University Professor and Professor of Religion & International Affairs and of Islamic Studies, Georgetown University
Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service
John L. Esposito, Ph.D., is University Professor and Professor of Religion & International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is Founding Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service. As a Gallup Senior Scientist, Esposito interprets data from predominantly Muslim countries from the Gallup World Poll. This groundbreaking research project continually collects people's opinions in more than 100 countries to determine the general well-being or "soul" of a country, city, or culture. He is also coauthoring the book Who Speaks for Islam? Listening to the Voices of a Billion Muslims with Dalia Mogahed and creating a course on the same topic with Mogahed and Richard Burkholder. This evidence-based approach to understanding the contemporary Muslim world is based on the Gallup Poll of the Muslim World, a study covering 90% of the world's Muslim population, making it the largest study of its kind.
A consultant to the Department of State as well as corporations, universities, and the media worldwide, Esposito specializes in Islam, political Islam, and the impact of Islamic movements from North Africa to Southeast Asia. He has served as President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, Vice Chair of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, and is currently a member of the World Economic Forum's Council of 100 Leaders, the High Level Group of the United National Alliance of Civilizations, and President of the Executive Scientific Committee for La Maison de la Mediterranee's 2005-2010 project, "The Mediterranean, Europe and Islam: Actors in Dialogue." Esposito is a recipient of the American Academy of Religion's 2005 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion and of Pakistan's Quaid-i-Azzam Award for Outstanding Contributions in Islamic Studies. In 2003, he received the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Esposito is editor in chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (4 vols.), The Oxford History of Islam, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, and The Islamic World: Past and Present (3 vols.). He has authored or coauthored more than 35 books, and his books and articles have been translated into more than 21 languages, including Arabic, Persian, Urdu, bahasa Indonesia, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese, and European languages. Esposito has been interviewed or quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New YorkTimes, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC Nightline, CBS, NBC, and the BBC and in newspapers, magazines, and the media in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Esposito currently resides in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Jeanette P. Esposito, Ph.D., a former senior corporate executive, who earned her degree in organization and development at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
