As a social historian, Taryn Marashi specializes in conflict studies, social power, criminality, urban architecture and design, and law in medieval Islamic societies. Fascinated by the interrelationship of urban space and violence, Taryn focuses on the broader processes of social change in medieval Islam. She has received several fellowships from Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt University, and the US Department of State for language studies.
Currently, Taryn is turning her dissertation titled, Terrains of Tension: Mapping Violence in Medieval Islamic Society, into a monograph. Terrains of Tension reconsiders the topography of Middle Eastern cities, and the way violence impacted different forms of urban architecture in the years between 850 and 950 CE. She has also published in prestigious international journals and participated in various scholarly collaborations with Vanderbilt University and the University of Leiden.
Taryn is a member of a U.S.-Israeli archaeological project at Caesarea, a major port in the Roman to Islamic era. She leads excavations, conducts historical and material culture analysis of Caesarea and its role in the broader Mediterranean mercantile network, and teaches undergraduate participants about Middle Eastern History and the Islamic World. In addition, she provides Arabic translation for the Caesarea-Maritima DH archive.
At Augsburg, she teaches introductory and advanced courses on Middle Eastern History, Islam, and World History. Her courses include World History to 1500, Introduction to Islam and Islamic Civilizations, Plague and Contagion in the Premodern World, Violence in Islam, and Rogues and Rebels across the Mediterranean. She is also a participating faculty member in the Religious Studies program.
Taryn is a member of the American Historical Association, the Middle East Studies Association, and the Medieval Academy of America.
Education
BA Agnes Scott College
MA Washington University
PhD Vanderbilt University