Lauren E. Osborne is Associate Professor of Religion and South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. Lauren’s area of scholarship is Islamic Studies; specifically, she is interested in the recitation of the Qur’an and the interactions, overlaps, and even conflicts between sonic, affective, social, and textual meanings. She’s currently working on a monograph on that topic, as well as a textbook on Islam and sound. More broadly, she enjoys the diverse ways in which humans engage foundational texts, especially through the senses and emotions. When she’s not writing or teaching, Lauren can be found cooking or eating, making things with her hands, or hiking up and down the Blue Mountains or the Wallowas.