Faculty Directory

Munir Jiwa

Founding Director, Center for Islamic Studies;
Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Anthropology

Core Doctoral Faculty
At the GTU since
2007
(510) 649-2562

Visiting Scholar, Stanford University Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies (2022)

Faculty, UC Berkeley, Othering & Belonging Institute

Distinguished Faculty Award 2019 (Video of Lecture)

Winner of the Excellence in Teaching Award 2015

Post-Doctoral and Teaching Positions:

  • MIT (2004-2005)
  • University of Toronto (2005-2007)

Grants Received:

  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
  • Carnegie Corporation of New York
  • Ford Foundation
  • Haas Fund
  • Henry Luce Foundation
  • Social Science Research Council
Degrees and Certifications

PhD, MPhil, Columbia University
MTS, Harvard Divinity School
BA Honors, Simon Fraser University

Research and Teaching Interests
  • Islam and Muslims in the West
  • Media, Islamophobia and Decolonial Studies
  • Liberalism, Secular Modernity, Religious/Subject Formation
  • Art, Aesthetics, Cultural Production
  • Anthropology (Cultural and Medical), Ethnographic Methods
  • Theological, Interreligious, and Intercultural Education
  • Spiritual Care, Chaplaincy, Mediation, Leadership
Academic Committees and Boards
  • AAR, Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession, Committee Member (2016-2019), Chair (2019-2021)
  • AAR, Contemporary Islam Group, Steering Committee Member (2011-2015)
  • Graduate Theological Union, CARe, Board Member (2015-2018)
  • Graduate Theological Union, Faculty Council (2011-2012, 2015-2017) 
  • Graduate Theological Union, Asia Project Board Member (2009-2011) 
  • UC Berkeley, Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, Public Theology Inquiry Group
  • UC Berkeley, Center for Race and Gender, Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project Advisor, Journal Board Member
  • UC Berkeley, iGov Center for Institutions and Governance, Visiting Scholar, Religious Norms Project (2010-2015)
  • UC Berkeley, Religion, Politics, Globalization Program, Steering Committee
  • Stanford University Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Public Education Advisory Board
  • Islamic Scholarship Fund, Advisory Board Member
Selected Publications
  • “Our Interconnectedness,” GTU Voices on Spiritual Care and Ethical Leadership for Our Times, April 2020

  • Critical Perspectives on Interreligious Education: Experiments in Empathy, Hadsell and Syeed, Eds. Brill, March 2020

  • "Reflections on Islamic Studies in Interreligious Contexts" in Muslim World Journal, Wiley, April 2018.

  • Politics of Exhibition: Artists and Muslim Identity in New York City, Cornell University Press, forthcoming.

  • "Knowledge and Diversity: The Center for Islamic Studies Celebrates Ten Years," Skylight, Fall 2017   

  • "Challenges and Opportunities of Interreligious Seminary Studies," in AAR Spotlight on Theological Education, April 2016.

  • Artistic Landscapes: Muslim Artists in America," in Oxford Handbooks Online, 2014.

  • "Muslims and the Art of Interfaith Post-9/11," in Studying Islam in Practice, ed. Gabriele Marranci, 2013.

  • “Ghada Amer, Zarina Hashmi, Shirin Neshat, Shahzia Sikander,” in Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History,  Facts on File, Inc., 2010.

  • “Imaging, Imagining and Representation: Muslim Artists in NYC,” in Journal of Contemporary Islam, 2010.