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Terje Ostebo

Department of Religion
2016-2017 Library Enhancement Grant

Dr. Terje Ostebo, Associate Professor in Religion, received a Library Enhancement Grant to improve the George A. Smathers Libraries holdings on the topic of global Islam. The Center for Global Islamic Studies (CGIS), an academic unit in CLAS created in 2014, creates a space for the multidisciplinary academic study of the impact and influence of Islam in areas beyond the Middle East including Africa, America, and Europe. Through affiliated faculty in several departments, CGIS offers an interdisciplinary graduate certificate and is planning to establish a Ph.D. track in Global Islam housed in the Department of Religion.

CGIS’ aspirations to grow its geographic, thematic, and disciplinary scope will require more research materials. Although the libraries holdings are already good, they must continue to keep up with growing interest in the academic study of Islam at the University of Florida. These new acquisitions will enhance CGIS’ current research foci including Islam and the Environment, Islam and World Politics, and Islam in Africa; they will also add texts on Islam in Southeast Asia and new audio-visual material will benefit research and teaching on Islamic popular culture.

In sum, new print and audio-visual materials related to global Islam will benefit faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates across the University of Florida and will expand the abilities of academic communities at the University of Florida to do research in these broad subject areas.