Meena Sharify-Funk

I specialize in Islamic Studies with a focus on contemporary Muslim thought and identity. I am particularly interested in modern Muslim engagement with classical debates in Islamic intellectual history as well as with recent developments in western thought and culture. My research interests include debates about the status of women in the Muslim world, transnational networking among Muslim activists, the construction of contemporary North American Muslim identities, and Islamic mysticism’s impact on Muslim social values.

I also have written and presented a number of articles and papers on the politics of Islamic hermeneutics, Islamic conceptions of peace and conflict resolution, and the role of cultural and religious factors in peacemaking. Additionally, in 2014, I became a series editor for Theology and Philosophy Series at Pickering & Chatto Publishers.

• Merit Award Wilfrid Laurier University (2010).
• Nominated in TVO’s 2009 and 2010 Ontario’s Best Lecturer Competition.
• Contemplative Practice Fellowship, Fetzer Institute (2009-10).
• Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion Summer Research Fellowship (2009).
• Laurier Student Union Golden Hawk Teacher of the Year (2007-2008).

I teach the capstone research seminar for religion and culture undergraduate majors. I serve as a graduate supervisor for MA and PhD students who are researching issues of contemporary Islamic thought and identity. I also have offered research assistantships for undergraduate and graduate students interested in contemporary Islam, Muslim women and Sufism.

• Sharify-Funk, Meena. “The Management of Intramural Dissent on Core Beliefs in Islam.” Dissent on Core Religious Beliefs: Religious and Secular Perspectives. (Ethikon Book Series, Cambridge University Press. In press.)
• Sharify-Funk, Meena. “Pervasive Anxiety about Islam: A Critical Reading of Contemporary ‘Clash’ Literature.” Religions. (2013)
• Sharify-Funk, Meena. “Governing the Face Veil: Québec’s Bill 94 and the Transnational Politics of Women’s Identity.” International Journal of Canadian Studies. (2011)
• Sharify-Funk, Meena. “Muslims and the Politics of ‘Reasonable Accommodation’: Analyzing the Bouchard-Taylor Report and Its Impact on Québec.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. (2010)
• Sharify-Funk, Meena. Encountering the Transnational: Women, Islam, and the Politics of Interpretation. (2008) 
• Sharify-Funk, Meena. Abdul Aziz Said and Mohammed Abu-Nimer. Contemporary Islam: Dynamic, not Static. (2006)
• Sharify-Funk, Meena and Abdul Aziz Said. Cultural Diversity and Islam. (2003)