Laura Anne Thompson

Laura Anne Thompson is a cultural anthropologist specializing in the study of Islam in North Africa and of religion more broadly in the Mediterranean region. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology at Boston University. She was previously a research affiliate at the Centre for Democracy and Diversity at Queen's University (Ontario, Canada), a Raphael Morrison Dorman postdoctoral fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and a colloquium fellow at Boston University's Institute for Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. She is interested in the study of blasphemy and hate speech, as well as comedy and curses, and in how arguments about emotion can support claim-making. Laura previously taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Boston University and Miami University of Ohio. She received her PhD from Harvard University in 2022.