JUSTIN K. STEARNS
Assistant Professor, Program of Arab Crossroads Studies, New York University – Abu Dhabi
jstearns@nyu.edu
Fields of Study: Islamic Civilization, Islamic Theology and Law, Science and Medicine in the
Muslim World, Early Modern Morocco, Medieval Iberia, Islamic Ethics
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor, Arab Crossroads Studies Program, NYU-Abu Dhabi
2010-present
Assistant Professor, Religion Department, Middlebury College
2007-2010
Visiting Instructor, Religion Department, Middlebury College
2005-2007
Head Instructor, Otago University, New Zealand: Summer Arabic Program
Jan – Feb 2005
Private Tutor, Princeton University: Modern Standard Arabic
Fall 2002
Teaching Assistant, Princeton University (Roots of the Bin Laden Phenomenon,
2000-2002
Introduction to the Qur’an)
EDUCATION
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, Princeton, NJ
Ph.D. Department of Near Eastern Studies
1999 – 2007
Dissertation:
Infectious Ideas: The Concept of Contagion in Medieval Muslim and Christian Thought
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, Hanover, NH
1994 – 1998
Bachelor of Arts in History, with High Honors: Thesis on the Shahnameh
Peter J. Reichard Memorial Award for Best Thesis in History
Bachelor of Arts in English, with High Honors: Thesis on Auden
Edwin R. Perkins Memorial Prize for Promise in English Literature
BOOKS
The Muhadarat of al-Yusi (d. 1691): Translation and Critical Edition. Library of Arabic
Literature (New York: NYU University Press, under contract).
Infectious Ideas: Contagion in Premodern Islamic and Christian Thought in the Western
Mediterranean (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 2011).
- Reviewed in American Historical Review, v. 117 (2012), 592-93.
- Reviewed in Al-Qantara: Revista de Estudios Árabes, v. 33 (2012), 243-46.
Justin K. Stearns
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES
“Writing the History of the Natural Sciences in the pre-modern Muslim world: Historiography,
Religion, and the Importance of the Early Modern Period,” History Compass, v. 9 (2011), 92351.
“The Frontier of Gottfried Liedl: Situating the origins of European modernity in Naṣrid
Granada,” Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, v. 3 (2011), 247-62.
“Representing and Remembering al-Andalus: Some Historical Considerations Regarding the End
of Time and the Making of Nostalgia,” Medieval Encounters, v. 15 (2009), 355-74.
“New Directions in the Study of Religious Responses to the Black Death,” History Compass, v.
7 (2009), 1-13.
“Contagion in Theology and Law: Ethical considerations in the writings of two 14th century
scholars of Nasrid Granada,” Islamic Law and Society, v. 14 (2007), 109-29.
“Two Passages in Ibn al-Khatib’s Account of the Kings of Christian Iberia,” Al-Qantara, v. 25
(2004), 157-82.
BOOK CHAPTERS
“The Legal Status of Science in the Muslim World in the Early Modern Period: an initial
consideration of fatwas from three Maghribi sources,” in Ahmed, Sadeghi, Bonner (eds.), The
Islamic Scholarly Tradition: Studies in Islamic History, Law, and Thought in Honor of Professor
Michael Allan Cook on His Seventieth Birthday (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 265-90.
“Enduring the Plague: Ethical behavior in the fatwas of an 8th/14th century mufti and theologian,”
in Muslim Medical Ethics: From Theory to Practice, eds. Jonathan Brockopp and Thomas Eich
(Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2008), 38-54.
ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLES
Entries for al-Hasan al-Yusi and Ibn al-Banna in Dictionary of African Biography, forthcoming
2011.
Entry on “Contagion” for the Encyclopedia of Islam, 3rd edition (2010), 180-82.
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Justin K. Stearns
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of Avner Ben-Zaken, Cross-Cultural Exchanges in the Eastern Mediterranean, 15601660, in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, v. 43 (2011), 760-63.
Review of Ahmad Dallal, Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History, in the Journal of the
American Oriental Society, v. 131 (2011), 45-48.
Review of Samer Akkach, Letters of A Sufi Scholar: The Correspondence of ‘Abd al-Ghani alNabulusi, in Review of Middle East Studies, v. 44 (2010), 62-63.
Review of R. Kevin Jaques, Authority, Conflict, and the Transmission of Diversity in Medieval
Islamic Law, in Review of Middle East Studies, v. 44 (2010), 94-97.
Joint review of Yasin Dutton, Original Islam: Malik and the Madhhab of Madina and Rüdiger
Lohlker, Islamisches Völkerrecht: Studien am Beispiel Granada in al-Qantara, v. 30 (2009),
664-70.
Review of Rüdiger Lohlker, Islamisches Völkerrecht: Studien am Beispiel Granada, in
International Journal of Middle East Studies, v. 41 (2009), 169-71.
Review of Los Almohades: Problemas y Perspectivas (eds. Cressier, Fierro, Molina) in
International Journal of Middle East Studies, v. 40 (2008), 491-93.
(with William C. Jordan) Review of Stuart Borsch, The Black Death in Egypt and England: A
Comparative Study in Speculum, v. 81 (2006), 1163-65.
MANUSCRIPT REVIEWS
Reviewed book manuscript for Cambridge University Press (2011)
Reviewed manuscript for Mediaevalia (2011)
Reviewed manuscript for Journal of the American Oriental Society (2010)
Reviewed book manuscript for University of Chicago Press (2010)
Reviewed manuscript for Law and History Review (2009)
CONSULTING
Department of Education, Peer Evaluator (2010)
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
Residency at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center
Fall 2010
NEH Summer Seminar (Re-Mapping the Renaissance: Exchange between Early Modern Islam
and Europe)
Summer 2010
Salzburg Seminar Presidential Fellowship (457: Islamic Law and International Law) Fall 2008
Fulbright-Hayes DDRA Recipient, Research in Spain and Morocco
2003 – 2004
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Justin K. Stearns
Graduate School Fellowship, Princeton University
Center for Arabic Study Abroad, American University in Cairo
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) in Near Eastern Studies
Fulbright, Institute of International Education (IIE) Fellowship, Morocco
2002 – 2005
2001 – 2002
1999 – 2001
1998 – 1999
PRESENTATIONS
“Revisiting the Smoking Debate in 17-18th century Morocco,” invited participation in a
workshop at Washington University, St. Louis, funded by the Mellon Foundation, entitled The
History of Science in the Post-Classical Period (Astronomy, Optics, Life Sciences, and
Mathematics), April 28-29, 2012.
“Constructing Science and Explaining Nature in the Work of al-Yusi (d. 1102-1691) : Revisiting
the Intellectual Vibrancy of the Early Modern Muslim Mediterranean.” Invited Presentation at
Sorbonne Abu Dhabi, February 8, 2012.
“Contagion, Religion, and the Historiography of the Black Death.” Presentation at Roundtable:
“Can Science answer historians’ questions? A post-genomics conversation on the Black Death.”
2011 Anglo-American Conference: Health in History. University of London, June 20, 2011.
“Spain, Morocco, and Islam before 1800.” Invited presentation as part of an Interdisciplinary
Colloquium at Brooklyn College “North Africa and the Wider World.” April 28, 2011.
“Islam, Science, and Early Modernity: The natural sciences in Morocco the thought of al-Hasan
al-Yusi (d. 1102/1691).” Invited presentation at the Arabic Studies Seminar, Columbia
University, February 24, 2011.
“Causing Trouble: Causality in Post-formative Ash'arism: Comparing al-Yusi (d. 1691) and alNabulusi (d. 1731).” Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, San Diego, 2010.
Participant in Thematic Discussion on “Plague and Contagion in the Islamic Mediterranean,”
Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, San Diego, 2010.
“Causality and Knowledge in the thought of al-Yusi (d. 1691): Situating the Natural Sciences in
Early Modern Morocco,” invited Faculty Lecture, Kevorkian Center, NYU, November, 2010.
“Science, Secondary Causation and Reason in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire and Morocco:
Al-Yusi and His Students,” Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, St. Louis, March
2010.
““There are no good doctors anymore”: Expert Knowledge in early modern Muslim legal
decisions,” Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chicago 2008.
“Representing and Remembering al-Andalus,” Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies
Association, Montreal, November 2007.
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Justin K. Stearns
“Representing and Remembering al-Andalus,” Al-Andalus: Cultural Diffusion and Hybridity in
Iberia, Conference at University of Wisconsin-Madison, October, 2007.
“Glimpses of Infection: Situating scholastic contagion between miasma and the evil eye in 15th
century Christian Spain,” Medieval Studies Seminar, Dartmouth College, May 2007.
“Contagion in North African and Andalusian Plague Treaties from the 14th to the 19th Centuries,”
Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, Boston, November 2006.
“Infectious Ideas: Contagion in Islamic Thought,” Faculty Lecture at Middlebury College,
October 2006.
“The Concept of Contagion in Muslim and Christian Thought,” Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Madrid, September 2004.
“The Production of a Castilian Muhammad: the biography of Mahomat in the Estoria de
España,” Postmodern/Premodern: Genealogies of Medieval and Early Modern Scholarship,
Conference at CUNY, 2001.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Classes taught at NYU-Abu Dhabi:
• Faith in Science, Reason in Revelation
• The Making of the Muslim Middle East 600-1800
• Paradise Lost: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in al-Andalus
Classes taught at Middlebury College:
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Introduction to the Islamic Tradition
Islam in America
Islam in the Modern World
Sufism: The Heritage and Practice of Islamic Mysticism
Shi’ism: The Party of ‘Ali
An Introduction to Islamic Law: Fatwas, Veils and Polygamy
The Orientalism Debates: Said and his Critics
Paradise Lost: Muslims, Jews and Christians in Medieval Iberia
The Qur’an: Reading and Interpreting Revelation
Islamic Law and Ethics: Issues of Life and Death
The Crusades: Muslims, Jews and Christians in Contact
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Justin K. Stearns
THESIS ADVISING (MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE)
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Christopher Harnisch, “Jihad of the Vote: The Struggle for an Islamic Democracy in
Egypt” (2006)
Joya Taft-Dick, “Sex and Islam: The Forgotten Discourse” (2006)
Drew Harrison, “The Legal Status of Non-Muslims under Muslim Rule” (2007)
Jessica Haber, “Visiting the Prophet Samuel Today: Muslim and Jewish Experiences”
(2008)
Jessica Polebaum, “Changing Visions of Ijtihad” (2008)
Bethany Stipe, “Purpose in Displacement: Sudanese Youth Engaging Christianity in
Cairo” (2008)
David Meschke, “Ritual and Religious Identity in Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam”
(2009)
Catherine Michalek, “Female, Muslim, AND French? The Quest for Identity in Modern
French Society” (2009)
Caitlyn Olson, “Making Sense of Incoherence: The Sixth Discussions of al-Ghazali’s
Tahafut al-falasifa and Ibn Rushd’s Tahafut al-tahafut” (2009)
David Dolginow, “Inspiration from the Natural World: An Inquiry into the Brethern of
Purity and Their Animal Fable” (2010)
Victoria Bommarito, “From the Fires of Extinction to the Waters of Life: Sufism,
Conformity, and Critique in the Poetry of Ghalib” (2010)
CAMPUS SERVICE (NYUAD)
Served on the Arts Committee, 2012 —
Served on the Sa’diyat Naming Committee, 2012.
CAMPUS SERVICE (MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE)
Served on the Programs Abroad Committee, Middlebury College, 2009-10.
Faculty Advisor to the Middlebury Islamic Society, 2005 – 2010.
Panelist: “Unveiling the Mystery of Hijab,” Roundtable organized by the Islamic Society,
Middlebury College, February, 2010.
Chair for Panel: “What it Means to be a Muslim,” Clifford Symposium 2007: Islam and Politics
in a Globalizing World, Middlebury College, October, 2007.
Presenter and participant in Roundtable: “Freedom of Speech, Provocation and Tolerance: The
Aftermath of the Caricatures of Muhammad,” Middlebury College, February 2006.
Presenter and participant in Roundtable: “Is Islamophobia really about Islam?” Middlebury
College, November 2005.
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Justin K. Stearns
COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS
“Islam and the Middle East: An Introduction.” Lecture to the Financial Woman’s Association,
NYUAD, Abu Dhabi. March, 2012.
“Islamic Sectarianism: Five Lectures.” Elderly Services, Middlebury VT. April-May, 2010.
“The Qur’an: Four Lectures.” Elderly Services, Middlebury VT. April-May, 2009.
“Living According to God’s Message in Islam.” Grand Hotel, Killington, VT. July, 2008.
“Chaos on the Earth: Religious Authority in the Muslim World Today.” Middlebury Town and
Gown. January, 2008.
“An Introduction to Islam: Four Lectures.” Elderly Services, Middlebury VT. NovemberDecember 2007.
“Muslims Today.” Vermont Commons High School, South Burlington, VT. November, 2007.
“Islam.” Salisbury Elementary School, Salisbury, VT. November, 2007.
ARABIC TRAINING
Center for Arabic Language and Eastern Studies (CALES), Sana’a, Yemen
American University in Cairo (CASA), Egypt
Yemen Language Institute (YLC), Sana’a, Yemen
Middlebury College Intensive Arabic Program
Arabic Language Institute in Fez (ALIF), Fez, Morocco
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Middle East Studies Association (MESA)
American Oriental Society (AOS)
American Academy of Religion (AAR)
American Historical Association History (AHA)
Commission on History of Science and Technology in Islamic Societies
LANGUAGES
Native:
Fluent:
Proficient:
Adequate:
English
German, Arabic, French, Spanish
Latin
Persian
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Summer 2003
2001 – 2002
Summer 2000
Summer 1999
1998 – 1999
Justin K. Stearns
REFERENCES:
Michael Cook, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
William Jordan, Department of History, Princeton University
Maribel Fierro, Escuela de Estudios Árabes, CSIC (Madrid)
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