Paul Mitchell Love
School - School of Humanities and Social Sciences Employment Status - Full-Time Office - Mohammed VI Library, Office of the Library Director Office hours - By Appointment Office extension - 2171| Dr. Paul M. Love Jr. is an Associate Professor of North African, Middle Eastern, and Islamic History at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, where he also serves as Director of the Mohammed VI Library. He earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan in 2016. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Paul began his studies in radio and communications before switching to history and religious studies at Western Kentucky University's Honors College. His love of Arabic led him to travel or study in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen, culminating in PhD fieldwork across Tunisia, Algeria, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, and France. Paul specializes in Ibadi Muslim communities in North Africa, with interests in book history, manuscript studies, codicology, libraries, and intellectual networks. He has received grants from organizations like the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Gerda Henkel Stiftung, the British Library Endangered Archives Programme, and the UCLA Modern Endangered Archives Program. In addition to articles, he has authored two monographs on Ibadi history: Ibadi Muslims of North Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and The Ottoman Ibadis of Cairo (Cambridge, 2024). At AUI since 2016, he teaches courses including Introduction to Islamic Civilization, History of North Africa, Archives in International Contexts, and History of the Arab World. Paul has served on various committees, previously coordinated the MA program in North African and Middle Eastern Studies (NAMES), and organized events like “Ibadi Manuscripts and Manuscript Cultures” in 2019 and the AMICAL Consortium conference in 2023. He lives in Ifrane with his wife Sarra, daughters Sophia and Julia, and cat Hannibal. |