Isaac Hand

Isaac Hand is a Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Division of the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, and a Harper Schmidt Fellow in the Society of Fellows. His research focuses on the intellectual history of the late Ottoman Empire and early Turkish Republic, with particular attention to urbanism, social thought, and the post-Ottoman world.

Education:

• PhD in History and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, New York University (dissertation defended 2022)

Research Interests: Urban governance, Ottoman and Republican Turkish cities, state-society dynamics, and utopian urbanism. His work examines how urban form and municipal governance shaped social thought in the transition from empire to nation-state.

Key Publications: His 2022 article in The Journal of Urban History explores boundary negotiations between state and society in early Republican Turkish cities. A forthcoming book chapter analyzes utopian visions in Ankara's urban development.

Awards:

• 2023 Global Urban History Project Essay Prize for Emerging Scholars (for his work on trash collection and urban responsibility in Republican Istanbul)

Professional Roles: Engaged with the Society of Fellows, contributing to interdisciplinary scholarship on modernity and empire. No listed grants or labs, but active in urban history networks.