Emily O'Dell

Emily O’Dell is the Whittlesey Chair of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut. Previously, she taught at Harvard University, Brown University, and Columbia University. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, International Christian Monitor, International Herald Tribune, and NPR. She is currently conducting archaeological fieldwork at Sufi shrines in Turkmenistan, Merotic temples in Sudan, and private tombs in Egypt. For her interdisciplinary research on Sufism, archaeology, and Islamic jurisprudence, she has been an Edward A. Hewett Policy Fellow, a Columbia University Pepsico Fellow, and a State Department Fellow. She has conducted field research on Sufism and politics in Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Mali, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan/Karakalpakstan, Russia, Lebanon, Greece, Turkey, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, and Hungary. Her most recent publications on topics such as Sufism in Central Asia and ancient Egyptian literature are being published by Harvard University Press and Brill, respectively. She received her Ph.D., M.A., M.F.A., and M.A. from Brown University, and an additional Masters from Columbia University. She regularly performs the Javanese gamelan in concert at venues such as Lincoln Center and Asia Society, and her plays have been read or produced at Lincoln Center, the Public Theatre, and City Center. (Photo by Lara Khatchikian)