Caitlyn Olson

Caitlyn Olson is a scholar of Islamic history in Northwest Africa between the 14th and 18th centuries. Her research focuses on the intellectual, social, and pedagogical histories of the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology. In her current book project, tentatively titled "Creed for the Common Folk: Ignorance and Orthodoxy in the Early Modern Maghrib," she tackles a common assertion in Religious Studies, namely, that creed and belief are peculiarly Christian preoccupations. Through close study of Arabic texts, many of which are still in handwritten manuscript form, she shows that Muslim scholars of the Far Maghrib (present-day Morocco) were deeply concerned with ensuring "right" belief among less educated members of their communities and used a variety of tactics to manage and discipline what they perceived as people's ignorance of creed. Her next project will focus on creedal education around the Islamic Sahel and West Africa during the pre-colonial period.

Prof. Olson arrived at Bucknell in Fall 2023. Before that, she was a Departmental Lecturer at the University of Oxford (2021-23) and a postdoctoral fellow at NYU Abu Dhabi (2020-21), having earned her PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University in 2020. She has conducted research in Arabic manuscript libraries across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Senegal, and other work and studies have taken her to further locales, including Spain, Jordan, and Tajikistan. At Bucknell, Prof. Olson is excited to teach a range of classes related to Muslim societies, past and present.

Educational Background:

• PhD, Harvard University
• BA, Middlebury College

Research Interests:

• Northwest Africa, 14th-18th centuries
• Islamic theology and creed
• Orthodoxy

Teaching Interests:

• Islam
• Islamophobia
• "Abrahamic" Religions

Selected Publications:

• "The Magian Position: Legal Consequences for Creedal Ignorance in the Far Maghrib, 8th/14th-11th/17th c.," Islamic Law and Society(forthcoming).
• "ما بعد السنوسي: آفاق جديدة في دراسة العقيدة الأشعرية في الغرب الإسلامي (After al-Sanūsī: New Horizons for the Study of Ashʿarī Creed in the Islamic West)," Philosmus(2022).
• "Beyond the Avicennian Turn: The Creeds of Muḥammad b. Yūsuf al-Sanūsī (d. 895/1490)," Studia Islamica115 (2020): 101-140.