Gianfranco Bria

Gianfranco Bria is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow (MSCA) and Assistant Professor at Roma Tre University. He is also Adjunct Professor of Islamic Law at Sapienza University of Rome and Associate Member of the Centre d’études Turques, Ottomanes, Balkaniques et Centrasiatiques (CETOBaC) at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris. As a Marie Curie Global Fellow, he is currently conducting research as an associate researcher at Columbia University, New York University, and Bard College (United States).

His research focuses on Islamic authority, sainthood and charisma in the Balkans, Islamic/Sufi networks, and the history of Sufism in Southeastern Europe since the late Ottoman Empire. He also studies the contemporary transformations of Islamic practices, including their discourses, symbols, and forms of embodiment.

His MSCA project, Reshaping Sufi Path in Late Modern Southeastern Europe: The Teachings and Networks of the Melâmȋya-nûriya (ReSuSEE), provides an analytical and comparative study of the doctrines and networks of the Melâmȋya-nûriya, a Sufi path that emerged in Southeastern Europe during the late Ottoman period.