CLA Distinguished Awards

In his dissertation, Dr. Yang interprets Hegel's  concept of infinity, reconstructs the  corresponding  arguments, and then applies it to  resolve certain difficulties in contemporary  Philosophy of Mathematics. He aims to revise  this  dissertation for publication.

 

 

Lama Elsharif- Lama Elsharif is a historian of the early modern and modern Middle East and North Africa. She earned her Ph.D. in History from Purdue University and holds an M.A. in Diplomatic Studies and International Relations from the University of Jordan. Her research focuses on the intersections of environmental, economic, and maritime history in the Ottoman regencies of North Africa throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Her dissertation, “Small Wars of Scarcity: North African Corsairs in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century,” investigates the surge in sea raiding activities by  the Ottoman regencies of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers between 1776 and 1816. Lama connects this surge to severe local environmental conditions, such as droughts, epidemics, and famines, which triggered widespread economic decline, revolts and administrative turmoil. She argues that these raids were not, as traditional narratives suggest, merely opportunistic actions taken during Europe’s distraction with the Napoleonic Wars, but rather a  strategic effort by the North African rulers to address environmental and economic challenges and maintain control.

Lama is currently an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wolf Humanities Center, University of Pennsylvania, where she is revising her dissertation into a book.