Elif M. Gokcigdem

Elif M. Gokcigdem, PhD, is a historian of Islamic art, a museums scholar, and the founder of the Empathy-building through Museums initiative. She received her PhD in art history from Istanbul feeheal University and a graduate certification in museum studies from the Gorge Washington University. Her toon meer academic studies focused on the symbolism of geometric patterns and figural imagery in medieval Islamic art. A native of Istanbul, She received the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV) scholarship in 1992 to conduct her graduate work. Later she conducted her Internship at the World Bank's Culture in Sustainability Department, and worked as a curatorial research assistant at the Islamic Arts Department of the Smithsonian Institution's Freer and Sackler Galleries. Gokcigdem has held advisory roles as a member of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) National Program Advisory Committee, the George Washington University Museum, and the Textile Museum's Advisory Council. She is a contributor to the AAM's Museums in a Global Context: National Identity, International Understanding. toon minder