CONTACT

Near Eastern Studies
4111 Thayer Bldg.
202 S. Thayer St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
trgangoo [at] umich.edu

PRIMARY AREA OF RESEARCH

Media and Digital Ethnography

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

“Knowing the Divine in the Digital Age: 'Sharing' and 'Liking' the Spiritual Realities of the Naqshbandiyya-Nazimiyya Sufis.” Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, November 30, 2017.

“Healing the Body, Repairing the Soul: Disease and Health in Naqshbandiyya-Nazimiyya Sufi Thought and Practice.” Presented at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting. Boston, November 19, 2017.

“Introduction to Islamic Mysticism.” Presented as an Invited panelist for a panel discussion “Islam Around the World” for K-12 educators in Michigan. Part of the “Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity & Understanding Islam Workshop” sponsored by the University Musical Society (UMS). University of Michigan Museum of Art, February 22, 2017.

“On Knowing and Not Knowing: The Epistemology and Meta-Epistemology of Shaykh Nazim Adil and Shaykh Hisham Kabbani.” Presented at the Symposium, “Knowing Islam: An Interdisciplinary Seminar on Muslim Epistemology.” Univ. of Michigan, August 31-September 2, 2015.

“Poetry, Divine Speech, and the Prophet Muḥammad: An Analysis of Classical and Modern Commentaries on the Qurʾānic Chapter ‘The Poets’ (al-Shuʿarāʾ, XXVI).” Presented at the Colloquium, “Prophetic Poetics: Mawlid Texts and Muslim Piety in Interdisciplinary Perspective.” Univ. of Michigan, January 5, 2015.

“Sufis as Agents of Islamization in Pre-Modern Kashmir: Theories, Debates, and Paradigms.” Presented at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting. Baltimore, November 23-26, 2013.

“The Making of ‘Īrān-i Ṣaghīr’: Persianization in the Kashmir Valley in the 14th-15th Centuries.” Presented at the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Annual Meeting. New Orleans, October 10-13, 2013.

“Hindus, Buddhists, and ‘Deviant’ Muslims in the Realm of the Independent Sultans of Kashmir.” Presented at the “Reconsidering the Non-Muslim Other: Internal and External Religious Differentiation Prior to 1800.” (The first workshop of the series, “Being Muslim: How Local Islam Overturns Narratives of Exceptionalism.”) Vanderbilt University, September 26-28, 2013.

“Sufi Influence on Religious Patronage and Policy-Making in Kashmir, 1320-1470.” Presented at the 28th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference. University of Chicago, May 3-5, 2013.

LANGUAGES

Arabic, French, German, Kashmiri, Persian, Sanskrit, Urdu

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

American Anthropological Association; American Academy of Religion; Middle East Studies Association

EDUCATION

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor | PhD Candidate, Dept. of Near Eastern Studies

Washington University in St. Louis | MA in Islamic + Near Eastern Studies

Furman University, Greenville, SC | BA in Religion, Political Science