I am excited and humbled to announce I will be joining the School for Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) at University College London (UCL) as the Alexander Nash Fellow in Albanian Studies in September! 🎉🎉

Today I visited my alma mater to speak to the newest Mellon Mays fellows about graduate school. Such a wonderful pleasure to talk to young researchers and to be back at CCNY! Special thank you to Prof. Isabel Estrada for the invitation!

I had such a wonderful experience learning about refugee history from such a group of scholars that covered a range of time periods and geographies! Truly a pleasure!

Last week, I successfully defended my dissertation! I am eternally grateful for those who came on this long and difficult journey. A special thank you to my committee: Dr. Pamela Ballinger, Dr. Rita Chin, Dr. Hakem Al-Rustom, Dr. Devi Mays, and Dr. @leylaamzi.bsky.social

In this "new books out now" interview with @jadaliyya.bsky.social I describe a little bit of how UNMENTIONABLES came to be a book, and why Arab labor histories are so crucial in our moment of rising repression of immigrants and the left. www.jadaliyya.com/Details/4664...

Submitted my dissertation to my committee a few minutes ago. Now I can go take a nap--which will probably be about a week long nap, before I can start preparing for my defense. This moment feels unreal.

Thank you to everyone for a well attended event! I learned so much from my colleagues--and now have so many new questions to reconsider and read up on!

press.princeton.edu/books/paperb... So this wonderful new book just dropped! 🎉

If you are an academic wanting to support academics under attack in Serbia, this is the place to sign. forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Eating is DEI now.

I’m so glad I occasionally check my junk mail because it looks like I don’t really need US academia, you all really need me right now—I’m rich! 🥹🥹

I am convinced that parents who don't vaccinate their children, and allow them to die, should be charged with murder.

Anyone who is working on a book about SE Euro is welcome to get in touch about publishing in our series. The first round of books is coming out and it looks like writers (especially new writers!) will be in good company. ceupress.com/series/criti...

Given that today is Teacher’s Day in Albania, my mom bought me Lilies in a beautiful flower pot. After 3 rejections today, I’m grateful for the support system I have all around. Now I will try to keep them alive!

60 pages later and I think finally figured out the narrative and crux of this whole citizenship chapter. 🥳

I will be in Paris in March, at the @ehess.fr. I am looking forward to my stay and hope to meet many colleagues, especially those I have never met in person and only know from social media. Let me know if you are in the area and want to meet.

The Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan launched a new program, Scholars in Exile, in collaboration with Academy in Exile at TU Dortmund University, Germany. Please spread to your networks.

In 1921, Gjon Marka Gjoni led the largest rebellion against the Albanian state. He intended to create his own independent Republic of Mirdita. What caused the rebellion? After the Congress of Lushnje, Tirana worked on securing its borders and centralizing the state. In turn, Tirana closed its border

With Vetevendosje's majority win today in Kosova, Its fascinating how Albanians/Kosovars continue to vote for left-leaning leaders and parties in the region, but in the United States, a huge proportion of the population continues to support & vote for far-right MAGA.

In “The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century” (University of Cambridge Press, 2024), Zozan Pehlivan examines the impact of climate on local communities, their responses and resilience strategies. Podcast 👇 newbooksnetwork.com/the-politica...

I just heard Edi Rama something along the lines of “Italians are like Albanians, except they wear Versace.”

I published an op-ed in @sacramentobee.bsky.social on the poor prospects for refugee admissions during the second Trump presidency and the souring attitudes towards refugees in Europe — amid the world’s record numbers of displaced people. www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-e...

Well I just drafted my introduction and send it to one of my committee member. Fingers crossed they don’t hate it 😂

Do people have incredibly vivid nightmares/dreams about their dissertation defenses? Is that a thing when people are close to finishing?

American Historical Association 2025 featuring my green blazer!

They really went and pulled the "T" word. The rich are really *reaching*.

Only four days left to submit your pitches for the spring Seasonal Shorts series at Women* Write the Balkans! Consider submitting your ideas and/or share widely 🌿

I'm giving a hybrid talk on our new book Off White: Central and Eastern Europe and the Global History of Race in Budapest next Tuesday at the CEU Democracy Institute - also via Zoom: Details and registration: cutt.ly/ueZXnxIf 🗓️ Dec 17, 5:30pm 📍 Budapest, Nador u. 15 / Zoom

The day I defend my dissertation, they should let me hold Skenderbeg’s sword…in the most non-nationalist way.

Period

I just paid 8$ of a latte. Time to move to Europe.

Do people thank their therapists in their acknowledgement? Asking for myself.

Hi everyone! Thought I'd introduce myself since this platform has really taken off. I am a PhD Candidate at the University of Michigan, where I am currently working on a dissertation about the making of Albania's migration and citizenship regime in the aftermath of the Ottoman empire.

Grad students? New to the archives? Sign up for our @basees.bsky.social workshop! For the third year in a row, I'll be (co-)hosting the Central and Southeastern Europe breakout room (without John Paul Newman this year, unfortunately). A great opportunity to learn and network!

Dear digital attendees of our very virtual MESA annual meeting, please join us on Wed, Nov 13, at 2:30–4:30 pm EST, for a sparkling panel on immigration in early republican Turkey, feat. Leyla Amzi-Erdoğdular, Gözde Emen Gökatalay, Ellinor Morack, and Sarah Shields! #MESA2024

so here's the bsky starter pack that you didn't know you needed. wondering what grift kushner & ivanka tr*mp are pulling buying up property in the balkans? sarajevo on your mind? or just want some wholesome stories about an ottoman-era donkey? we have you covered! go.bsky.app/AcUhygT

i wrote this last year..

More and more wars, pogroms, state-sponsored hatred, and populist violence. Things are what academics would call well and truly fucked.

I got some excellent feedback from some awesome colleagues on a chapter draft this morning. And I think I might be one step closer to figuring out a functioning title for this dissertation. What do we think? 🤔 *absolutely will probably change again*

I never thought I would be spending this much time on legal histories, hashing out Albania’s citizenship laws. Send help…

Daily reminders to myself

The best thing I read all day.

I think this app might be dedicated to posts on food, my favorite places, and sunflowers.