Lyla Halsted

Lyla Halsted is an Assistant Professor in the Art Department at Davidson College. Her work bridges the study of Islamic visual culture with broader medieval Mediterranean and Near Eastern contexts, emphasizing cross-cultural exchange and the materiality of artifacts.

• Education: Ph.D. and M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and B.A. from Davidson College.

Halsted's research focuses on medieval Islamic material culture, particularly artifacts linked to healing and protection in magical and medical traditions. She examines objects from Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Arabia, challenging traditional Islamic art canons by highlighting esoteric, mass-produced items outside courtly contexts. Her teaching aims to foster intellectual curiosity and nuanced understandings of gender and religious identity through visual culture.

A native of Davidson College as an undergraduate, Halsted seeks to replicate her own transformative experience in studying Islamic art by guiding students through premodern artifacts and their cultural, social, and religious significance. She emphasizes embodied engagement with materials in historical practices.