2025-2026
ARIT – NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES ADVANCED RESEARCH FELLOWS (2025-2026):
Dr. Samuel Dolbee, History, Vanderbilt University, Ottoman Roots: Agriculture and Displacement in the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond
Dr. Allison Kanner-Botan, Comparative Literature, University of California, Los Angeles, Maddening Love: Narrating Desire in Classical Kurdish and Persian Literature
ARIT-NEH Fellowships are no longer funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
ARIT – DEPARTMENT OF STATE, EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS FELLOWS (2025-2026):
Ms. Adela Foo, History of Art, Yale University, Crafting the Confederation: The Making of Aq Qoyunlu Turkmen Material Culture (1452-1501)
Ms. Allison Yvonne Gibeily, English and Arabic Literature, Northwestern University, Between Enlightenment: Arabic Travel Literature, Embodiment, and the Global Eighteenth Century, 1707-1856
Tobin Jamie Johnson, History, University of Maryland, Writing a Documentary History of the Early Ottoman State
Dr. Michelle Lynch-Köycü, History of Architecture, Middle East Technical University, Modern Museums on Medieval Foundations: Museographic Adaptation and the Pre-Ottoman Anatolian Monument
Mr. Sean Silvia, History, Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, Recovering the Forcibly Forgotten Culture of Rebuilding and Living in Ancient Anatolian Ruins
Ms. Brittany White, History, Middle Eastern Studies, University of Virginia, A Black History of the Late Ottoman Empire
The United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs provides the funding to support fellowships at overseas research centers. The Council of American Overseas Research Centers administers the program.
ARIT SUMMER FELLOWS IN INTENSIVE TURKISH LANGUAGE (Summer 2025)
U.S. Department of Education, Fulbright-Hays Advanced Language Fellows, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul:
| Ayah Aboelela | Northeastern University |
| Chloe Anderson | University of California, Berkeley |
| Julianne Angeli | University of Michigan |
| Hannah Balikci | University of Chicago |
| Patrick Bennett | Georgetown University |
| Daniel Desjarlais | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill |
| Anton Greene | University of Michigan |
| Gabrielle Hanley-Mott | State University of New York, Binghamton |
| Annika Herlant | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill |
| Zainab Hermes | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
| Cooper Lynch | New York University |
| Alfred Naddaff | Stanford University |
| Nafisa Nigmatova | University of Kentucky |
| Michael Sipper | University of Pittsburgh |
| Jake Vasishchev-Perl | Harvard University |
| Natalie Zakarian | Georgetown University |
| Eric Zaksauskas | Trinity College, Dublin |
The U.S. Department of Education, Georgetown University, the American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages and ARIT provide support for participants in the Bogazici University Summer Program in Intensive Advanced Turkish Language.
ARIT FELLOWS (2025-2026)
İHSAN ÇETIN and TONI M. CROSS FELLOW:
Mr. Osman Alp Çıbıklı, History, Modern Middle East, Cornell University, Transformations Beyond Empires: Race, Slavery, and Geopolitics in the Red Sea Basin (1839-1873)
EVAN and LEMAN FOTOS FELLOW:
Mr. Tolga Ozata, Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Indiana University, Aftermath of Political Self-Sacrifice: Disability, Politics, and Solidarity among Death Fast Survivors in Turkey
JOHN FREELY FELLOWS:
Mr. Rayan Khadeer, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto, Nomadism in an Age of Reform: The Political Dynamics of Sedentary-Pastoral Relations in the 18th Century Ottoman Jazirah
Ms. Emine Esra Nalbant, Art History, Binghamton University, Nineteenth Century Ottoman Lighthouses: Making of A Maritime Infrastructure
FRIENDS OF ARIT FELLOWS:
Mr. Mahmut Polat, History, University of Minnesota, A Comparative History of Indigenous Boarding Schools
Ms. Xiaoye (Grace) Qi, Near Eastern Studies, Johns Hopkins, Bridging the Gap Between Statue and Tablet: Old Babylonian Copies of Old Akkadian Inscribed Statues
JOUKOWSKY FAMILY FOUNDATION FELLOWS:
ROBERT G. OUSTERHOUT FELLOWS:
Salimeh A. Hosseini, Art History, University of Chicago, Making Process and Origin Story in Early Modern Persian Craft Guilds: Art, Meaning, Memory
Ms. Merve Savaş, Byzantine History, Ohio State University, Topography of Shame: Punishment Processions in Constantinople, 4th-15th Centuries
C. BRIAN ROSE FELLOW (with the Friends of ARIT):
Dr. Müge Durusu-Tanrıover, History of Art, Temple University, Polatlı Landscape Archaeology and Survey Project (PLAS): 2025 Season
ARIT Fellowships are funded by the Evan and Leman Fotos Foundation and the Friends of ARIT and the Friends in honor of John Freely, İhsan Çetin and Toni M. Cross. and the Joukowsky Family Foundation in honor of Brian Rose and Robert Ousterhout, and John Freely.
TONI M. CROSS – WILLIAM D. E. COULSON AEGEAN EXCHANGE FELLOWS (2025)
Turkey:
Ms. Didem Savaş, Architecture, Middle East Technical University, Ottoman Provincial Museums and their Post-Ottoman Afterlives
Ms. Hayriye Bilici, Art and Archaeology, Koç University, The Clash of Old and New Identities of Foreign Courtly Brides in Late Medieval Greece, 13th – 15th Centuries
Ms. Şeyma Yeşilçavdar, Ottoman Studies, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Urban Life in Mid-Eighteenth Century Candia: The Martyrdom of a Sufi in Salacıoğlu Mustafa Jelveti’s Masnavi
ARIT and ASCSA Aegean Exchange fellowships are funded by the Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and cosponsored by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
GEORGE AND ILSE HANFMANN FELLOWS (2025)
GEORGE M. A. HANFMANN FELLOW:
Dr. Ebru Kaner, Archaeology, Koç University, We Are What We Eat. A Perspective on Kaymakçı’s Eating and Drinking Habits through Organic Residue Analysis
ILSE B. HANFMANN FELLOW:
Mr. Mustafa Sayan, Conservation, Istanbul Technical University, A Methodological Proposal for the Preservation of the Historical Value of Theodosian Land Walls in Istanbul
MACHTELD J. MELLINK FELLOWS:
Ms. Ayşe Ataş, Prehistory, Istanbul University, Animal Husbandry in the Neolithic: Innovative Methods for Analyzing Cattle Oral Remains
The Hanfmann and Mellink Fellowships are supported by the Merops Foundation in honor of George M. A. and Ilse B. Hanfmann and Machteld J. Mellink.
ARIT TURKISH FELLOW (2025):
Ms. İlinur Can, Architecture, Abdullah Gül University, Urban Commas, Encountering through Confrontation
ARIT Turkish fellowships are funded by the Friends of ARIT, Istanbul and the American Research Institute in Turkey.
