Assistant Professor
Department of Religion
Sakamaki A310
Tel: 956-4202
Email: jamesdf@hawaii.edu

B.A. 1992, Columbia University.
M.A. 1995, Columbia University
Ph.D. 2005, Columbia University

Prof. Frankel holds a Bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies and a doctorate in Religion from Columbia University. With his training in the study of religion and his specialization in Islam and Chinese Religions, his expertise is in the history of Islam in and other foreign religions in China. His field draws upon and informs his scholarly interests in the comparative history of ideas, and religious and cultural syncretism. As a member of the faculty of Religion at UH M?noa, Prof. Frankel teaches courses in Islamic Studies, comparative religion and mysticism.

Publications

• Rectifying God’s Name: Liu Zhi’s Chinese Translation of Islamic Ritual Law and Theology (Forthcoming from University of Hawai’i Press, 2010/2011.)
• “The ‘Problem’ of Muslim Diversity in China,” in Nadeau, Randall, ed. The Blackwell Companion to Chinese Religions. Oxford: Blackwell, 2010 (expected).
• “The Woman Who Unnerves China,” Ms. Magazine, Fall 2009, 26.
• “Benevolence for Obedience: Policies on Muslims in Late Imperial and Modern China,” ASIANetwork EXCHANGE: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts, 2009, Volume 16, Number 3.
• “‘Apoliticization’: One Facet of Chinese Islam,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2008, Volume 28, Number 3.
• “Uncontrived Concord: The Eclectic Sources and Syncretic Theories of Liu Zhi, a Chinese Muslim Scholar,”Journal of Islamic Studies, 2009 20: 46-54.
• “Questioning the Chinese Embargo,” in The Catalogue of Fine Arts and Antiques, Late Summer, 2005 issue.
• “Peaks and Valleys: Learning from Experience in China,” in Connoisseur’s Quarterly, Summer, 2001.