Bio

Noor Amr is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Stanford University. She is currently writing her dissertation on the “church asylum” (Kirchenasyl) movement in Germany, paying attention to the relationship between sanctuary, religious difference, borders/migration, sovereignty, and political belonging. Her ethnographic research among churches and monasteries across Germany explores how Kirchenasyl—sanctuary from the state—becomes a means through which rejected asylum-seekers gain legibility as subjects worthy of legal recognition. Her broader theoretical interests include theories in political theology, religion/secularism, sanctuary and hospitality, histories of confinement, and the coloniality of asylum.

Prior to her doctoral work, Noor received a B.A. in Politics from Willamette University and an M.T.S. in Philosophy of Religion from Harvard Divinity School, where she was a Dean’s Fellow.

Honors & Awards

  • Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, National Science Foundation (2023)
  • Ric Weiland Graduate Fellowship in the Humanities & Sciences, Stanford University (2022-2024)
  • Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, Wenner-Gren Foundation (2022)
  • One-Year Research Grant for Doctoral Candidates, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) (2022)
  • Fritz Thyssen Pre-Dissertation Fellowship, German Historical Institute (2020)
  • Frank O. Hamilton Graduate Fellowship in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University (2019-2022)
  • James Souverine Gallo ’27 Memorial Fund Fellowship, Harvard University (2018-2019)
  • Dean's Fellowship, Harvard University (2017-2019)

Professional Affiliations and Activities

  • Fellow, Penn-Birmingham Transatlantic Fellowship Program (2023 - Present)
  • Visiting Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany (2022 - Present)
  • Co-Coordinator, Concerning Violence: A Collaborative Research Group, Stanford Humanities Center Research Workshop (2020 - 2022)

Education & Certifications

  • Ph.D. Candidate (ABD), Stanford University, Sociocultural Anthropology (2021)
  • M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School, Philosophy of Religion (2019)
  • B.A., Willamette University, Politics, Minor: Philosophy (2015)

Contact

  • Academic
    namr@stanford.edu
    University - Student Department: Anthropology Position: Graduate

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 2034