John Turner

The Dean of the Faculty facilitates the conditions for the faculty to do their best work by supporting them in their roles as teachers, scholars, and in their community-building activities. John Turner supervises academic departments and programs and oversees curricular development and the faculty appointment and review processes. Chairs of departments, directors of interdisciplinary programs, and Colby Labs are responsible to the Dean of Faculty. Turner joined the History Department in 2006 (Chair, 2014-15, 15-22) and was Associate Director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs (2010-14). He has also served in a variety of community-building and faculty governance roles ranging from the Committee on Promotion and Tenure to Faculty Marshal. A graduate of Furman University, he went on to earn his Masters and PhD in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. As part of his graduate training, in addition to the premodern era, he studied modern history with a focus on Syria and Iran, where he also studied Arabic (in Damascus) and Persian (in Tehran). He received the Bassett Teaching Award in 2015. As a scholar, his research focuses on the intersection of political and religious authority and the effects of legitimation building on the development and application of law and of power within Muslim societies, specifically for the 8th-10^th century Caliphs and the Caliphate. His book, Inquisition in Early Islam, examines these issues pertaining in the Mihna in the early 9^th century. He is currently working on a long durée history of power, authority, and legitimacy in the Middle East from the 6^th to the 16^th century.

Areas of Expertise

• Islam
• Premodern Islamic History
• Modern Middle East History
• Islamic law (development of Hanbali School)
• Iran