities, shrines and cultural centers in several Iranian cities to study the visual and material culture related to modern religious practices.