Daniel E. Watling
Religious Studies
Claremont McKenna College Kravis Center 283
888 N. Columbia Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
Claremont McKenna College – Religious Studies, Claremont, CA
Visiting Assistant Professor–Appointment in Islam July 2022—present
EDUCATION
University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Doctor of Philosophy: Committee on Social Thought, June 2021
Master of Arts: Committee on Social Thought, June 2021
Dissertation: “The Dearest Desire: Philosophy and Islam in The Book of Ibn Tūmart” Committee: DavidNirenberg (chair – Social Thought), James T. Robinson (Divinity), and Yousef Casewit (Divinity)
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Master of Arts in Religious Studies: Theology, Ethics & Culture, August 2014 Thesis: “In Defense of Orthodoxy: Lessing between Maimonides and Spinoza”
Bachelor of Arts in English: Modern Studies & Comparative Lit., May 2012
PUBLICATIONS
“Ḥayy’s Two Nativities: Ismā‘īlī ta’wīl and Ibn Ṭufayl’s Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān” The Journal ofIslamic Philosophy [accepted; to be published 2022]
Review of Andalus and Sefarad: On Philosophy and Its History in Islamic Spain, by Sarah Stroumsa, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 80, no. 1 (April 2021), 221-4.
PUBLICATIONS IN PROGRESS
“Neutralizing the Mahdī: Almohad Islam in Ibn Khaldūn’s Critique of Islamic Messianism”
“Becoming Substantial: the Ontological Structure of Happiness in al-Fārābī”
FELLOWSHIPS
Yale Law School: Research Fellowship, Abdallah S. Kamel Center for the Study of Islamic Law and Civilization, 2020-21
Universität Hamburg: Junior Fellowship (PhD) at Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies, 2020-21 [declined]
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
University of Chicago – Social Sciences Division, Chicago, IL
Teaching Fellow in Social Sciences & Instructor in Social Sciences Core Curriculum, September 2021—August 2022
Yale Law Abdallah S. Kamel Center, New Haven, CT
Research Fellow, August 2020—July 2021
Conduct and present personal research, participate in and help organize center events
U Chicago Committee on Social Thought, Chicago, IL
Research Assistant to Prof. David Nirenberg, Fall 2016—Spring 2019
Gather research materials for professor, translations from Arabic, proofread and comment 0n articles/book chapters prior to publication
U Chicago Humanities Core & Writing Center, Chicago, IL
Writing Intern and Instructor, Fall 2017—Spring 2019
Assist professors in 1st year humanities courses, instruct 1st year students in college writing
U Chicago Committee on Social Thought, Chicago, IL
Research and Course Assistant to Prof. Guy Stroumsa, Fall Quarter 2016
Collect materials relevant to professor’s research, manage course website and materials
UVA Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, Charlottesville, VA
Graduate Student Instructor, August 2012—May 2014
Accelerated Elementary Spanish: Instructor, assessment writer
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, GUEST LECTURES
American Academy of Religion, Annual Meeting 2022 (Denver, CO): “Recovering Almohad Islam: Apocalypticism and Takfīr,” Study of Islam Unit, 19-22 November, 2022.
University of Illinois Chicago: “The Fārābian Origins of Maimonides’ Approach to the Aims of Jewish Law,” Jewishand Islamic Philosophy Conference, 14-15 November 2022.
University of Chicago: Guest Lecture on Early Islamic Theology and Philosophy for “Islamic Thought and Literature I” (Instructor: Kyle Longworth), 2 November 2022.
Harvard University: “Ḥayy’s Two Nativities: Ismā‘īlī ta’wīl and Ibn Ṭufayl’s Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān,” Journal of IslamicPhilosophy Conference 2019
University of Chicago: “Ibn Rushd’s Doctrines of Creation,” Middle East History and Theory Conference 2017
University of Chicago: “Averroës and the Editor of the Almohad ‘Aqīda,” Islamic Studies Workshop Fall 2016
University of Chicago: “Under Plato’s Pillow: Nietzsche’s Aristophanes and the Defense of Tragic Art,” U ChicagoLiterature and Philosophy Workshop Conference 2015 – “Community, Reason, Tragedy”
University of Virginia: “Like the Nations: The Political Theology of Abraham Isaac Kook,” UVA Jewish StudiesGraduate Fellows Conference 2014 – “Boundaries”
LANGUAGES & RESEARCH INTERESTS
Languages:
Spanish (advanced; conversation and reading) Arabic (advanced: Classical and Judeo-Arabic; conversant in Moroccan Arabic), German (high intermediate; conversation and reading) Hebrew (reading) French (reading).
Research Interests:
Islamic Philosophy
Islamic Theology (kalām) and Law (sharī‘a; fiqh)
Islamic Sectarianism
History Medieval Iberia and North Africa
History of Philosophy (esp. Ancient and Medieval)
Qur’ānic Stuides
Philosophical Cosmology
Political Philosophy
Middle Eastern Christianity
Middle Eastern and North African Judaism
Translation (Arabic)
COURSES TAUGHT
Claremont McKenna College
“The Religion of Islam,” Fall Semester 2022 [2 sections]
“Islam in Motion.” Spring Semester 2022 [2 sections]
“The Qur’ān and Its Interpreters,” Spring Semester 2022
University of Chicago
Instructor – “Classics of Social and Political Thought” (sequences I, II, & III), Fall Quarter 2021 – I [2 sections], Spring Quarter 2022 –III [2 sections], Summer Session II 2022 – II, Summer Session III 2022 – III
Writing Instructor & Teaching Assistant – U of Chicago Humanities Core
“Readings in World Literature” (III) Spring Quarter 2019, Instructor: Sascha Ebeling
“Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities” (II), Winter Quarter 2019. Instructor: Jason Bridges
“Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities” (I), Fall Quarter 2018, Instructor: Daniel Brudney
“Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities” (III), Spring Quarter 2018, Instructor: David Finkelstein
“Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities” (II), Winter Quarter 2018, Instructor: Ben Callard
“Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities” (I), Fall Quarter 2017, Instructor: Mark Miller
Teaching Assistant – “Monotheism and Its Discontents,” Fall Quarter 2016, Instructor: Guy Stroumsa
University of Virginia
Instructor – “Accelerated Elementary Spanish,” Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014