Caleb Iyer Elfenbein

I am fascinated by how people in different times and places think about human welfare. What does well-being mean? What sources do people use to answer this question? In the context of community, who gets to participate in discussions or debates about the values and goals guiding collective life?

Much of my work has explored these questions in the context of modern colonial and postcolonial Muslim communities. From Egypt to South Asia, I have investigated how the sources and participants in debates about community welfare have changed over time. More recently, my research has broadened to contemporary considerations of the common good in the United States.

I am an Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies at Grinnell College, where I also direct the Center for the Humanities. I graduated from Vassar College with a degree in political science, an education that still informs my work and my life. I have a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a PhD in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.