John Thibdeau

John his a PhD candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His areas of emphasis are Modern Sufi (Islamic) movements in MENA, Law and ethics, and music/dance in ritual practice. He is currently conducting fieldwork in Fes, Morocco with the support of a Fulbright-Hays grant on Sufi-related social services.
John received a B.S. in Philosophy and Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder with specializations in Critical Social Theory and Cognitice Science. He has lived and taught throughout the MENA region including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and currently Morocco.

 

Contributions by John Thibdeau

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Muslim NGOs and Civil Society in Morocco

The Religious Studies Project inaugurates its series on “Religions and NGOS” with an investigation of Muslim NGOs in Indonesia and their contribution to the development of both a vibrant civil society as well as a successful democratic system.

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Sufism is a paradox?

While the tendency to think of Sufism as a kind of individualized or more private form of Islam is quite prevalent, the representation of Sufism as a form of 'peaceful Islam' or as a 'solution' to the 'problem' of radical Islam is equally pervasive. In his interview with the Religious Studies Project, Milad Milani gives a thoughtful overview of the tradition of Sufism, answering big questions such as: what is Sufism, how did it emerge historically (see Milani 2013),...

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