I am a world historian specializing in the Middle East and North Africa. I got my start working on Moroccan Jewish history and Jews in Islamic urban settings more broadly, driven by the question of how the space of the city itself structures social relations between minorities and majorities. My current research focuses on the concept of Islamic philosemitism and the revival of Jewish heritage sites in the contemporary Muslim world, in sites stretching from Casablanca to Indonesia. I am a three-time Fulbright awardee to Morocco, a past president of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, and winner of the Phi Beta Kappa award for Excellence in Teaching.
Education
1999, Ph.D., History and Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
1992, M.A., Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
1989, B.A., Middle Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley
Research Areas
MENA history, Cultural heritage and preservation, Jewish-Muslim relations, North Africa