Born in 1973, Alexandre Papas is a historian of Islam and Central Asia. His work deals mainly with Sufi mysticism, saint veneration and politico-religious issues in Central Asia and the neighboring areas (China, Tibet, and Northern India) from the 16th century to present. He has been a research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique since October 2007 and senior research fellow since October 2017. He has been a visiting assistant professor at the Kyoto University (summer 2007), the Ohio State University (winter and spring 2008) and the American University of Paris (spring 2009). In 2012, he has been awarded the CNRS Bronze Medal for Modern History.

He graduated in philosophy at the Sorbonne University, and holds diplomas in Persian, Turkish and Mongolian from the Institute of Oriental Languages & Civilizations, and a PhD in history from the EHESS in 2004. In 2006, he received the award of Best PhD Dissertation from the Institute for the Study of Islam and Societies of the Muslim World.

He is co-editor of the “Handbook of Sufi Studies” series and executive editor of the Journal of Sufi Studies.

For more details on his research and publications, please visit his profile page at the Centre d’études turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et centrasiatiques.