I am a historian of the modern Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and Muslim South Asia in a global register. At any one time you’ll find me thinking about, researching, or writing on state formation in Yemen, Islam and interwar internationalism, traditions of Islamic reformist thought, questions of East-East translation (in relation to the South Asian poet, Muhammad Iqbal), and Yemen’s socialist tradition. I am currently employed as an associate professor of history at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
If you want to know why a kid from the south end of Louisville, Kentucky ended up deeply engaged in the histories of empire, global intellectual exchange, and religious thought, look no further than the acceleration of American overseas militarism at the end of the Cold War in the form of the first Gulf War. The emergence of war as public spectacle and the growing consensus on the role of the U.S. at the head of a militarized liberal international order pushed me to pursue the study of the region and its history, first at Jefferson Community College and the University of Louisville, and then at Georgetown University and New York University.
Beyond my academic work you’ll most likely find me playing experimental rock guitar, watching classic Bollywood films from the 60s and 70s, cooking, or enjoying the company of my spouse and cats.
As a (much) younger researcher at al-Markaz al-Watani li-l-Tawthiq in Say’un, Hadramawt (Yemen), 2000.