William Elison

William Elison is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). His work focuses on South Asian religions, urban ethnography, and visual culture, particularly in Mumbai. He holds affiliations with UCSB’s Departments of History and Film & Media Studies.

Elison earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His research explores how marginalized communities in Mumbai use religious imagery to claim urban space, as detailed in his book *The Neighborhood of Gods* (2018). He co-authored *"Amar Akbar Anthony": Bollywood, Brotherhood, and the Nation* (2015), analyzing the iconic Bollywood film.

His current projects include a narrative history of Mumbai for Cambridge University Press and ethnographic fieldwork on religious life in Mumbai’s shifting neighborhoods as a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar. He has received grants such as the Emmons Faculty Fellowship (2020–21) and Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar Award (2022–24).

Elison’s research intersects ethnography, film, and literature, with articles on topics like Adivasi religions, Mumbai’s sacred spaces, and Hindu iconography in American pulp fiction. His writing blends academic rigor with literary flair, as seen in his piece for *The Believer*.