Project Title: Law, Culturally Speaking: How Intercultural Interaction Changes Interpretations of Law
Project Description: My topic tries to engage with mixed legal systems; while a great deal of legal scholarship focuses on what makes different legal systems different, such as common law (Great Britain and America) or Napoleonic law (France, Luxembourg, and Belgium). But many nations impacted by forces such as trade and colonialism actually have mixed legal systems. My project centers nations such as the Republic of Turkey, where both a Swiss civil code is used alongside historic institutions from the Ottoman Empire, and Lebanon, where a significant amount of French influence is coupled with a sectarian system where people of individual religious groups vote along with their religious sect for seats in Parliament. I want to engage deeply with the way that people's cultural interactions with legal issues and governance are impacted by the way these legal systems mix.
Most Important Accomplishment: I had the opportunity to study Farsi in Tajikistan with the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship and the Fulbright-Hays grant in 2022.
Reflections on the College Scholar Program: It is such a gift to be able to delve so deeply into my passions through my project, while still being able to take a wide variety of courses on different things. I have taken courses in French, Government, History, Near Eastern Studies, and a wide variety of other departments, and it has been such an intellectually enriching experience.