Matthew Melvin-Koushki

Matthew Melvin-Koushki is an Associate Professor of Islamic History at the University of South Carolina, affiliated with the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences. He holds the Peter and Bonnie McCausland Fellow of History title. His research focuses on early modern Islamicate intellectual and imperial history, particularly the occult sciences in Timurid-Safavid Iran and the Persianate world. He is the founder of the university’s Magic and Occult Science graduate focus and teaches courses on Islamic civilization, science history, and occult studies.

Education: Ph.D., M.Phil., M.A. (Yale University); B.A. (University of Virginia, summa cum laude). Awards include the Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award and a translation prize for his work on Ibn ʿArabī’s occult philosophy.

Research interests include decolonial science history, Persian Pythagoreanism, and the 'Islamic Weird.' He leads initiatives like Societas Magica and the IOSOTR working group, advancing global scholarship on Islamic occultism. Major grants include a €9M ERC Synergy Grant for the MOSAIC project, exploring occult sciences across Islamicate cultures.

Notable publications include Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice (2021) and edited volumes on Islamic occultism. His work critiques Eurocentric historiography, emphasizing occult science’s role in early modern Islamic empires.