Michael Pittman, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Chair, Department of Humanities and Communication
Tel: (518) 694-7385
E-mail: michael.pittman@acphs.edu

Education

• Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Religious Studies, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Courses Taught at ACPHS

• > Religion and Film 
• > Middle Eastern Literature and Film
• > Islam and Sufism 
• > Introduction to Buddhism 
• > The Short Story
• > The Pre-modern World
• > The Modern World

Research Interests

• G.I. Gurdjieff and the Role of Orality in Spiritual Teaching and Practice; Sufi Poetry; Religious Themes in Medieval Literature; Classical Themes in Contemporary Sufism and Buddhism. Faith and Redemption in the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, Lars von Trier, and Wim Wenders; The Islamic Other in Iranian Cinema.

Selected Publications

Book

• "Classical Spirituality in Contemporary America: The Confluence and Contribution of G.I. Gurdjieff and Sufism", Continuum Publishing, London, May 2012.

Edited Book

• "G.I. Gurdjieff: Armenian Roots, Global Branches", Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, UK, 2008.

Chapters

• "G.I. Gurdjieff: Cosmopolitanism in the Late 19th/Early 20th Century Caucasus". In Creoles, Diasporas, Cosmopolitanisms: The Creolization of Nations, Cultural Languages, Global Languages and Literatures. David Gallagher, editor. Academica Press, Palo Alto, CA, 2012, pages 499-511.
  
  "Problematizing East-West Essentialisms: Discourse, Authorhood, and Identity Crisis in Orhan Pamuk's Beyaz Kale (The White Castle)". In Global Perspectives on Orhan Pamuk's Literature: Existentialism and Politics. Mehnaz Mona-Afridi and David Buyze, editors. Palgrave-Macmillan Press, New York, 2012, pages 63-74.
  
  "Introduction" in G.I. Gurdjieff: Armenian Roots, Global Branches. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, UK, 2008, pages vii-xv.
  
  "Laughter as Demolition and Reconstruction in Beelzebub's Tales" in G.I. Gurdjieff: Armenian Roots, Global Branches. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, UK, 2008, pages 13-32.
  
  "Preliminary Remarks on Soul-Making in Beelzebub's Tales" in G.I. Gurdjieff: Armenian Roots, Global Branches. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, UK, 2008, pages 44-56.
  
  "Gurdjieff's View of Education in Beelzebub's Tales" in G.I. Gurdjieff: Armenian Roots, Global Branches. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, UK, 2008, pages 68-76.
  
  "Soul-Making in Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson", Proceedings of the All and Everything International Humanities Conference. Seymour Ginsburg and Ian MacFarlane, editors. England, 2007, pages 79-96."
  
  Gurdjieffan Laughter: Demolition and Reconstruction", Proceedings of the All and Everything International Humanities Conference. Seymour Ginsburg and Ian MacFarlane, editors. England, 2006, pages 133-153.

Articles

• "Majid Majidi and Baran: Iranian Cinematic Poetics and the Spiritual Poverty of Rumi"in Journal of Religion and Film, vol. 15, no. 2, October 2011.