Kristen Miller is a religious studies PhD candidate at Arizona State University, from where she has a master’s degree. Her research focuses on contemporary religion in northern India using an interdisciplinary approach that combines historical and ethnographic methods. She has presented her research at national and international conferences, including the American Academy of Religion, on topics such as the continued influence of scolonial legacies on contemporary religious practices. Over the last four years, Kristen has been studying Hindi and Urdu. In 2025, she participated in the American Institute of Indian Studies Summer Urdu Language Program in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Before completing her graduate studies, she had managed several USAID-funded projects in Jordan, Sudan, and Djibouti to promote civil society and gender equality.
Kristen’s Fulbright-Nehru project is focusing on dargah visitation in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Dargahs are grave shrines of blessed Sufi saints. Renowned dargahs often attract millions of visitors annually, both Hindus and Muslims. Kristen’s research is studying how dargahs are productive spaces of meaning-making for visitors. She is particularly interested in urban dargahs as community spaces within rapidly developing Indian cities. Drawing on ethnographic methods, Kristen is conducting participant observation and interviews with dargah visitors to explore a diversity of modes of engagement with urban religious space.