Curriculum Vitae

Edith A. Szanto

Education

2006 – 12           PhD, Religious Studies, University of Toronto

2004 – 05           Visiting Student, University of Damascus, Jami‘a Abu Nūr and AMIDEAST

2002 – 04           MA, Middle Eastern Studies, the University of Texas at Austin

2002                   Semester Abroad, the American University in Cairo, Egypt 

1999 – 02           BA, Summa cum Laude, Religious Studies, Arizona State University

Teaching Experience

2012 – present    Assistant Professor, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2011 – 12           Lecturer, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2009 – 11           Instructor, University of Toronto

Courses Taught

Western Civilization: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern

Middle East History

Religious History of Iraq

Comparative World Religions

Introduction to Islam

Women in Islam

Anthropology of Islam

Research Experience

2012                   Fieldwork, Social Impact Assessment Project for Western Zagros, Iraq

2011 – present    Fieldwork, Sulaimani, Iraq

2009 – 10           Fieldwork, Sayyida Zaynab, Syria

2006 – 11           Research Assistant to Prof. Mohammed Fadel, University of Toronto

2006                   UNV Human Development Advocate at UNDP Damascus

2006                   Intern at UNHCR Damascus

Awards

2014                   AUIS Scholar (course load reduction and research funding)

2011 – 13           Faculty Development Grant, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2008 – 10           Ontario Graduate Scholarship, University of Toronto

2009                   School of Graduate Studies Travel Grant, University of Toronto

2008                   Hartcourt Brown Fellowship, University of Toronto

2007 – 08           Less Commonly Taught Languages Study Elsewhere Award, University of Toronto

2004 – 05           US Fulbright Fellow, Syria

2003 – 04           Burton Continuing Fellowship, the University of Texas at Austin

2003 – 04           Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship for Arabic, University of Texas at Austin

2000 – 02           Dean’s Honor Roll, Arizona State University

1999 – 00           Freshman Achievement Scholarship, Arizona State University

Peer-reviewed Publications

2013                   “Contesting Fragile Saintly Traditions: Miraculous Healing among Twelver Shi‘is in Contemporary Syria,” in Politics of Worship in the Contemporary Middle East: Sainthood in Fragile States, edited by Andreas Bandak and Mikkel Bille (Leiden: Brill), 33-52. 

2013                   “Beyond the Karbala Paradigm:  Rethinking Revolution and Redemption in Twelver Shi‘a Mourning Rituals,” Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies 6 (1): 75-91. 

2012                   “Illustrating an Islamic Childhood in Syria:  Pious Subjects and Religious Authority in Twelver Shi‘i Children’s Books,” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 32 (2): 361-373.

2012                   “Sayyida Zaynab in the State of Exception:  Shi‘i Sainthood as ‘Qualified Life’ in Contemporary Syria,” International Journal or Middle East Studies 44 (2): 285-299.

2009                   “Pedagogies of Piety:  Shi‘i Children’s Books, Ethics and the Emergence of the Pious Subject,” Symposia:  The Graduate Student Journal of the Centre for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto 1 (1): 62-78.

2008                   “Inter-Religious Dialogue in Syria:  Politics, Ethics and Miscommunication,” Political Theology 9 (1): 93-113.

Non-peer-reviewed Publications

2013                   Review of Sally K. Gallagher, “Making Do in Damascus:  Navigating a Generation of Change in Family and Work,” The Middle East Journal 67 (2): 323-324.

2012                   “‘Syria Love’:  Watching Syrian Propaganda in Iraq,” Syrian Studies Association Newsletter 17 (2): 1-3.

2012                   Review of Liyakat Takim, “Shi‘ism in America,” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 41 (2): 327-329.

2011                   Review of Ingvild Flaskerud, “Visualizing Belief and Piety in Iranian Shi‘ism,” The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 28 (4): 136-139.

2010                   Review of Diane Kind, ed., “Middle Eastern Belongings,” The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 27 (3): 121-123.

2008                   “A Scholar of Popular Contemporary Islam on the Quest for ‘Truth’ in Damascus,” Syrian Studies Association Newsletter 13 (2): 8-9, 15.

2008                   “Performance, Power and the Possibility for Change:  Shi‘i Muharram Practices and the 1979 Iranian Revolution,” Centre for the Study of Religion Graduate Student Journal 1: 42-48.

2007                   “Muharram in and around Sayyeda Zaynab,” Syrian Studies Association Newsletter 13 (1): 4-5.

Refereed Conference Papers

2014                   “Being an ‘Ālima in Sayyida Zaynab:  Female Shi‘i Religious Authority in a Syrian Seminary,” paper presented at Of ‘Ālimahs, Muhaddithahs, and Mujtahidahs:  The Past and Present of Female Religious Authority in Shi‘i Islam, a workshop held at Princeton University.

2013                   “Qadiri Sufism in Kurdistan:  Ritual Transgressions and Gendered Norms,” paper presented at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting.

2013                   “Economies of Piety,” paper presented at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting.

2013                   “Challenging Transnational Shi‘i Authority in Ba‘th Syria,” paper presented at De-Centering Shi‘ism, a workshop held at Princeton University.

2013                   “Preaching Piety in Sulaimani,” paper presented at Kurdistan – Between Past and Future, a conference sponsored by Soran University and Lund University.

2012                   “Discourses on Barbarism in the Contemporary Middle East,” paper presented at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting.

2012                   “Preaching Piety in Sulaimani,” poster presentation at 2nd World Kurdish Scientific Congress.

2011                   “‘That Which Your Right Hands Possess’:  Liberation, Otherness, and Religion in a Syrian Soap Opera,” paper presented (in absentia) at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting.

2011                   “Healing Shi‘i Bodies:  Cupping, Flagellation and Saintly Intercession in Contemporary Syria,” paper presented at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting.

2011                   “Beyond the Karbala Paradigm:  Affect in Syrian Twelver Shi‘i Mourning Rituals,” paper presented at the Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago.

2010                   “Heterodoxy on the Periphery:  Magic and Twelver Shi‘ism in Contemporary Syria,” paper presented at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting.

2010                   “Beyond Carnival and Spectacle:  Contemporary Twelver Shi‘i Muharram Rituals in Syria,” paper presented at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting.

2010                   “Sayyida Zaynab:  A Saint and Her Followers in States of Exception,” paper presented at Sainthood in Fragile States, a conference sponsored by the Danish Institute of Damascus and the University of Copenhagen.

2008                   “Pious Sensations in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction:  Basim al-Karbala’i and Mourning Rituals among Twelver Shi‘is,” paper present at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting.

2008                   “Self-Flagellation and the Cultivation of Piety:  Tradition, Connection and Ethics,” paper presented at the American Academy of Religion Eastern International Regional Meeting.

2007                   “Shi‘i Children’s Books:  The Formation of Twelver Shi‘i Identity, Community and Practice,” paper presented at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting.

2007                   “Performance, Power and the Possibilities of Change in Islamic Practice,” paper presented at Evolution Devolution Revolution, the Graduate Symposium of the Centre for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto.

2006                   “Muslim/Christian Dialogue in Syria,” paper presented at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting.

2005                   “Fulla:  an Arab Muslim Doll for Arab Muslim Girls,” paper presented at the Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting.

2004                   “Sacred Space and Privacy:  Sufi Orders and Questions of Control,” paper presented at the American Research Center for Egypt Annual Conference.

Invited Presentations

2013                   “Sectarianism and the Syrian Uprising,” paper presented at the Sulaimani Forum, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.

2012                   “Material Piety in Syria and Iraq,” paper presented at the Second Annual AUIS Conference on the Middle East, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.

2012                   “Affecting ‘Ashura:  Rethinking Revolution and Redemption in Contemporary Syrian Twelver Shi‘i Mourning Rituals,” paper presented at the Ahl al-Bayt Conference, NYU Abu Dhabi.

2011                   “Mourning Hussayn in Contemporary Syria,” paper presented at the Max Planck Institut für Bildungsforschung in Berlin.

2010                   “Carnivalizing Piety:  Ashura in Sayyida Zaynab,” paper presented as part of the Centre and Department for the Study of Religion’s Colloquia series.

2004                   “Women’s Religious Groups in Cairo,” paper presented at the Graduate Student Symposium, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the University of Texas at Austin.

Service

2014                   Chair, Curriculum Review Committee, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2013                   Member, Curriculum Review Committee, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani


2013 – present    Member, Provost Search Committee, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2013                   Peer Reviewer, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly

2013 – present    Faculty Advisor, Manga Club, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2012 – present    Organiser, Brown Bag Lecture Series, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2012 – present    Faculty Advisor, FirstStage (volunteer teachers for children from the Qalawa Refugee Camp), the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2012                   Organiser, the Second Annual AUIS Conference on the Middle East, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2012                   Member, Core Review Committee, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2012                   Faculty Volunteer, Film Club, the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

2010 – present    Member, Contemporary Islam Group Steering Committee, American Academy of Religion

2008 – 11           Review Editor for Symposia, University of Toronto

Languages

Native speaker of English and German

Fluent in Arabic (Modern Standard and Syrian dialect) and Hungarian

Professional Organizations

American Academy of Religion

American Anthropological Association

American Historical Association

American Oriental Society

Association for Middle East Women’s Studies

International Society for Iranian Studies

Middle East Studies Association

National Women’s Studies Association

Syrian Studies Association

The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq