Mr. Blackthorne-O’Barr is a doctoral candidate at the Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department at Columbia University in New York. Before coming to Columbia, he completed a Master’s degree in Turkish Studies at Sabancı University in Istanbul, and a Bachelor’s degree in the Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations department at the University of Toronto. The research he will conduct as an ANAMED fellow focuses on representations of Iran and the Persian language in late Ottoman literature, as well as how these representations influenced the later project of Turkish language reform. His most recent articles include “Singing on “The World’s Stage:” Kanto and Late Ottoman Social Life,” published in Kadim Dergisi 1, no. 2 (October 2021); and “Passing as Persian: Alterity and Desire in Ahmed Midhat Efendi’s Dürdâne Hanım,” Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association 8, no. 2 (Spring 2022).