Dr Abdulmamad Iloliev is the Director of the Aga Khan Humanities Project at the University of Central Asia’s Graduate School of Development.
Prior to joining the UCA he worked as а Senior Research Associate, translator and lecturer at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He had also held a number of research and teaching posts in Canada and the United Kingdom including research fellowships at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and the University of Sussex’s School of Global Studies.
He holds a PhD and an MPhil in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and a Diploma with distinction in History from the Dushanbe State Pedagogical Institute.
His primary research interests focus on the study of history, literature, folklore and mysticism of Central Asia. Dr Iloliev is the author of four monographs, seven translated book volumes and several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.
Publications
- ‘Ismaili Revival in Tajikistan: From Perestroika to the Present’, in Turkish Culture and Haci Bektashi Vali Research Quarterly 102: 2022 (43-60).
- ‘The Mirdom of Wakhan in the Nineteenth Century: Downfall and Partition’, Cultural Heritage and Humanities’ Research Paper 12. The University of Central Asia, Bishkek, 2021
- ‘Scribal Culture in nineteenth century Badakhshan: A Case study of Mubarak-i Wakhani’, Iranian Linguistics: Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, Readings in Memory of B. Lashkarbelov to the 70 Anniversary of his birthday. Moscow: Yaziki Narodov Mira, 2020: 336-342
- Panjtani Tradition: A Set of Traditional Beliefs and Practices of the Shiʿi Ismailis of Badakhshan’. Proceedings of the Fifth Annual International Conference on Shi’a Studies. The Islamic College, London, 2020: 45-61
- ‘The Concept of Wilayah in Mubarak-i Wakhani’s Chihil Dunya: A Traditional Ismaili–Sufi Perspective on the Origins of Divine Guidance’, in O. Mir-Kasimov (ed.) Intellectual Interactions in the Islamic World: The Ismaili Thread, Shiʿi Heritage Series and I.B. Tauris, 2019: 381-492.
- ‘The Silk Road Castles and Temples: Ancient Wakhan in Legends and History’, in D. Dagiev and C. Faucher (eds.), Identity, History and Trans-Nationality in Central Asia: The Mountain Communities of Pamir: London: Routledge, 2018: 92-105.
- ‘King of Men: Ali ibn Abi Talib in Pamiri Folktales’, in Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies 8 (3), 2015: 307–323
- ‘Pirship in Badakhshan: The Role and Significance of the Institute of the Religious Masters (Pirs) in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Wakhan and Shughnan’, in Journal of Shi‘a Islamic Studies 6 (2), 2013:155–176.
- ‘Popular Culture and Religious Metaphor: Saints and Shrines in the Wakhan Region of Tajikistan’, in Central Asian Survey 27 (1), 2008: 59–73.
- A Tajik Edition of Mubārak-i Wakhānī’s Ḥājāt va Munājāt
- The Mirdom of Wakhan in the Nineteenth Century: Downfall and Partition