Full Biography
Dr. Janet Klein joined the University of Akron’s History Department in the fall of 2005. Her research has focused on state-society relations as well as nationalism, identity, and gender dynamics from a historical perspective, and her primary area of focus—late-Ottoman Kurdistan—has served as a lens through which she explores wider issues that extend beyond this geography and time period. Dr. Klein is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including the Fulbright-Hays fellowship for dissertation research abroad, and two University of Akron faculty research grants. She also received the University of Akron College of Arts and Sciences Chairs’ Award for Outstanding Research in Early Career in 2007. Dr. Klein is the author of The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone (Stanford University Press, 2011) and numerous other articles and book chapters, and is frequently invited to speak on topics related to her research. Dr. Klein enjoys sharing her research interests with students in the courses on Middle Eastern History that she teaches here at the University of Akron. Her current work explores the dynamics surrounding state-sponsored Kurdish militias in the late-Ottoman period, a topic she believes is timely and relevant for understanding—and hopefully solving—problems that arise when states sponsor militias elsewhere in the world. Dr. Klein created the University of Akron’s Certificates in Middle Eastern and Asian Studies, and continues to serve as director of the Certificate in Middle Eastern Studies. She is also the director of the World Civilizations program at the University of Akron.
