Sophia Zervas

Sophia Zervas is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University studying Ethnomusicology. Her research examines the interaction of music, politics, and nationalism in the Mediterranean and West Asia. In her dissertation, she analyzes cultural and educational policy in Türkiye, with a focus on transformations in musical life under the incumbent government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the conservative Justice and Development Party. More broadly, Zervas is interested in topics of social memory, post-colonialism, popular music, and migration. She has received grants to conduct research from Harvard University, the American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT), and most recently, the Orient-Institut Istanbul (OII). She is also a Graduate Student Affiliate at Harvard's Weatherhead Center of International Affairs. Her paper "Dombra: A Microhistory of Migration," which traces the migratory path of a Nogai Turkic song to becoming an enduring election anthem of the AKP, won best paper presentation at the AATT (American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages) graduate pre-conference in 2021. Beyond her interests as a scholar, Sophia is an accomplished performer, and she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder with double B.M. degrees in piano and voice performance.