Research: Belonging in Transition: Communal Identity, Legal Status, and Urban Life in İskenderun’s Levantine Community from the Ottoman Empire to Republican Turkey (Provisional)
Curriculum Arabic, Iranian and Islamic Studies
ABSTRACT:
The following project seeks to investigate how the Levantine community of İskenderun – a major port city on the southeastern coast of present-day Turkey, historically known as Alexandretta – navigated the political and social upheavals of the early 20th century. Specifically, it aims to examine how Levantines sustained or redefined their presence amid shifting sovereignties, focusing on adaptations in their institutions and legal status, the efforts undertaken to maintain communal cohesion, and the strategies they employed to preserve, reshape, or contest their identities in response to evolving political and social realities.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Levantine Community; Ottoman Empire; Turkey; French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon; İskenderun; Communal Identities; Urban Minorities; Legal Changes; Twentieth Century
EDUCATION:
11/2025 – Current: PhD Candidate in Civilizations of Asia and Africa at Dipartimento Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali, Sapienza University of Rome.
08/2021 – 02/2024: MA in Middle Eastern Studies at Stockholms Universitet (SU).
09/2017 – 10/2020: BA in Language Mediation at Università del Salento.
INTERNSHIPS:
09/2022 – 12/2022: Research Assistant and Editor at Svenska Forskningsinstitutet i Istanbul/Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII).