Her focus includes the anthropology of subject formation, liberalism, and secular modernity; feminist and poststructuralist theory; religion and politics; and Islam, the Middle East, and South Asia. Mahmood is the recipient of the 2005 Victoria Schuck Award from the American Political Science Association. She also received an Honorable Mention for the 2005 Albert Hourani Book Award from the Middle East Studies Association. She was awarded a grant in 2010 from the Luce Foundation to study how law and politics are transforming religious freedom. Mahmood received her M.A. in 1994 and Ph.D. in 1998 from Stanford University.