Dr. Mimi Hanaoka
-
Profile
Mimi Hanaoka is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Richmond and earned her doctorate in religion from Columbia University. Her research interests center on the formation and articulation of Muslim identity; Islamic historiography; intersections between the Middle East, West Asia (also called the Middle East), and East Asia; religion and ritual; religion and nationalism; immigration and identity; legal reform; and concepts of modernity in Islamic societies. Her teaching interests include religion and sports, death and dying, religion and law, religion and medicine, and various dimensions of Islam. Her research languages are English, Japanese, Arabic, and Persian.
Her third and current book project, Foreign Bodies: Death and Dying as a Muslim in Japan, 1850-2025, explores the religious, political, social, and legal treatment of how deceased foreign Muslims and Japanese Muslims have been buried in or repatriated from Japan between 1850 and 2025.
She is currently serving as special assistant to the provost and is an Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) Mellon Academic Leadership Fellow.
Hanaoka was awarded a Transregional Research Junior Scholar Fellowship in InterAsian Contexts and Connections from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) for 2015-2016.
Expand All-
Awards
Special Assistant to the Provost and Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) Mellon Academic Leadership Fellow, August 2025-August 2027.
-
Awards
-
Publications
Books
Authority and Identity in Medieval Islamic Historiography: Persian Histories from the Peripheries. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Professor Hanaoka's book is featured on the "New Books in Middle Eastern Studies" podcast series. Host Professor Aaron Hagler speaks with Professor Mimi Hanaoka about her book, Authority and Identity in Medieval Islamic Historiography: Persian Histories from the Periphery (Cambridge Universit
y Press, 2016). Journal Articles“Syed Ross Masood and a Japanese model for Education, Nationalism, and Modernity in Hyderabad.” History of Education Quarterly, Volume 62, Special Issue 4: Education in the Asia-Pacific Region (November 2022): 418 – 446. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/heq.2022.29
Professor Hanaoka's article is featured on the HEQ&A is a podcast produced by History of Education Quarterly, the official journal of the History of Education Society (USA).
“Local Histories from the Medieval Persianate World: Memory, Legitimacy, and the Early Islamic Past.” Mizan Vol. 3, Issue 1 (2018). (READ ARTICLE)
“Perspectives from the Peripheries: Strategies for ‘Centering’ Persian Histories from the ‘Peripheries.’" Journal of Persianate Studies Vol. 8, Issue 1 (2015): 1-22. doi: 10.1163/18747167-12341276.
“Visions of Muhammad in Bukhara and Tabaristan: Dreams and Their Uses in Persian Local Histories,” Iranian Studies 47:2 (March 2014): 289-303. doi: 10.1080/00210862.2013.860326.
Additional PublicationsEncyclopedia entries: “Karbalaʾ,” “ʿAlids,” “Rashidun,” “Mawla,” and “Ulamaʾ.” In The Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions, edited by Eric Orlin, Lisbeth Fried, Jennifer Knust, Michael Pregill, and Michael Satlow. New York: Routledge, 2015.
-
In the News
Emerging anti‑immigration sentiment in Japan obscures a surprising history of strategic engagement with Islam
Tue., Aug. 11, 2026Beyond Religion in the Middle East
Thu., Sep. 13, 2012Misadventures with the Mukhabarat
Mon., May. 20, 2013Wrestler, Statesman, Hostage Negotiator, Legend: The Life of Antonio Inoki
Tue., Jul. 22, 2014