Jocelyn Hendrickson, PhD, MA, BA

About

A dual Canadian-American citizen, I earned two BA's from the University of Washington (Seattle), one in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the other in International Studies: Comparative Religion (with a minor in Anthropology). I spent a full year during my undergraduate degree studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt, through the Arabic Language Institute at the American University in Cairo. After graduation, I returned to Cairo as a Center for Arabic Study Abroad fellow for another year of Arabic. An interest in religion and conflict took me to the University of Ulster for an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies.

I began to study Islamic Law during my doctoral program in Religion at Emory University. During the course of my graduate training and fieldwork, I spent one more semester in Cairo as a Center for Arabic Study Abroad II fellow, but my primary research site shifted to Morocco, where I spent two and a half years supported by fellowships from Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, and the Social Science Research Council. I have returned to the region regularly, including as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in 2017-2018.

From January to June 2024, I was a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan.

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Research

My research focuses on Islamic legal history in medieval and early modern North Africa (the Maghrib) and al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia) as well as colonial Mauritania.

My first monograph, Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa, was published in November 2021 by the Program in Islamic Law at Harvard Law School and distributed by Harvard University Press. Leaving Iberia is the winner of the Middle East Medievalists 2023 MEM Book Prize, the Canadian Law and Society Association's 2022 W. Wesley Pue Prize and the Canadian Association of Hispanists' 2022 Best Book Prize. Leaving Iberia was also the Honorable Mention for the American Society for Legal History's 2022 Peter Gonville Stein Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Canadian Historical Association's 2022 Wallace K. Ferguson Prize.

Leaving Iberia may be freely downloaded in pdf format from my Academia page.

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Teaching

I teach courses on Islamic history for the Religious Studies and History programs. I have also taught the core courses for Ancient & Medieval Studies, Religious Studies, and History.

In 2024, I was honored with a Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Teaching Award, in addition to the 2024 Philip Lawson teaching award from the Department of History, Classics, and Religion.

I am currently on research leave (sabbatical) for Fall term 2024.

HIST 272 - Religion in History

A study of a religious tradition(s), its teachings and rituals, along with its function in a specific historical setting, including its role in conditioning and reflecting a particular society and culture.

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HIST 403 - Topics in Medieval European History

Prerequisite: 3 units in HIST at the 300-level or consent of Department.

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HIST 614 - Topics in the History of Medieval and Early Modern Europe

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INT D 205 - Introduction to Ancient and Medieval Studies

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RELIG 222 - History of Islam

A study of the emergence and development of Islamic religious traditions in historical perspective. Prerequisite: One course in RELIG or consent of the instructor. Not open to students with credit in RELIG 220.

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RELIG 320 - The Qur'an

The history and contents of the Qur'an, including a critical comparison of the Qur'an and biblical literature. Prerequisite: One course in RELIG or consent of the instructor.

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RELIG 422 - Advanced Studies in Islam

Prerequisite: RELIG 220, RELIG 222, or 3 units in RELIG at the 300-level, or consent of instructor. May be repeated if course content varies.

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RELIG 520 - Specialized Studies in Islam

An in-depth study of the problems of Islamic Studies.

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Browse more courses taught by Jocelyn Hendrickson

Jocelyn Hendrickson

Al-ʿUṣūr al-Wusṭā: The Journal of Middle East Medievalists . 2023 October; 31

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Hendrickson, Jocelyn.

Program in Islamic Law and Harvard University Press. 2021 November;