John Richard Bowen

John Richard Bowen, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Sociocultural Anthropology and Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. In 1973, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, Stanford, California. He then went to the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, where in 1977 he received his Master of Arts degree and in 1984 his Ph.D. His Ph.D. theses was titled The History and Structure of Gayo Society: Variation and Change in the Highlands of Aceh.

Professor Bowen’s research explores broad social transformations now taking place in Muslim communities worldwide. He conducts ethnographic study in Indonesia, France, Britain, and the Netherlands, and works with students and colleagues with field sites across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. In particular, he analyzes how Muslims (judges and scholars, public figures, and citizens) work across plural sources of norms and values, including diverse interpretations of the Islamic tradition, law codes and decisions, and local social norms. He draws on this research to critique public discourse about Muslims and Islam.

He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; the London School of Economics, London, England; and the Institut d'Études Politiques and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France. He has published numerous articles and chapters, in addition to authoring or co-authoring numerous books, including Women and Property Rights in Indonesian Islamic Legal Contexts, Religions in Practice: An Approach to the Anthropology of Religion, and Islam, Law, and Equality in Indonesia: An Anthropology of Public Reasoning.

Source: Washington University