Research/Areas of Interest
imagined landscape, materiality, space and the body in the middle ages, especially within the art and archaeology of medieval Armenia; ideas of nature, ruination, and temporality; gender, corporeality, and hybridity/monstrosity; materiality, relics, and vibrancy; medieval material history and its re/construction and re/creation in the modern period: nineteenth century travelers and post/Soviet nation-making in Armenia
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
- Master of Philosphy, Cambridge University/England, GBR
- Bachelor of Arts, Yale University, New Haven, United States
Biography
I am an anthropological archaeologist, medieval historian, and art historian specializing in the material worlds of Armenia in the context of the global Middle Ages. I have worked on collaborative archaeological projects in the Republic of Armenia since 2008, and continue to co-direct the Vayots Dzor Silk Road Survey, an interdisciplinary and collaborative project on the landscape, archaeology and deep history of Vayots Dzor, especially focusing on the period of the Orbelyans and Mongols. My first monograph, (UCPress, 2021), explores the world of the medieval 'silk roads' from the doorway of an Armenian caravan hotel. My second, co-authored monograph, (with MJ Bintley, Routledge 2023) provides a conceptual guide to cultural ideas of landscape and environment, rooted in close reading of art, architecture and literature from the global middle ages. I am currently working on a new book, provisionally titled , which explores the crafting of history, landscape, destiny and memory on the part of Armenians living in the Mongol world, and focusing especially on close reading of Step'anos Orbelyan's History of the Region of Sisakan. I am also working with MJ Bintley on a book (under contract with Routledge) entitled , which is a curated exploration of ideas about nature and ecology through archaeological and art objects.
I am interested in and excited about supervising research on any aspect of medieval archaeology, art history, and/or on critical Armenian studies.
I am interested in and excited about supervising research on any aspect of medieval archaeology, art history, and/or on critical Armenian studies.