Religion and Society Research Centre

Biography

Milad Milani is an historical sociologist and Adjunct Fellow at the Religion and Society Research Centre at University of Western Sydney. Milad is currently researching Sufi orders in Sydney with an emphasis on the sociology of Sufism in the Australian and the western context. He is on the Editorial board of the Religion, Politics and Society Series (ISPCK) and received a PhD from the Department of Religious Studies at The University of Sydney titled “Secret History of Persian Sufism” (currently in press with Acumen). Milad is interested in the historical sociological study of religion with an emphasis on the politics of religion, social injustice and conflict resolution.

Milad currently lectures and tutors at The University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney. At UWS, he teaches subjects including Theoretical and Applied Sociology. Milad has been invited to lecture on Sufism, Islam, and the Persianate world by various government and non-government institutions within Australia and the United Kingdom. He has also conducted short courses on religion at WEA Sydney, a non-profit community-based adult education organisation (a partner of The University of Sydney). Milad works closely with a variety of Australian and Sufi communities, and is a committee member of the Khaniqahi Nimatullahi Organization.

Qualifications

BA (Hons, First Class), PhD (University of Sydney)

Areas of Research

Contemporary Sufism, Islam and the west, Social and Political Theory, Iran and the Persianate world History and Politics, Historical Sociology, Religion as Identity and Cultural Production, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion.

Publications

Books
 
Milani, Milad, (in press, forthcoming June 2013) Sufism in the Secret History of Persia (Gnostica series), Acumen: London.

Refereed Academic Journal Articles

Milani, Milad, (forthcoming 2013), “Umar Khayyam: A Paradigm of the Secular and Religious”, Threskeiologia/Studies in Religion - Sacred/Profane 8/9: 50-78.

Milani, Milad, (2012), “Representations of Jesus in Islamic Mysticism: Defining the ‘Sufi Jesus’”, Literature & Aesthetics, 21(2), pp. 45-65. 2012

Refereed Book Chapters and Proceedings

Milani, Milad, (forthcoming 2013), “Sufism and the Challenge of Modernity: A Case Study of the Persian Nimatullahi Sufis in the West” in Sufism and Social Cohesion Gholam Dastagir (ed.) and Forward by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Continuum.

Milani, Milad, (2013), “Sufism and the Subtle Body”, in Between Mind and Body: Subtle Body Practices in Asia and the West, Geoffrey Samuel and Jay Johnston (eds), Taylor and Francis: Oxon (2013).

Milani, Milad, (2012), “The Cultural Repository of Persian Sufism: Medieval Chivalry and Mysticism in Iran”, in Intercultural Exchange in the Early Medieval Mediterranean, Stephanie Hathaway and David Kim (eds.), London: Continuum. 2012, 63-84.

Milani, Milad, (2012), “The Cultural Products of Global Sufism”, in Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production, Carole M. Cusack & A. Norman (eds.), Leiden: Brill, 659-681.

Milani, Milad, (2006), “Mystical Experience and its Critique of Pure Reason in the Spiritual Epistemology of Suhrawardi and Rumi”,  in Through a Glass Darkly: reflections on the sacred, F. Di Lauro (ed), Sydney, Sydney University Press, 230-248.

Milani, Milad, (2005), “Cyclical history, gnosis, and memory: a study in the role and significance of Mystical Poetry as a medium of Popular Culture for Persian Sufism”, in The Buddha of Suburbia: Proceedings of the VIIIth International Conference for Religion, Literature and the Arts 2004 (eds.) C. Cusack, F. Di Lauro & C. Hartney (eds.), Sydney, RLA Press, 223-243.

Academic Conference Papers Presented

“The Question of Multiple Modernities in Islam: Examining Methodology and Approach to Islamic Studies” for The 2012 Australian Association for the Study of Religion Conference: Multiple Religious Modernities. Hosted by the University of Western Sydney, the Religion and Society Research Centre, Parramatta Campus, 28-30 September 2012.

“Ideology and Ecology in Islam: The Human and the Animal in Islam” for Animal Death Symposium. Hosted by Jay Johnston and Fiona Probyn-Rapsey The University of Sydney, 12-13 June 2012.

with Adam Possamai, “Comparing and contrasting the ‘neo-Sufi’ aspects of two traditional Sufi orders in Australia: the Nimatullahiya and Naqshmbandiya”, in Sufism for a New Age: Twenty-first Century Neo-Sufism, Cosmopolitan Piety and Traditionalist Responses. Hosted by the Religion and Society Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, Bankstown Campus, 29-30 September 2011.

“The Scent of Light: Re-Reading the Relationship between Shams and Rumi”. Paper presented at International Sufi Symposium: Moulana Rumi and the Perfume of Divine Love, 9 December 2007. Hosted by the Australian Centre for Sufism and Irfanic Studies, Sydney.

“Islam in Persia: The Sufis on divine love”, in lecture series: Ages of Islam. Paper presented at the Art Gallery of NSW, The Arts of Islam: Treasures of the Nasser D Khalili Collection, 23 June–23 September 2007. Hosted by Dr Christopher Hartney (University of Sydney).  Lecture recorded and archived by the Gallery.

“Mystical Experience and its Critique of Pure Reason in the Spiritual Epistemology of Suhrawardi and Rumi”. Paper presented at the 29th Annual Conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion: Ways and Means: Re-inventing Studies in Religion for the Third Millennium, Sydney 30 September 2005, The University of Sydney.

“Cyclical history, gnosis, and memory: a study in the role and significance of Mystical Poetry as a medium of Popular Culture for Persian Sufism”. Paper presented at the Eighth International Conference of the Society for the Study of Religion and Literature and the Arts, 1-3 October 2004: Buddha of Suburbia: Arts, Religion, and Popular Culture, The University of Sydney.

Professional Affiliations

The Australian Sociological Association

Contact Details

Email: m.milani@uws.edu.au