Merih Erol received her B.S. in Electric and Electronics Engineering, her M.A. in Sociology and her Ph.D. (2009) in History from Bogazici University, Istanbul. Her dissertation on “Cultural Identifications of the Greek Orthodox Elite of Constantinople: Discourse on Music in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries” investigated the relationships between musical discourse, identity formation, and the politics of power in the Greek Orthodox community of Constantinople in the nineteenth century. As a post-doctoral research fellow (2010-11) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Program for the History of Emotions, she expanded her research interests into the social and cultural study of religion, and particularly into the study of religious ethics. She now embarks on a new research project in which she attempts to examine the formation of pious and ethical “subjects” in nineteenth century Greece and the Ottoman Empire. Her project will explore issues of belief, discourses on religious experience and emotions, and controversies over worship practices within the Greek Orthodox populations.