22 May 2025
10:00–11:30
This presentation explores the transformative role of digital pedagogy in the study of Sufism by redesigning a 300-level undergraduate course at the American University of Sharjah. The course integrates interactive digital tools to reimagine how students engage with Sufism’s rich intellectual and spiritual traditions. Through assignments like multimedia storytelling, virtual museum exhibits, and digital ethnography, students will examine both classical Sufi figures and contemporary Sufi communities operating in digital spaces.
The course redesign aligns with my ongoing research project, Digital Dervishes: The Role of Social Media in Contemporary Sufi Brotherhoods, which investigates how modern Sufi orders utilize social media platforms to assert spiritual authority, cultivate transnational networks, and adapt traditional practices to digital cultures. Using methods like virtual ethnography and content analysis, the study sheds light on how digital Sufism reshapes notions of presence, performance, and authenticity in spiritual practice.
Together, the course and my research project create a mutually reinforcing model of digital pedagogy and scholarship, encouraging students to explore Sufism as both a historical tradition and a living, evolving phenomenon in the digital age.