James Piscatori

James Piscatori (Grad ’73, ’76) is deputy director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University and was elected to The Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. Mr. Piscatori and 14 other academicians and scientists were honored during the society’s 40th induction ceremony on May 20 and again at the university’s commencement ceremony on May 21. The Society of Scholars was created on the recommendation of former president Milton S. Eisenhower and was the first of its kind in the nation to induct former postdoctoral fellows, postdoctoral degree recipients, house staff and junior or visiting faculty at Johns Hopkins who have gained marked distinction in their fields of physical, biological, medical, social, or engineering sciences or in the humanities. Mr. Piscatori is a leading interpreter of international political Islam of the fundamentalist variety. His work explores the transnationalism of Islam, moving attention away from its place within individual societies and highlighting the ties between Muslim history, sociology and politics. Originally working in Islam in international law, Mr. Piscatori developed interests in Islamic fundamentalism during his time as an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies from 1986 to 1989. Mr. Piscatori was a fellow in the Center for Islamic Studies at Oxford University before assuming his current position.