​​​​​Stephane Pradines​​​

​​​​Professor Stephane Pradines earned his​ PhD in Islamic archaeology from the University of the Sorbonne in Paris in 2001. From 2001 to 2011, he served as Head of the Islamic Archaeology Department at the French Institute of Archaeology in Cairo, Egypt. He has been with the Aga Khan University since 2012. Professor Pradines is a world expert in Swahili archaeology and urbanism, mosques in sub-Saharan Africa, Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk material cultures, medieval Indian Ocean trade, Muslim fortifications and warfare, Muslim arms and armour, and Islamic archaeology and conservation. Since 2000, he has collaborated with NGOs on heritage, sustainable development, and monument conservation, including projects in Cairo and Lahore with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and with UNESCO and the World Monuments Fund on Swahili sites such as Kilwa, Songo Mnara, Sanje ya Kati, and Kua in Tanzania, the medinas of Comoros, and the coral stone mosques of the Maldives. 

He has directed major archaeological excavations supported by large grants, including the Fatimid and Ayyubid Walls of Cairo, as well as excavations in the Indian Ocean (Maldives) and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros). Professor Pradines is the founding Editor of the Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World (MCMW), an open-access academic journal published by Brill in partnership with the Aga Khan University and the Aga Khan Museum. His current research focuses on Lahore Fort and the development of a project on medieval and Mughal port cities of the Indus Delta in Pakistan. His teaching covers Muslim arts, architecture, material cultures, and the Indian Ocean world.​​

​​Research interests​​

• Muslim arts
• Muslim architecture
• Muslim material cultures
• Indian Ocean trade and ports cities
• Swahili culture
• Islamic Archaeology and conservation
  
• Muslim Warfare, fortifications, and weapons
• Mughal archaeology​