From Silvers

Contents 1 Curriculum Vitae 1.1 Laury Silvers 1.1.1 Employment 1.1.2 Education 1.2 Academic Activity 1.2.1 Work in Progress 1.2.2 Articles 1.2.3 Encyclopedia Articles 1.2.4 Papers and Lectures 1.2.5 Languages 1.2.6 Research Areas 1.2.7 Fellowships and Grants 1.2.8 Association Membership 1.3 Other Academic Activity 1.4 Non-academic Activity 1.4.1 Activism 1.4.2 Non-Academic Print Publications

Curriculum Vitae

Although this is the "official" Laury Silvers site, this is not my "official" CV.

Laury Silvers

Department of Philosophy and Religion

815 N. Broadway

Skidmore College

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

lsilvers@skidmore.edu

(518) 580-5404

Employment

2002- Skidmore College, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion

2001-2002 College of the Holy Cross, Instructor, Department of Religion

1996-1997 SUNY Stony Brook, Instructor, Department of Religion

Spring 1994 SUNY Stony Brook, Instructor

Education

2002 Ph.D. Comparative Studies, State University of New York at Stony Brook

1996 ALIF Fellowship — The Center for the Study of Islamic Societies and Civilizations (CSISC) at Washington University in St. Louis in Fez, Morocco

1994-1996 Study of the Arabic language and classical Islamic sciences at the Arabic Language Institute of Fez, Morocco

1992 B.A. English and American Literature, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Academic Activity

Work in Progress

Article: "What Your Right Hand Owns": The Theological Problem of Female Legal Consent (research stage)

Book Project (writing stage): The Mundane Lives of Exceptional Women: Gendered Social Preferences in the Lives, Practices and Thought of Early Pious and Sufi Women

Book or series of articles (research stage): Concepts of Being in Early Sufism

Articles

“‘In the Book We have left out nothing’ (Q 6:38): The Ethical Problem of the Existence of Verse 4:34 in the Qur'an” (Journal of Comparative Islamic Studies, Fall 2007).

“The Presence of Theoretical Sufism in the Early Period,” Studia Islamica, fasc. 98 (2007).

“The Teaching Relationship in Early Sufism: A Reassessment of Fritz Meier's Definition of the shaykh al-tarbiya and shaykh al-ta`lim” Muslim World 93/1(2003): 69-97

Encyclopedia Articles

“Images of Sex and Gender in Sufism” for EJ. Brill’s Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Societies

“Early Sufi Women” (2000 words) for EJ. Brill’s Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Societies

“Abu Nasr al-Sarraj” for ABC-CLIO’s Encyclopedia of Holy People

Papers and Lectures

5/07: "'God Loves Me: Early Pious and Sufi Women and the Early Theological Debate over God’s Love," International Congress on Medieval Studies

4/5/07: "Taking God at His Word: Thinking Through Verse 4:34 and other Challenges," Carolina Center for Comparative Islamic Studies, Duke University

3/11/07: "Against the Divine Feminine," Princeton University

11/20/06: “‘In the Book We have left out nothing’ (Q 6:38): The Ethical Problem of the Existence of Verse 4:34 in the Qur'an,” The American Academy of Religion.

11/19/06: “The 'Offense Test' for Free Speech: The Danish Cartoon Situation in North American Islam” (abbreviated version), The American Academy of Religion

11/17/06: “The 'Offense Test' for Free Speech: The Danish Cartoon Situation in North American Islam,” The American Academy of Religion, Media and Religion Group pre-AAR session

10/15/06: “‘In the Book We have left out nothing’ (Q 6:38): The Ethical Problem of the Existence of Verse 4:34 in the Qur'an,” Muhyidin Ibn al-`Arabi Society

11/21/05: “Getting at the Data: Observations on the Social Affiliations, States, and Practices of Early Pious and Sufi Women gained through Statistical Research of Biographical Sources,” The American Academy of Religion

10/05: “A ’Difficult Verse’: 4:34 and the History of its Interpretation,” Mellon Grant presentation, Colgate University

1/15/05: “Early Sufi Women,” Union College

11/22/04: “The Presence of Theoretical Sufism in the Early Period,” The American Academy of Religion

10/12/04: “Terrorism and the Islamic Legal Tradition,” Union College

10/23/04: “Declaring Unity and Turning in Repentance: Theory and Practice in Early Sufism,” Society for the Study of Islamic Philosophy and Science at the Conference for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

4/25/03: “Secular Criticism and Self-definition: Qur’an, Orality, and a Critical Edition,” Society for the Anthropology for Religion

11/17/01: “The Teaching Relationship in Early Sufism: A Reassessment of Fritz Meier's Definition of the shaykh al-tarbiya and shaykh al-ta`lim”, The American Academy of Religion

2/14/01: “Religion and Race in the United States: Moorish Science and Moorish Orthodoxy,” Yale University

2/16/99: “The Nation of Islam: ‘A Counter Mythology’,” Yale University

Languages

Arabic (for scholarship), Moroccan Arabic (for shopping), Persian (for love poems), German (for very long technical words in very long sentences only), and Spanish (for Almodovar films)

Research Areas

Early Sufism, Sufi Qur'an Interpretation, Gender in Islam, and Indigenous American Islam

Fellowships and Grants

2007 UISFL Title VIA Travel Grant

2007 Skidmore College Ad Hoc Sabbatical Funds Grant

1996 ALIF Fellowship — The Center for the Study of Islamic Societies and Civilizations (CSISC) at Washington University in St. Louis in Fez, Morocco

Association Membership

The American Academy of Religion

Middle East Studies Association

Other Academic Activity

2004-Present, Steering Committee, Islamic Mysticism Group, American Academy of Religion

Contributing Editor, “Cyber-Orient: Online Journal of the Virtual Middle East,” Center for the Study of the Virtual Middle East, Hofstra University

2006 "The Danish Cartoon Fiasco" resource page

Non-academic Activity

Activism

12/31/06 Khutba for Eid al-Adha mixed gender prayer in Albany, NY

10/23/06 Khutba for Eid al-Fitr mixed gender prayer in Boston, MA

6/25/06 "Rabeya" in Michael Muhammad Knight's Wrestling Match against "CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper"

2005-present Content Editor and Content Author of website www.progressiveislam.org.

2004-present Author of essays on Progressive Muslim issues published in web magazines

2004-2005 Board Member of the Progressive Muslim Union, chair of 'The Woman-led Prayer Initiative'.

Non-Academic Print Publications

“Islamic Jurisprudence, ‘Civil Disobedience’, and Woman-led Prayer,” Sourcebook of American Islam, edited by Edward E. Curtis, forthcoming from Columbia University Press.

“Understanding Islam, War, and Terrorism,” The National Education Association’s “Patriot Pack” on September 11th for the 2001/2002 academic year