Professor in the Department of Religion
Benjamin Soares is a scholar of Islam and Muslim societies in Africa whose research focuses on religious life from the early 20th century to the present. In recent work, he has looked at connections between changing modalities of religious expression, different modes of belonging, and emergent social imaginaries in colonial and postcolonial West Africa. In addition to ongoing interests in religious encounters and religion and media, he is studying contemporary Muslim public intellectuals in Africa.
He is the Director for the UF Center for Global Islamic Studies. A former editor of Africa, the journal of the International African Institute (London), he co-edits the International African Library book series (Cambridge).