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Gül Şen is a Senior Lecturer and Privatdozentin at the Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies, University of Bonn, and also serves as a Lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. Her academic work focuses on premodern Ottoman history, historiography, and the dynamics of dependency, particularly in maritime contexts such as galley slavery and war captivity. She is actively involved in major research programs including the DFG-Priority Program 'Transottomanica' and the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies. Her research areas include: Premodern Ottoman historiography and narrative strategies Legitimacy of rule and political transitions Maritime unfree labor and galley slavery War captivity and captivity narratives in the 18th century Dependency and asymmetrical power relations in the early modern Mediterranean Her recent publications reveal a strong thematic trend centered on the interplay between narrative construction and social power, particularly in contexts of slavery and captivity. She investigates how historical actors used storytelling to assert legitimacy, cope with crises, and negotiate identity. Her work bridges literary analysis with social history, offering nuanced understandings of agency within systems of dependency. She frequently collaborates with leading scholars like Stephan Conermann and contributes to major edited volumes and series in Ottoman studies. Her scientific awards include: DAAD Award for outstanding academic achievements (2012) Postdoctoral Scholarship from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation (2012–2013) Postdoctoral Fellowships at the Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg (2015–2016, 2018–2019) Postdoctoral Scholarship from the University of Bonn (2019–2020) She has supervised numerous B.A. and M.A. theses at the University of Bonn and Heidelberg and has secured third-party funding, including a DFG project (€192,000) from 2016–2018 and Fritz Thyssen Foundation grants. She is co-editor of the 'Ottoman Studies' and 'Otto Spies Memorial Series' book series, and holds leadership roles in the Society for Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies (GTOT) and the International Association for Ottoman Social and Economic History (IAOSEH). Her academic activities are deeply embedded in collaborative and interdisciplinary research environments. She is affiliated with the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies and contributes to the DFG-Priority Program 'Transottomanica,' where she examines mobility dynamics and captivity narratives. Her work is supported by a strong network of international collaborations and editorial engagements.

• Ottoman History
• Premodern Historiography
• Legitimacy of Rule
• +12 more

Dorothy Kim serves as Assistant Professor of English at Brandeis University with cross-appointments in the Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies and the Women's Studies Research Center. Her innovative scholarship bridges medieval literary studies, digital humanities, and critical race theory, examining how medieval history is weaponized by contemporary white supremacist movements and advocating for antiracist frameworks in academia. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Her educational trajectory reflects deep engagement with interdisciplinary approaches to literature and cultural studies. Kim's research centers on exposing the racialized foundations of medieval studies, particularly through projects analyzing digital white supremacy and medievalism's role in alt-right ideology. She pioneers methodologies connecting medieval women's literary cultures with contemporary trans feminism while interrogating Jewish/Christian difference in manuscript studies. Her work consistently challenges the field's historical whiteness and develops decolonial digital humanities practices. Her publication trends reveal a decisive shift toward critical race interventions in premodern studies, with increasing focus on database methodologies, sonic histories, and the material politics of medieval manuscript transmission. Recent works demonstrate how digital tools can either reinforce or dismantle racial hierarchies in academic knowledge production. Her distinguished honors include: 2023 Medieval Academy of America Article Prize in Critical Race Studies American Studies Association Digital Humanities Book Prize (2021) Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship's Best Feminist Article Award (2021) AAUW Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018-2019) Folger Shakespeare Library Long-Term Fellowship (2025-2026) SSHRC, Ford Foundation, Fulbright, and Mellon fellowships Kim directs major collaborative projects including the NEH-funded An Archive of Early Middle English (161-manuscript database) and co-leads the Global Middle Ages Project. As co-director of RaceB4Race and the Reckonings Institute, she creates platforms for community archiving and social justice praxis. Her mentorship focuses on training students in critical digital methodologies through Brandeis' DH Lab while developing antifascist frameworks for humanities education. She currently leads the Brandeis University DH Lab housing her NEH project, co-edits Literature Compass's pre-1800 section, and develops two major book projects: Race, the Crusades, and the Katherine Group (based on her AAUW fellowship) and Music, Multimodal Manuscripts, and Remediating the Medieval Lyric for ArcPress.

• Medieval Literature
• Digital Humanities
• Critical Race Studies
• +6 more

Ali Karjoo-Ravary is the Richard W. Bulliet Assistant Professor of Islamic History at Columbia University, specializing in the intellectual, social, and visual histories of premodern Islam through Arabic, Persian, and Turkic sources. His research intersects historical writing, cosmology, Sufism, and multilingual poetry in the Islamic East (Mashriq). Education: Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (2018) M.A., University of Pennsylvania (2016) B.A., SUNY Stony Brook (2011) His current book project, Muhammad’s Song: Politics, Performance, and Cosmology in the Fourteenth Century , examines post-Mongol Islamic monarchy through Kadi Burhaneddin's life and rule. He also explores Sufi visual iconography, science fiction's relationship to religion, and architecture's role in evolving Islamic discourses. Scientific Awards and Fellowships: Bard Graduate Center Visiting Fellow (Fall 2020) Wolf Humanities Center Graduate Research Fellow (2016-2017)

• Islamic History
• Intellectual History
• Social History
• +8 more

Noah D. Gardiner serves as Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of South Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan (2014), followed by positions as Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Michigan and a postdoctoral fellowship at Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn. Gardiner's scholarly focus centers on Islamic thought and culture with particular emphasis on Sufism, esotericism, occult sciences, and manuscript culture in the 12th-15th century Arabic-speaking Mediterranean. His research explores the 'science of letters and names' (ʿilm al-huruf wa-al-asmaʾ), religious cosmology, and apocalypticism, examining how mystical ideas move between religious margins and centers. His work reveals significant connections between Islamic occult traditions and other esoteric systems like Jewish Kabbalah. His extensive publication record includes the monograph Ibn Khaldūn versus the Occultists at Barqūq's Court (2020), co-editing the special issue Islamicate Occultism: New Perspectives (2017), and numerous articles in leading journals. His current research focuses on the 13th-century Sufi occultist Aḥmad al-Būnī and the broader occult renaissance in 14th-15th century Cairo. Gardiner actively contributes to the scholarly community through his role as co-organizer of the international online workshop 'Islamic Occult Studies on the Rise' and administrator of the scholarly resource site islamicoccult.org, which showcases emerging scholarship in Islamic esotericism. He teaches courses spanning foundational religion studies to specialized topics including Islam, Qur'an, Hadith, Islamic Theology, Sufism, and Religion and the Fantastic.

• Islamic thought
• Sufism
• Occult sciences
• +6 more

Andrew Ollett is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago , where he has taught since 2019. His research focuses on the literary and intellectual traditions of South and Southeast Asia, particularly through works in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhramsha, and Kannada from the first millennium CE. Co-founder and editor of NESAR (New Explorations in South Asia Research) Director of NEH-funded edition/translation of the Kavirājamārga (earliest Kannada literary manual) Expert in Prakrit and Kannada literary traditions His work explores the 'question of language'—examining how language choice shaped cultural production and change in premodern India. Current projects include a monograph on context-sensitivity in Indian language theories and a study of manuscript technology's impact on early South Asian knowledge communities. He has authored The Mirror of Ornaments (Naples: Unior Press, 2025) and Language of the Snakes (UC Press, 2017), and co-authored Lilavai (Harvard, 2021). Recent publications include interdisciplinary studies on: Sanskrit-Prakrit campū genre reevaluation Pragmatics in Mīmāṁsā interpretive concepts Manuscript literacy's influence on literary forms Historical linguistics of Middle Indic syllable reduction Philosophy of language in Śālikanātha and Kumārila Bhaṭṭa Awarded the NEH 'Scholarly Editions and Translations' grant , he teaches classical South Asian literature courses covering Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Tamil traditions. He maintains digital resources including a Prakrit Digital Texts Project and Mīmāṁsādigdarśinī digital text repository, and actively contributes to open-access scholarship.

• Poetics
• History of Literature
• Intellectual History
• +9 more

Dr. Julia Costa López is an Assistant Professor (tenured) in History and Theory of International Relations at the Department of International Relations and International Organisation, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen. Her work bridges international relations, history, and political thought, focusing on how historical frameworks shape modern disciplinary concepts. PhD from University of Oxford Lecturer at St Hilda's College Fulbright scholar at University of Denver's Josef Korbel School Graduate studies at University of Cambridge Research spans medieval political authority, sovereignty emergence, racialized medievalisms in extremism, and translation politics in global scholarship. Key projects include Routledge Handbook of Historical International Relations (2021) and the Oxford Handbook of History and International Relations (2023). Publications address Eurocentrism, conspiratorial ideology, and ritual's role in authority production. Scientific contributions appear in Cambridge Review of International Affairs , International Organization , and European Journal of International Law . Awards include the Fulbright scholarship. Recent work explores terraqueous relations and premodern world conceptualizations, challenging simplistic land-sea dichotomies in IR.

• International Relations
• History of International Political Thought
• Medieval Canon and Roman Law
• +4 more

Professor Steven J Reid is a leading scholar in Early Modern Scottish History and Culture at the University of Glasgow , where he has held a professorship since at least 2023. His work bridges intellectual, political, and religious history from c.1450 to c.1650, with a focus on James VI and Mary Queen of Scots . A prolific editor and author, he contributes to major academic series and institutions like the Hunterian Art Gallery. Research Interests Intellectual, political, and religious history of Scotland Jacobean Scotland and Renaissance/Reformation dynamics Latin literature and its cultural role Andrew Melville's educational reforms Key Publications The Early Life of James VI (2023) on royal minority Co-edited volume on The Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots (2024) Studies in Neo-Latin poetry and educational history Contributions to Oxford Handbook of Calvin and Calvinism (2021) Projects & Grants Co-investigator on RSE-funded Mary Queen of Scots memorialization project AHRC support for Bridging the Continental Divide (2012-2015) Leverhulme Trust international network participant Fulbright Scholars Award at Yale Divinity School (2012) Teaching History 1A: Scotland’s Millennium Special Subject: The Reign of James VI (1578-1603) Module: The Life and Afterlife of Mary, Queen of Scots

• Early Modern Scottish History
• Political History
• Religious History
• +5 more

Dorothy Ko is a Professor of Chinese History at Columbia University’s Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures. Her research focuses on the intersection of gender, material culture, and cultural history in premodern China. She holds a PhD from Stanford University and has taught at Barnard College since 2001, previously at Rutgers University. Education: BA, MA, and PhD in History from Stanford University. Research emphasizes women’s roles in economic and cultural development, including domestic artisans, body practices, and Confucian cultures. Notable works include Cinderella Sisters (2005) and The Social Life of Inkstones (2017). Awards include the Joan Kelly Prize and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and Institute for Advanced Study. Teaching includes courses on Chinese cultural history, gender studies, and food history. She has held visiting roles such as the Kluge Chair at the Library of Congress (2022). Research bridges anthropology, history, and women’s studies, highlighting marginalized voices in historical narratives.

• History of China
• Gender Studies
• History of Science and Technology
• +3 more

Dagmar Schäfer is a leading historian of science and technology, serving as Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) and holding the Chair of China Studies and History of Technology at the University of Manchester (2011). She directs Department III: Artifacts, Action, Knowledge at MPIWG since 2013 and holds Honorary Professorships at Technische Universität Berlin (History of Science and Technology) and Freie Universität Berlin (China Studies). Her research spans the history of Chinese technology (Song-Ming dynasties), material culture, and knowledge systems, emphasizing artifacts' role in scientific diffusion. Doctorate (1996) and Habilitation (2005) in Sinology and History of Science Guest Professorships: Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2017), IAS Princeton (2019), European University Institute (2022) Her seminal work, The Crafting of the 10,000 Things (2011), explores 17th-century Chinese knowledge systems, earning the Pfizer and Levenson Prizes. Recent contributions focus on knowledge ownership (co-edited Ownership of Knowledge , MIT Press 2023) and plurilingual scholarship in Eurasia (co-edited Brill 2023). Her 2020 Leibniz Prize recognized her innovative approaches to global cultural studies. Publications analyze comparative technological paradigms, local knowledge in historical contexts, and transcultural artifact analysis. She is central to the Kn/Own/Able project challenging intellectual property norms in knowledge dissemination.

• History of Science
• History of Technology
• Sinology
• +5 more

Erik Wade is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Creative Writing at SUNY Oswego. He holds a PhD from Rutgers University and has taught at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn in Germany. His research focuses on race, sexuality, and national identity in early medieval English literature, with a particular emphasis on how these themes intersect with religious texts and cultural narratives. He currently directs the Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor and serves on the advisory board for Exemplaria: Medieval, Early Modern, Theory . Educational Background: PhD in English, Rutgers University (2018) MA in English, University of Oregon (2011) BA in English and History with a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, SUNY Oswego (2009) AA in Humanities, Onondaga Community College (2007) Research Interests: Interrogates racial and sexual discourses in medieval literature Examines how early English texts constructed national identity through contested themes like rape culture and racial hierarchies Investigates global influences (e.g., Byzantine theology) on medieval English thought Challenges Eurocentric narratives in medieval studies Recent Publications Highlight: His work analyzes trans and queer themes in medieval hagiography, the racialized language of 'Anglo-Saxon' terminology, and the intersections between animal studies and gender relations. He co-authored a Smithsonian Magazine article deconstructing the term 'Anglo-Saxon.' Teaching and Advocacy: Teaches courses on medieval global literature, critical theory, and premodern identity. Actively promotes inclusive pedagogy and addresses systemic racism in academic disciplines through published opinion pieces and collaborative projects like the upcoming Race in Early Medieval England (Cambridge UP).

• Medieval Studies
• Race and Ethnicity
• Sexuality Studies
• +3 more

Geraldine Heng is the Mildred Hajek Vacek and John Roman Vacek Chair in English at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is cross-appointed to Middle Eastern Studies, Women's Studies, Jewish Studies, and the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Social Justice. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2023 and a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, she founded and directs the Global Middle Ages Project (G-MAP), a major interdisciplinary initiative promoting global perspectives on premodernity. With a Ph.D. from Cornell University, Heng has pioneered the field of premodern critical race studies, fundamentally challenging the assumption that race is a modern construct. Her research focuses on literary, cultural, and social encounters between worlds, particularly through the lenses of race, gender, sexuality, class, and religion, with special attention to medieval Europe's interactions with Asia and Africa. Heng's scholarly work reveals how medieval global connections shaped cultural production and identity formation long before the so-called 'Age of Exploration.' Her approach synthesizes literary analysis, historical research, and critical theory to uncover the deep roots of globalization and its implications for understanding contemporary identity politics and cultural exchange. Her publications demonstrate a consistent trajectory toward increasingly global frameworks, moving from studies of medieval romance to comprehensive examinations of early global interconnectedness. This evolution reflects her commitment to dismantling Eurocentric narratives of the medieval world and revealing the complex networks of exchange that characterized premodern societies across Afro-Eurasia. 2019 PROSE prize in Global History 2019 Academy of American Literature prize in Historical Studies 2019 Robert W. Hamilton Grand Prize 2020 Otto Gründler prize Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2023) Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America Heng has secured approximately $750,000 in grants for digital projects and held eight major fellowships at research centers. She co-edits the Cambridge University Press Elements series in the Global Middle Ages and the University of Pennsylvania Press series RaceB4Race: Critical Studies of the Premodern. Her teaching encompasses courses on early global literatures, premodern race, Crusades literature, Arthurian traditions, and feminist theory. As founder and director of the Global Middle Ages Project (G-MAP), Heng has built an international scholarly network that challenges traditional disciplinary boundaries and promotes collaborative approaches to studying premodern global connections. The project has fostered numerous digital initiatives, publications, and conferences that have significantly reshaped how scholars understand medieval intercultural exchange.

• Early global literatures
• Global Middle Ages
• Premodern critical race studies
• +8 more

Wei-Cheng Lin is Associate Professor of Art History and the College at the University of Chicago , specializing in Chinese art and architecture. He serves as Faculty Director of the Dispersed Chinese Art Digitalization Project , sits on the steering committee of the Center for the Art of East Asia , and acts as Architectural Studies Advisor. His office is located in CWAC 268 with weekly office hours on Wednesdays. Educational background details are not explicitly provided in the text; however, he held an appointment as Assistant Professor of East Asian Art and Architecture at Iowa State University during 2006–2007. Lin’s research interrogates the intersections of visual and material culture in medieval Chinese Buddhist art and architecture and the ritual dimensions of Chinese funerary practices . Current book projects include Performative Architecture of China , which explores how architecture enacts meaning through historical performance, and Necessarily Incomplete: Fragments of Chinese Artifacts , which investigates the active roles of fragmentary artifacts in shaping multivalent cultural significance. Across more than twenty publications, Lin’s scholarship ranges from detailed studies of Mount Wutai and Dunhuang to theoretical inquiries into architectural historiography , materiality , and contemporary Chinese art . His work bridges art history, architectural history, religious studies, and digital humanities. Grants & Digital Initiatives: Faculty Director, Dispersed Chinese Art Digitalization Project (DCADP) — supported by the Cyrus Tang Foundation Manages DCADP publication series, including Beijing Zhihua Temple (2024) and Exhibiting East Asian Art in a Global Context (2025, co-edited with Chelsea Foxwell) Laboratories & Teams: Lin leads collaborative efforts through the Center for the Art of East Asia and the UChicago Center in Beijing , organizing exhibitions, international conferences, and digital humanities workshops that integrate art-historical research with cutting-edge visualization technologies.

• Chinese art history
• Chinese architectural history
• Buddhist art and architecture
• +7 more

Rodrigo García-Velasco is an academic staff member at the Department of History, University College London (UCL), specializing in medieval Iberian history, with a focus on economic and legal interactions between Jews, Muslims, and Christians. He leads the project Documentary Afterlives: Recycling the Past in Premodern Iberian Judiciaries, 1371-1600 , exploring how marginalized groups preserved and reused legal documents in Castile. He is also completing his first book, Jews and Muslims Before the Law in Christian Iberia, 1000-1200 , analyzing the emergence of legal distinctions for religious minorities in municipal laws. His research interests include medieval legal systems, religious minority treatments, Arabic-Latin literary exchanges, Mediterranean mobility, and the historiography of convivencia. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge (2019), and has worked as a Rothschild Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow there. Publications span Medieval Encounters , al-Masaq , and edited volumes on Christian-Muslim relations. His work emphasizes the role of documentary practices in post-conquest societies, linking Islamicate legal knowledge to Christian institutional management of land and heritage.

• Medieval Iberian History
• Legal and Economic Interactions in Medieval Societies
• Religious Minorities in Medieval Europe
• +3 more

Audrey Truschke is Professor of South Asian History and Director of Asian Studies at Rutgers University–Newark, within the Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and specializes in the cultural, imperial, and intellectual history of early modern and modern India (c. 1500–present). Her scholarship bridges deep historical inquiry with urgent contemporary debates, particularly around religious identity, nationalism, and decolonization. Truschke earned her B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago (2004) and her Ph.D. in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies from Columbia University (2012). Her academic journey includes prestigious fellowships at Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III. Her research centers on South Asian history, with a focus on the Mughal Empire, Indo-Muslim rule, Sanskrit-Persian cultural exchanges, and the historical construction of Hindu identity. She critically examines how premodern histories are mobilized in modern political projects, especially Hindu nationalism (Hindutva). Her work spans cultural, intellectual, and religious history, emphasizing philology, translation, and the politics of historical memory. Truschke’s recent publications reveal a consistent trajectory: analyzing the evolution of religious and ethnic identities, particularly 'Hindu' and 'Han', through longue durée historical lenses. Her articles explore how empires, religions, and languages interacted in South Asia, and how these pasts are weaponized in the present. She frequently engages with themes of hegemony, identity formation, and the dangers of historical falsification, especially in the context of Hindutva ideology and its global manifestations. Scientific Awards and Honors: Karwaan Book Award (2022) National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Fellowship (2021) Rutgers Board of Trustees Research Fellowship for Scholarly Excellence (2020) John F. Richards Prize in South Asian History, American Historical Association (2017) Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013–2016) Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship (2009–2010) Truschke is an active advisor and mentor, though specific student names are not listed in the provided texts. She has secured significant research funding, including grants from the NEH and Princeton University Press. Her public scholarship includes contributions to the South Asia Scholar Activist Collective , the Hindutva Harassment Field Manual , and the Reporting Guide on Hindu Nationalism . She is currently writing a single-volume history of India for Princeton University Press, forthcoming in 2025. She is affiliated with several research initiatives, including the South Asia Scholar Activist Collective (SASAC), and maintains an active public presence through her personal website, media appearances, and public writings. Her work bridges the academy and public discourse, challenging dominant narratives and promoting historical accuracy in understanding South Asia.

• South Asian history
• Mughal Empire
• early modern and modern India
• +14 more

David Aers is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of English at Duke University, with affiliations in the Department of English, Religious Studies, and Divinity School. He holds academic appointments since 1994, including directorship of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Center since 2019. His expertise spans medieval and early modern literature, theology, and political culture, with a focus on Christian tradition and its intersections with ethics, gender, and community. Education: PhD from the University of York (1971) and BA from the University of Cambridge (1968). Research interests include late medieval English writing (e.g., Chaucer, Langland), theological doctrines like election and sin, and the evolution of Christian thought across the medieval/early modern divide. His recent works explore themes like enemy love in theology, gender identity, and the legacy of Constantinian Christianity. Recognition includes the Duke Distinguished Professorship. Teaching spans courses on Milton, medieval literature, and historical theology. He has served as editor for journals like Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies and contributed to academic service through editorial roles and professional committees. Labs/Teams: Leads the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Center, fostering interdisciplinary research in premodern cultures.

• Medieval Literature
• Early Modern Theology
• Christian Tradition
• +4 more