Mimi Hanaoka (B.A. Swarthmore College, 2002; M.A. Columbia University, 2004; M.Phil Columbia University 2009) is a PhD candidate researching Islam and Islamic history in the Department of Religion.  Mimi's area of interest lies at the juncture of historiography and religious discourse.  Her work centers around the medieval period with a focus on the issues of historiography, the development of social and religious institutions, conversion, and the relationship between orthodoxy and sectarian divisions.  Her dissertation, "Umma and identity in early Islamic Iran," examines presentations of Companions and Successors to the Companions of the Prophet (sahaba and tabi'un) in pre-Mongol Iranian urban histories.  Mimi speaks and reads English, Arabic, Japanese, French, and Persian.