Biography
Robert Rozehnal is a native of Colorado. He graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1991 with majors in History and Asian Studies. His final year at university was spent abroad, traveling in Asia. He never quite recovered from the experience. After teaching English in Japan, he fled from the madness of the 'real world' into the warm sanctity of graduate education. His M.A. in South Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison culminated in a year of language immersion in Pakistan. Rozehnal's interests in Indo-Muslim culture then led him to Duke University where he completed his doctorate in Islamic Studies and the History of Religions in 2003. He has traveled widely in the Muslim world, with extended periods of study and fieldwork research in Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Malaysia. In addition to the history and practice of Sufism in South Asia, his research interests include ritual studies, postcolonial theory, religious nationalism, cyberspace religion, and globalization. At Lehigh, Rozehnal teaches a variety of classes on Islam and comparative South Asian religions. He is also active in numerous interdisciplinary programs, including Global Studies, Asian Studies and South Mountain College. Beyond campus, Rozehnal has directed two Lehigh summer study abroad programs in India and Turkey that each focus on Islam.