Travis Zadeh

Travis Zadeh is a Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at Yale University, and Chair of the Council on Middle East Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University, following an A.M. and B.A. from Middlebury College. His research bridges early Mediterranean/West Asian religions and Islamic studies, focusing on the interplay between science, magic, law, and religion. Key interests include encyclopedism, cosmography, Arabic/Persian intellectual cultures, and the history of the book.

Zadeh’s work examines how translation, geography, and textual interpretation shaped medieval Islamic empires. His landmark publications include Mapping Frontiers across Medieval Islam (2011), The Vernacular Qurʾan (2012), and Wonders and Rarities (2023). He has been awarded Fulbright grants, a Mellon Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

• Research Themes: Qur’anic Studies, Occult Sciences, Medieval Intellectual History, Sacred Geography, Translation Theories
• Recent Focus: Marvelous natural histories, pre-modern cosmographies, and the socio-political role of textual transmission

Zadeh’s scholarship emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, blending textual analysis with material culture studies. His current projects explore the codicological dimensions of medieval Arabic/Persian manuscripts and the digital humanities’ impact on Islamic studies.