James Hoesterey

James Hoesterey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Emory University, holding the Winship Distinguished Research Professor of Religion title from 2019 to 2022. His research focuses on Islam, media, politics, and religious diplomacy in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia. He holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, alongside MA and BA degrees from the University of South Carolina and Marquette University.

His notable work includes the book Rebranding Islam: Piety, Prosperity, and a Self-help Guru (2015), which examines the rise and rebranding of Indonesian televangelist Aa Gym. This work earned him the Runner-Up Clifford Geertz Book Prize in 2016. Currently, he leads a Henry Luce Foundation-funded project on religious diplomacy and the construction of 'moderate Islam' in Egypt, Morocco, and Indonesia.

Hoesterey’s research interests span soft power, religious authority, pilgrimage rituals, and the intersection of religion and state. He has held prestigious fellowships, including the Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University and the ACLS New Faculty Fellowship at the University of Michigan. He has also contributed to documentaries on Indonesian and Ethiopian topics broadcast globally.

His academic service includes roles as Chair of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Studies Committee at the Association for Asian Studies, Secretary at the American Institute for Indonesian Studies, and board member for the Commission for Visual Anthropology. His recent publications explore topics like religious satire in Indonesia, global Islamic indigenization, and the role of humor in religious discourse.