Juan Cole
Juan Cole | |
|---|---|
Cole at the University of Minnesota in 2007. | |
| Born | John Ricardo Irfan Cole October 23, 1952 Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Spouse |
Shahin Malik (m. 1982) |
| Children | 1 |
John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole (born October 23, 1952) is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. He is Richard P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan.
Cole was one of the first American scholars to produce specialized works on the thought and history of the Twelver Shi'ite branch of Islam. His Sacred Space and Holy War (IB Tauris, 2002), was widely read as a primer on Shi'ism by Americans after the US invasion of Iraq. He wrote about Iraqi Shiism during and after the US occupation.
He has also contributed to theorizing Middle East revolutions, including the 1882 `Urabi revolt in Egypt, the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, and the 2011-2013 Arab Spring. In recent years he has contributed to Quranic studies and the study of the origins of Islam, medieval Persian literature, and "Islamic Peace Studies". Since 2002, he has written a weblog, Informed Comment (juancole.com).