- Department
- Department of Religion
- Email Address
- duganmax377@trinity.edu
Max is a scholar of Islam who specializes in Islamic material and visual culture, modern Islam, and material religion. He is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Islam in the Department of Religion at Trinity University. His research examines the material practice of Islamic traditions among diverse Muslim communities. Currently, he is developing a book project, Urban Halal Consumption: The Materiality of Islam and Power in a Gentrifying Philadelphia, that analyzes how halal consumption transmits Islamic traditions and, in that process, structures Muslim relations across difference.
Additionally, Max collaborates on several ongoing research projects, including a project (with Jamal J. Elias) on the configuration of Islamic arts by prominent artists or a biennial affect theory workshop (co-coordinated with Heather Jaber) on critical approaches to affect theory. Max has previously published peer-reviewed articles and chapters about how Muslim women negotiate Islamic traditions through tattooing, popular Islamic wall art producers stratify the Islamic wall art market, and a South Asian diasporic Muslim community navigates intergenerational tensions through the construction of a basketball court. His research has been supported by the Templeton Religion Trust, the Mellon Foundation, and the Center for Religion and Cities.
Education
- University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D.
- Kenyon College, B.A.
Selected Publications
- “Centering Islamic Tattooing: Embodying Healing, Materializing Relationships, and Mediating Islamic Tradition.” In Across the Worlds of Islam: Muslim Identities, Beliefs, and Practices from Asia to America, edited by Edward E. Curtis IV, 67-98. New York: Columbia University Press, 2023.
- “Structuring Sports, Structuring Community: The Islamic Society of Chester County Debates a Basketball Court.” In Religion and Sports in North America: Critical Essays for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Randall Balmer and Jeffery Scholes, 81-102. New York: Routledge, 2022. Co-authored with Megan Eaton Robb.
- “Ayat Al Kursi Round.” Material and Visual Cultures of Religion Journal 6, no. 2 (2022).
Subjects Taught
- Introducing Islam
- The Qur'an
- Islam in North America