Munir Jiwa - IISRA Secretary

(IISRA Secretary)

Munir Jiwa is a scholar of anthropology and religious studies. His research interests include Islam and Muslims in the West, Islamophobia studies, media, art and aesthetics, religion in the public sphere, secularism, religious formation, and interreligious and theological education.

From July 2007 to March 2024, Dr. Jiwa was the Founding Director of the Center for Islamic Studies and Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Anthropology at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU).  He received the GTU Excellence in Teaching Award in 2015 and was the GTU Distinguished Faculty in 2019. From 2019-2021, he served as the Chair of the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Minorities at the American Academy of Religion. In 2022, he was a Visiting Scholar in Global Studies at Stanford University’s Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, where he has also served on the Public Education Advisory Board since 2008. Dr. Jiwa is currently a Lecturer in Ethnic Studies and a Visiting Scholar in Anthropology at UC Berkeley, where he also serves on the Religious Diversity Cluster at the Othering & Belonging Institute. 

He has extensive experience in working on dialogue and bridge-building programs, including at the UN-affiliated organization, Religions for Peace, assisting the Secretary General on establishing interreligious councils around the world. His work focused on youth programs in Bosnia, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, and Sierra Leone.

He is the recipient of foundation awards and grants from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council.

Dr. Jiwa holds a PhD and MPhil in Anthropology from Columbia University, an MTS from Harvard University Divinity School, a BA from SFU, and has held postdoctoral positions at MIT and at the University of Toronto.