Dilyara A
- Research Program Mentor

PhD at Georgetown University

Expertise

Middle East, Russian history, Islam, colonialism, legal studies, law, world history, European history, digital humanities

Bio

My passion is in the history of law and empire. I wrote my dissertation on the transformation of law and legal practice in the colonial contexts of Crimea following the Russian annexation of the peninsula. Research for my dissertation project took me to the archives in Russia, Turkey, and Egypt. I personally love traveling, learning languages, and reading novels set in places I plan to visit.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Life Stories through Court Records

In my project, we will read court records from the past to understand the litigants and the social context in which they lived. We will use these primary sources to construct a narrative about the characters and societies we are studying together.

Exploring History through digital projects

In this project, we will select a certain period or region and explore existing digital projects that scholars are undertaking at the current moment. In parallel with this careful analysis of digital historiography, we will conduct a digital project of our own.

Languages I know

Russian, Arabic, Turkish, Ottoman Turkish,

Teaching experience

I taught Arabic at Georgetown University for approximately 5 years. Moreover, as an undergraduate student, I worked and volunteered for AmeriCorps for which I tutored Elementary, Middle School and High School students in Reading, Writing and Math.