Research

My research examines Ottoman imperialism in Yemen during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, challenging Eurocentric narratives that portray the Ottoman Empire as a passive actor in global imperial politics. By situating Ottoman policies within the inter-imperial struggles of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, I argue that the empire actively engaged in strategies to assert sovereignty and counter European powers. This approach expands the concept of imperialism beyond Western-European frameworks and demonstrates that Muslim empires like the Ottomans employed distinctive methods—such as leveraging religious authority and Islamic identity—to legitimize rule and project influence.

The dissertation explores how the Ottoman state used religion as a tool of governance, particularly through its relationship with Zaydi jurisprudence and local elites in Yemen. By analyzing the 1911 Daʿan Agreement between the Ottoman administration and Imam Yahya, I show how imperial authority was negotiated rather than imposed, highlighting the agency of local actors in shaping governance. This perspective moves beyond top-down models of empire and reveals imperialism as a dynamic process influenced by local conditions, sectarian diversity, and global competition.

Ultimately, my work contributes to imperial historiography by redefining what “imperial” means in an Islamic context and offering a comparative framework for studying other Muslim regions under imperial influence. Through archival research in Ottoman, British, and French sources, I aim to illuminate how law, religion, and geopolitics intersected in Yemen, providing insights into the broader patterns of imperial formation and inter-imperial rivalry in the age of new imperialism.