- Student, Anthropology
Research Interests
- Development, Islamic education, religious economies, sustainability, Indian Ocean networks, East Africa & the Arabian Peninsula
Contact
Subfield: Cultural Anthropology
Advisor: Mandana Limbert
Caitlyn Bolton is a cultural anthropologist working on transnational currents of Islamic reform, development, and knowledge production in the Western Indian Ocean. Based on twenty months of ethnographic and archival fieldwork in Zanzibar and the Gulf, her research examines transnational Islamic organizations working in development and education in Zanzibar, and the role of religion and religious knowledge in their approaches to progress and social change. She speaks Swahili and Arabic, has a BA in Anthropology and Africana Studies from Bard College, and a MA in Near Eastern Studies from New York University. Her research has been supported by the Wenner Gren Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Fulbright-Hays, and the American Council of Learned Societies.