Drawing from her new book Society of the Righteous: Transregional Muslim Networks and Ibadhi Moral Reform in East Africa (UNC Press, 2024), Dr. Kimberly Wortmann (Wake Forest University) will explore how Omani-Ibadi Muslims in Tanzania have navigated questions of religious belonging, moral reform, and heritage in the aftermath of empire. This talk traces the historical and contemporary connections linking East Africa and Oman through the movement of scholars, merchants, and religious institutions, showing how these networks have shaped both local forms of Islamic practice and broader discourses of identity and morality.

Kimberly T. Wortmann, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department for the Study of Religions and a Kulynych Family Faculty Fellow at Wake Forest University. She earned her Ph.D. in the Study of Religion from Harvard University in 2018, an M.T.S. in African Religions and Islamic Studies from Harvard Divinity School in 2011, and a B.A. in Religious Studies with a minor in Political Science from Macalester College in 2007.

Trained in Islamic and African Studies, Wortmann’s scholarship examines transregional networks of knowledge exchange, transmission, and production between East Africa and the Arabian Gulf. She has lived and studied in Uganda, Egypt, Yemen, Tanzania (including the islands of Zanzibar), and Oman.

Her research has been supported by the Humanities Institute, the William C. Archie Fund for Faculty Excellence, the Fulbright Program, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the Harvard Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship, among others. Her 2024 book, Society of the Righteous: Ibadhi Muslim Identity and Transnationalism in Tanzania (Indiana University Press), examines the moral, social, and political dimensions of Ibadi Muslim reform movements in East Africa. The book has been named a finalist for the African Studies Association’s (ASA) Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize for the best book in Eastern African Studies, to be announced in November 2025. Wortmann has also published several articles on Ibadi Islam in Tanzania and Oman. Her current project, Banking on Belief: Islamic Finance, Religion, and Governance in Uganda, explores the intersections of religion, economy, and statecraft in contemporary East Africa.

Wortmann joined the Wake Forest faculty in 2018 and is an active member of the African Studies and Middle East and South Asia Studies minors. She currently serves as co-chair of the Contemporary Islam Unit at the American Academy of Religion and has previously served on the steering committee of the Islam in Africa Group (IASG) at the ASA.

Cosponsored by the Middle East Studies Program.

This event is free and open to the public.

A vegetarian Middle Eastern lunch will be provided. 

Register here: https://mideast.wisc.edu/event/religion-heritage-and-identity-in-tanzanias-omani-ibadi-community/