Student Profiles

Chloe Bordewich is a PhD candidate in History and Middle Eastern Studies. How did you become interested in Middle Eastern studies? In 2006, when I was 16, I went to Cairo for three weeks as part of a now-defunct State Department–funded exchange program...

Anna Boots is a second-year student in the AM in Middle Eastern Studies program. Why did you choose CMES? I really liked that Harvard’s Middle Eastern Studies Master’s program is fundamentally academic and not policy-centric like some other similar...

Theo Wye is a second-year student in the AM in Middle Eastern Studies program. How did you become interested in Middle Eastern Studies? In my second to last year of high school the Arab Spring happened and that was the first time that I was really exposed...

Kim Quarantello is a second-year student in the AM in Middle Eastern Studies program. How did you become interested in Middle Eastern studies? I became interested in Middle Eastern studies as an undergraduate at Wellesley College, where I studied Arabic...

Ian McGonigle is a PhD candidate in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies. How did you become interested in Middle East studies? It was a cold January evening in Cambridge England, when my friend arrived to my dorm room to invite me on a spontaneous...

Aleksandar Shopov is a student in the CMES Joint PhD Program in History and Middle East Studies. Background I was born in Skopje, Macedonia, which used to be one of the most important Ottoman cities, frequently mentioned in the sources as the “Abode of...

Mira Schwerda is a student in the joint PhD Program in History of Art & Architecture and Middle East Studies. How did you become interested in Middle East Studies? As an undergraduate student in Germany I became interested in the Middle East and Central...

Aya Majzoub is a student in the CMES AM Program in Regional Studies — Middle East. How did you become interested in Middle East Studies? I grew up in Saudi Arabia because my parents left Lebanon after the civil war. However, I remained hopeful that our...

John Hambley is a student in the CMES AM Program in Regional Studies — Middle East. How did you become interested in Middle Eastern Studies? My interest in the Middle East began while I was an undergraduate at Bard College. From the safety of a college...

Gwendolyn Collaco is a student in the joint PhD Program in History and Middle East Studies. How did you become interested in Middle East studies? Middle Eastern studies (of the Ottoman variety) first hooked me during the last year and a half of my...