Makena Mezistrano

Makena Mezistrano is a PhD student in the Department of History. She is interested in Jewish intellectual networks across the Ottoman Empire and Europe and the mechanisms by which Ottoman Jews connected and communicated with their peers beyond the imperial borders. Makena earned a BA in English literature and an MA in Biblical and Talmudic Interpretation, both from Yeshiva University. After finishing her master's degree, Makena returned to her native Seattle and served as the Assistant Director of the Sephardic Studies Program in the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Washington. Makena's writing has appeared in The Forward, AJS Perspectives, The Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, and local Seattle magazines.