Wolf Book 2025
Wolf Publishes Groundbreaking Edited Volume
Olivia Wolf, PhD, Assistant Professor of Art History in Loyola University Chicago’s College of Arts and Sciences, recently edited volume Islamic and Islamicate Architecture in the Americas: Transregional Dialogues and Manifestations, was published by Intellect Books, distributed by The University of Chicago Press in September 2025.
Hailed as a groundbreaking publication, Wolf's edited volume reveals the often-overlooked presence and evolution of Islamic architectural traditions throughout the Americas, from examples in colonial Peru to contemporary sites sponsored by Muslim diaspora communities in Canada, the United States, and Chile.
In addition to editing the multi-author volume, Wolf contributed the introduction and her own chapter dedicated to key examples of Islamicate architecture constructed in modern Brazil.
“Dr. Wolf’s groundbreaking work exemplifies the College’s commitment to advancing globally engaged scholarship,” said Peter J. Schraeder, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Her accomplishment not only enriches academic understanding but also fosters dialogue and shared reflection across cultures.”
“The book's key contribution lies in challenging conventional geographical boundaries by demonstrating how Islamic design elements, construction techniques, and cultural practices have migrated and adapted across centuries within hemispheric networks extending far beyond traditional Middle Eastern contexts,” said Wolf. “Through diverse case studies spanning both continents, the work uncovers a rich architectural legacy that has been largely excluded from scholarship on Islamic architectural history, showing how these traditions continue to shape built environments across the Western Hemisphere.”
Wolf notes this edited volume offers both scholars and students a vital new framework for understanding design adaptation and cultural migration, positioning the Americas as an integral part of global Islamic architectural heritage. The volume features the work of a diverse set of scholars based around the globe, from Argentina and Canada to Qatar, who each present fresh perspectives and unique case studies rooted in distinct regional contexts.
A 2024 American Council of Learned Societies fellow, Wolf's teaching and research focus on art and architecture from a global perspective, with emphasis on Latin America, the Middle East and Islamic world, and diasporic South-South connections.
Learn more about Wolf and the recently edited volume.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
Founded in 1870, the College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest of Loyola University Chicago’s 13 schools and colleges, serving as the academic home for nearly 8,000 students (roughly 50 percent of Loyola’s total student population). It is academically diverse with twenty academic departments that span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. It is also highly interdisciplinary with thirty-one interdisciplinary programs and seven interdisciplinary centers, including the mission-centric Jesuit Heritage Research Center and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage. The College is home to over 450 full-time, award-winning faculty, who are committed to teaching and research excellence. They teach nearly 2,000 classes each semester, including 88 percent of all Core Curriculum classes taken by undergraduate students across the university. They also contribute to eleven doctoral programs whose graduates have helped propel Loyola starting in 2025 to R-1 research status (the highest research status a university can achieve). Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our John Felice Rome Center in Italy, as well as at dozens of university-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the university’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever-deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”
Olivia Wolf, PhD, Assistant Professor of Art History in Loyola University Chicago’s College of Arts and Sciences, recently edited volume Islamic and Islamicate Architecture in the Americas: Transregional Dialogues and Manifestations, was published by Intellect Books, distributed by The University of Chicago Press in September 2025.
Hailed as a groundbreaking publication, Wolf's edited volume reveals the often-overlooked presence and evolution of Islamic architectural traditions throughout the Americas, from examples in colonial Peru to contemporary sites sponsored by Muslim diaspora communities in Canada, the United States, and Chile.
In addition to editing the multi-author volume, Wolf contributed the introduction and her own chapter dedicated to key examples of Islamicate architecture constructed in modern Brazil.
“Dr. Wolf’s groundbreaking work exemplifies the College’s commitment to advancing globally engaged scholarship,” said Peter J. Schraeder, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Her accomplishment not only enriches academic understanding but also fosters dialogue and shared reflection across cultures.”
“The book's key contribution lies in challenging conventional geographical boundaries by demonstrating how Islamic design elements, construction techniques, and cultural practices have migrated and adapted across centuries within hemispheric networks extending far beyond traditional Middle Eastern contexts,” said Wolf. “Through diverse case studies spanning both continents, the work uncovers a rich architectural legacy that has been largely excluded from scholarship on Islamic architectural history, showing how these traditions continue to shape built environments across the Western Hemisphere.”
Wolf notes this edited volume offers both scholars and students a vital new framework for understanding design adaptation and cultural migration, positioning the Americas as an integral part of global Islamic architectural heritage. The volume features the work of a diverse set of scholars based around the globe, from Argentina and Canada to Qatar, who each present fresh perspectives and unique case studies rooted in distinct regional contexts.
A 2024 American Council of Learned Societies fellow, Wolf's teaching and research focus on art and architecture from a global perspective, with emphasis on Latin America, the Middle East and Islamic world, and diasporic South-South connections.
Learn more about Wolf and the recently edited volume.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
Founded in 1870, the College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest of Loyola University Chicago’s 13 schools and colleges, serving as the academic home for nearly 8,000 students (roughly 50 percent of Loyola’s total student population). It is academically diverse with twenty academic departments that span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. It is also highly interdisciplinary with thirty-one interdisciplinary programs and seven interdisciplinary centers, including the mission-centric Jesuit Heritage Research Center and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage. The College is home to over 450 full-time, award-winning faculty, who are committed to teaching and research excellence. They teach nearly 2,000 classes each semester, including 88 percent of all Core Curriculum classes taken by undergraduate students across the university. They also contribute to eleven doctoral programs whose graduates have helped propel Loyola starting in 2025 to R-1 research status (the highest research status a university can achieve). Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our John Felice Rome Center in Italy, as well as at dozens of university-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the university’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever-deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”