I have taught courses and given lectures and tours on art, architecture, and urbanism in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Specific areas of focus are Ottoman and Turkish architecture and Eastern Mediterranean migration to the US. If you’d be interested in a course, talk, or tour, contact me. I am passionate about sharing lesser known histories of Boston which I do through a walking tour of Little Syria (more below).
Courses Taught
Instructor of Record – Introduction to Islamic Art and Architecture, Boston University
Teaching Assistant – Introduction to Art History: Renaissance to Modern, Boston University
Teaching Assistant – Introduction to Islamic Civilization, University of Washington
Digital Humanities
Co-created interactive, digital map of Boston’s Little Syria with Chloe Bordewich with a Small Grant for Early Career Publications from the Levanthal Map & Education Center at Boston Public Library and technical assistance from Ian Spangler. More on the map!
Talks
“Virtual Tour of Boston’s Little Syria” at Pao Arts Cener for “Arab Massachusetts: Building Community in the Commonwealth,” December 6, 2025.
“Boston’s Little Syria: Doing Digital / Public History,” at Ottoman Diasporas of New England symposium, Brandeis University, December 8, 2023.
“Peddlers, Acrobats, and Bootleggers: An Urban Geography of Boston’s Little Syria,” with Chloe Bordewich, Emine Bustani Middle East Seminar, MIT, November 7, 2023.
“Art? Craft? Industry? Education and Emerging Discourses of Creation in the Late Ottoman Empire,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, November 4, 2023.
“Syrian American Digital Public History Projects,” Middle East Librarians Association Annual Meeting, McGill University, November 1, 2023.
Panel participant at Syrian Heritage Archive Project International Networking Meeting focusing on reconstruction of Aleppo, Pergamonmuseum, Berlin, September 27-28, 2023.
“Wandering Boston’s Little Syria,” with Chloe Bordewich, Massachusetts Historical Society, April 19, 2023.
“Modern Architectures of Turkey” guest lecture at the Wellesley College Architecture Program for the course ARTH 228, March 10, 2023.
“‘Improve and Reform Them’ Creating Citizenship and Crafts in the Vocational School of Late Ottoman Baghdad,” Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture lecture, MIT, November 21, 2022.
“Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s Pentagon.” Gallery talk for International Women’s Day. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March 8, 2020.
Tours
Boston’s Little Syria : Boston’s former Syrian and Lebanese neighborhood (today’s Chinatown and South End), highlighting immigration history, architecture, schools, churches, food, civic & social clubs, the press, stores, restaurants, and important individuals. I give this tour on my own, with Chloe Bordewhich, and/or with one of our wonderful interns. We have given a dozen tours to about 300 people total so far, and look forward to offering more. Groups who have toured include:
- Harvard Art Museums
- UMass Boston’s Asian American Resource Office
- MIT Womens and Gender Studies
- St. John’s Preparatory School
Common Boston, June 3-4, 2017: greeted visitors to the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, answered questions, and gave a tour of the building highlighting its architecture history.
Lydia Harrington 