Amanda Lanzillo

As an International History major in the SFS, Amanda wanted to study a language that would help her understand historical connections between multiple global regions. Knowing that Persian functioned as a political and literary lingua franca across significant portions of the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and other regions until the 19th century, studying Persian at Georgetown introduced her to new literature, cultural practices, and connected histories, and enabled her to spend a year studying abroad in Tajikistan as well as working as a teaching assistant for Professor Mostowfi’s first-year Persian course. The Persian program therefore gave her the first experience with university-level teaching, and strengthened interest in continuing in academia. After graduating from Georgetown, Amanda completed an MA and a PhD at Indiana University, continued to study Persian, and regularly used it while conducting archival research studying South Asian history in India. Amanda is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Princeton University Society of Fellows, and will work as a Lecturer / Assistant Professor at Brunel University, London.