I might have created a lot of pages of writing and designs for this project, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough to fit my gratitude for the number of people who made this project and my studies at Minerva University possible.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my undergraduate thesis advisor, my professor, and now also a friend - Robert A. Karl, for providing me with the warmest support, incredibly constructive feedback, professional inspiration, and good advice; for many lessons learned in the past two years of delving deeper into Historical Forces, and helping develop a passion in digital humanities, throwing many “aha!” movements in the studies of public and applied history, comparative history, and so much more.
I am incredibly thankful for many participants of the 2011 riots in the United Kingdom, who offered to be interviewed and had their voices represented in a non-governmental data source I used in my project, shedding light on injustices they have been facing due to police violence and systemic racism in different police force authorities across the U.K. Your voices inspired me to work on this project, humanize the narratives and data around riots, and seek building a more equitable and just society, accounting for its past and mitigating the legacies of prior oppressive systems.
I want to express immense gratitude to my dearest friends who offered inspiration, feedback, and different kinds of support with this project - Ella (my first motivation to take AH162, to read about Judith Butler and “othering”), Maryna, Marta, Maheem, Allison, Ujeza, Norika, Kalyane, Dodie, Sarneet, Tuan, Amanda, Nele, McKenna.
My big thank-you’s go to the greatest professors and mentors who contributed to building my knowledge for this project - Li-Lian Ang, Patrick Watson, Mark Kukis, Catherine Carter, Lindsey Fiorelli, Grace Woods-Puckett, Philip Sterne, Engin Volkan, Raquel H Ribeiro, Aboozar Hadavand, Casey Chadwell, Mohamed El Rous, Jim Salter.
Lastly, a huge, heartwarming, extremely special, 22-years-long-and-ongoing “ДЯКУЮ!” (UKR: “THANK YOU!”) goes to my mom, dad, brother, two grandmas - for always being there for me, for supporting me, for helping me grow as a kinder person, to others, and to myself. And thank-you’s to ~ thirty other family members who happen to almost always be there for me in the background when I call my close family members; you might not know it, but your laughter and jokes have really helped me keep going all of these university years.
Before I finish, a thank you to me for working on this project, being open to new ideas, and navigating many possible project directions - sometimes last minute, sometimes over time - it’s been a great learning experience!