Dr. Anna M. Gade is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Environmental Studies in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. She teaches  courses in Environmental Humanities, Islamic Studies, Asian Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, and the academic study of religion and ethics in the Religious Studies Program.

She holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Chicago with a doctorate in  the History of Religions, specializing in Islam. Her B.A. is in Mathematics from Swarthmore College. She has held academic positions at Cornell University (Near Eastern Studies), Princeton University (Music/Religion), Oberlin College (Religion), Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (Religious Studies), and Universitas Gadjah Mada and the International Indonesian Islamic University in Indonesia.   

Dr. Gade's most recent book, Muslim Environmentalisms: Religious and Social Foundations (320 pp.), was published by Columbia University Press in August, 2019. Listen to a podcast interview about it on New Books Network here.  Her forthcoming book is on environmental ethics.

Professor Gade's previous published work emphasizes theory and method in the academic study of religion and the study of Islam.  Her research since 2007 explains global cultural, historical and religious responses to environmental change, specializing in history, knowledge and practices of Southeast Asia. This project and ones before it have been based on extensive fieldwork in Indonesia and elsewhere in in the region, such as Cambodia and Malaysia.  She has recently published on topics including the burning of tropical forests; cross-cultural expressions of environmental sentiment; Islamic environmental justice, law and ethics; Rights of Nature in the Asia-Pacific region; and, religious environmental art, architecture and material culture.  

At UW-Madison, Professor Gade is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Culture, History and Environment (CHE); the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS); the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures (ALC); and, Religious Studies. She has served as Co-Chair of the Qur'an Group of the American Academy of Religion, and has authored two books dedicated to understanding the Arabic Qur'an with respect to diverse Muslim perspectives worldwide. She was the Chair of Undergraduate Programs in Environmental Studies and Sustainability at UW-Madison from 2017 to 2026, while she also served as Associate Dean for Reasearch and Education in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies for part of that time.