Dr. Hajiani is a scholar of religion and history specializing in Iran and Central Asia. His research has focused on the history of the Nizari Ismaili polity in Iran (1090-1256) and the socio-religious and political developments in this Shiʿi community. He is currently working on an ethnographic study of the transmission of religious learning, constructions of authority and leadership among the Sunni and Ismaili communities in Tajikistan. Using oral histories, he is mapping religiosities during i) premodern traditional Islamicate contexts ii) Soviet era repression of religion; and iii) post-Soviet (re)turns to “inherited” traditions amongst Sunnis and Ismailis.