Professor Amira Mittermaier describes how her trajectory from being a student of Islamic Studies in Germany to an anthropologist in North America has shaped how she approaches texts in her research today. She reflects upon the multitude of ways texts matter to Muslims in Egypt, providing examples of the ways she centers these written works in her fieldwork—by reading key texts alongside her interlocutors, for instance. Professor Mittermaier also introduces listeners to her latest project, Ethnographies of God, exploring how it helps trouble the demarcation between anthropology and theology, and considering what this unsettling means for anthropologists of Islam and their engagement of texts.

Recorded: Dec 17, 2020