Jaclyn Michael

Jaclyn Michael is a PhD student in the Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia, specializing on the religious traditions of North India. She obtained degrees in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University (BA) and in Islamic Studies from Boston University (MA). Her dissertation research will examine the idea of Muslim performance in public theatre and Shi’i devotional ritual in urban North India. The goal of the project is to identify the terms of how religious identities are constructed and critically addressed across different performative genres, and to interrogate the relationship between the private and public performance of Muslim social lives. The Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowship will support fieldwork in Delhi to work with theatrical troupes who are staging plays about Muslim histories and contemporary concerns, and to interview audiences who attend these performances.