Scholar · Educator · Author
Dr. Ilona
Stricof
Columbia University PhD in Religion · Harvard Divinity School Presidential Scholar · Fulbright Award Recipient · Scholar of Medieval Islamic Mysticism and Cross-Cultural History
Also published as Ilona Gerbakher
About
I believe that a common intellectual endeavor can bridge the thorniest religious, national, and linguistic divides. This conviction has shaped my journey from the Soviet-immigrant neighborhoods of Los Angeles to the reading rooms of Harvard and Columbia, and from the medinas of Morocco to the Pearl River Delta of southern China.
My doctoral research at Columbia University, completed in 2025 under Professor Katherine Ewing, examined the role of dream interpretation and visionary authority in medieval Sufi literature. My dissertation, The Abyss of the Dream: Interpretation and Authority in Medieval Sufism, draws on classical Arabic and Persian sources to illuminate how Sufi masters constructed spiritual authority through the interpretation of dreams and visions.
As an educator, I have taught at every level from community college to the Ivy League, and from Fort Lauderdale to Guangzhou. I am currently an AP European History and Honors Practical Philosophy teacher at BASIS International School Guangzhou, where I bring my research into the classroom through inquiry-driven seminars and cross-cultural primary source analysis.
Credentials
PhD, History of Religion
Columbia University, 2025
Dean's Fellow · Dissertation: The Abyss of the Dream
MTS, Islamic Studies
Harvard Divinity School, 2013
Presidential Scholar — highest honor for entering students
BA, MENA Studies
UCLA, 2011 — Magna Cum Laude
Top 3% · Honors College · Chancellor's Award
Fulbright Research Award
Morocco, 2020
Ethnographic fieldwork on Moroccan Sufi identity
Harvard CASA Fellowship
Advanced Arabic Studies
State Dept. OPI: Advanced Proficiency in Arabic
Georgetown-Qatar Fellowship
Arabic Language, 2013
Critical Language Scholarship · Qasid Arabic Scholarship
TED Talk — Invited Speaker
Canton & the Abbasid Empire
The historical maritime connection between Guangzhou and medieval Baghdad
Published Scholar
Routledge · Interfaith Observer · State of Formation
Co-authored chapter in Routledge Handbook on Sufism (2020)
Featured
Canton and the Abbasid Empire
The forgotten maritime relationship between medieval Guangzhou and the Abbasid Caliphate — a story of silk, spice, and shared civilization at the ends of the known world.
Languages