Research

My research focuses on the arts of the Islamic world before 1500, with particular attention to the movement of objects, materials, and ideas across cultural, religious, and political boundaries in the Mediterranean.

This work extends from medieval Sicily to modern and contemporary engagements with Islamic and Mediterranean pasts. Together, these projects examine how art and architecture illuminate histories of exchange and reveal the broader stakes of how the past is researched and represented.

Book Project

Narratives of Entanglement:
The Making of Medieval Sicily through Fragmented Silks and Societies

My dissertation forms the basis of my first book. This project examines a now-defunct corpus of silk textiles that are, or once were, associated with the Muslim weavers and embroiderers of medieval Sicily.

Combining material and technical analysis with close study of the fragmentary histories surrounding surviving silks, the project asks how these textiles shape, and are shaped by, changing understandings of medieval Sicily, especially as modern historians negotiated the presence of Islam and Muslim communities in Europe. By investigating both the histories of these objects and the histories of their interpretation, I explore how material traces of medieval exchange have been understood, contested, and reimagined over time.

Select Recognition: Rome Prize in Medieval Studies, American Academy in Rome · Junior Fellowship, Metropolitan Museum of Art · Historians of Islamic Art Association Grabar Travel Award
Select Presentations: Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting · Forum Kunst des Mittelalters · Mary Ausplund Tooze Endowed Visiting Professor of Islamic Art Invited Lecture, Portland State University

Ongoing Research

Building Cefalù in Mogadishu: The Cathedral of Italian Somalia

Focusing on the Italian occupation of Somalia in the 1920s, this project uncovers the extraordinary afterlife of the twelfth-century Cathedral of Cefalù, built by the Normans in Sicily. Overlooked archival materials, left by the Catholic missionaries in Mogadishu, reveal how Italian authorities drew on the cathedral’s connections to Islamic architecture to recast the Sicilian monument as a symbol of colonial “peaceful conquest.”

Select Publications: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians · Speculum ·
This project has also received Media Coverage
Select Presentations: I Tatti–Harvard University · Society of Architectural Historians · Invited Lecture at Grambling State University · Invited Lecture for Hayaan Heritage, a Mogadishu-based heritage organization

Reimagining the Medieval Mediterranean in Modern Design

Early twentieth-century designers such as Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo and Maria Monaci Gallenga referenced medieval and Renaissance textiles when they created their own garments. This developing project examines how historical silks were transformed into modern fashion and, in the process, reflected and reshaped ideas about the Mediterranean past and the place of Italy therein.

Select Recognition: Humboldt Research Fellowship · Delmas Foundation Venetian Research Grant

Medieval Pasts and Modern Extremism

Medieval history and imagery are selectively mobilized in contemporary extremist narratives, in which distorted accounts of the past can contribute to narratives of hate and radicalization, particularly anti-Muslim racism. This research, developed through the Medievalist Toolkit and the inaugural fellowship of the International Interfaith Research Lab, also considers how scholars and educators can respond by pairing historical correction with approaches that build connection and resilience to hate.

Select Publication: International Journal of Educational Development · Forthcoming special issue of Radical History Review
See the Public Scholarship page for related activities
Select Support: International Interfaith Research Lab, Teachers College · Medieval Academy of America Centennial Grant · RaceB4Race
Select Presentations: Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting · Haskins Society Online Conference · Co-organized workshops at Cornell University and Columbia University

Sampling the Sacred: Contemporary Islamic Art

My work on contemporary Islamic art examines connections across traditions that are seemingly separated by time, faith, or histories of conflict. For example, my research on the work of Khaled Sabsabi reveals intersections between Islamic belief systems, Hip Hop music, and contemporary politics. My essay for the Australia Pavilion of the 2026 Venice Biennale situates Sabsabi's work within longer histories of Mediterranean exchange, especially as they manifest in Venice.

Select Publications (forthcoming): Venice Biennale · Barjeel Art Foundation · zingmagazine
Select Presentations: Fondazione Querini Stampalia · Università Ca' Foscari Venezia · Virtual Islamic Art History Seminar Series (VIAHSS)