Research Interests
Space (Home space)
Homelessness and homemaking
Political philosophy
Gender, race/ethnicity
Forced migration
Feminist movements
Feminist political philosophy
Critical race theory
Current Research Projects
Making Sense of Homelessness and Homemaking in the Context of Conflict-Induced Displacement: A Feminist Perspective on Sur, Nusaybin and Berlin 2015-21
This study aims to make sense of difficulties arising from homelessness caused by displacement and to understand the difficulties, empowerment and coping mechanisms associated with homemaking practices. Based on the narratives and memories of displaced people (DP), the study focuses particularly on women who had to leave their homes during urban armed conflicts in the cities of Sur and Nusaybin in Turkey’s Kurdish region in 2015 and 2016 sometimes subsequently moving to Berlin as DP. The key concept of this study is the home place, which will be used as a theoretical axis by emphasizing the distinction between the public and private home place, not because private and public homes (neighborhood, city, homeland) are completely disconnected from one other but rather as a means of exposing different aspects of both realms without ignoring the interrelation between the two. The main research question is: What are the different meanings of home and homelessness (both public and private) that are expressed by DPs from Sur and Nusaybin and by those who went to Berlin? Specifically the research aims at analysing: 1. The displacement that occurred in 1992–1996 in Turkey’s Kurdish region, since most of the DPs who lost their homes during the 2015–2016 urban armed conflict had also been victims of that previous displacement, 2. The displacement that occurred in 2015–2016 in Sur and Nusaybin, 3. Difficulties related to homelessness in the narratives of DP in Nusaybin, Sur and Berlin, 4. Difficulties, empowerment mechanisms and coping strategies of homemaking in the narratives of DPs in Nusaybin, Sur and Berlin. The study has six complementary outputs: a monograph, an article, a position paper, a workshop, a digital story map and two publicity events.
Lectures
2024 “Homelessness and Homemaking at the Intersection of Public and Private: Nusaybin as a Border City in Post-Conflict: 2016-23”, Orient-Institut Istanbul, Research Colloquium.
2023 “Feminist Movements in Turkey” with Dr. Handan Çağlayan, Simurg Association, Berlin.
2023 “Homelessness and Homemaking at the Intersection of Public and Private: Nusaybin as a Border Cityi n Post-Conflict: 2016-23” GAMS Research Colloquium, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin.
2022 “Loss and Re-making of the Public and Private Home in Sur, Diyarbakır, Turkey 2015-2020” IPW Lecture Series, Vienna University, Vienna.
2021 “Thinking Surici Through the Home Space 2015-2020” Turkey Beyond Borders, Critical Voices New Perspectives (Online Seminar).
2021 “Thinking Surici Through the Home Space 2015-2020” ZMO, Berlin.
2020 “Thinking Surici Through the Home Space 2015-2020” Academy in Exile Colloquim, Freie University.
2020 “Thinking Surici Through the Home Space 2015-2020” Digital BiWeekly Colloquim, Gender and Media Studies for the South Asian Region, IAAW, Humboldt University.
2020 Thinking the Digital Course “Homelessness and Homemaking” as a Space of Sisterhood and an Intervention to the Mainstream Academy, Off-University, Berlin (Online Participation).
2019 İttifak, Dayanışma ve Çelişki Kavramları Işığında Türkiye’de Kadın/Feminist Hareketler [Women’s/Feminist Movements of Turkey in Light of the Concepts Coalition and Solidarity], DİSA (Diyarbakır Siyasal ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Enstitüsü), Diyarbakır.
2019 Suriçi’ni Ev Mekanı Üzerinden Düşünmek [Thinking Surici through the Home Space], Sabancı Üniversitesi Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Kadın Çalışmaları Mükemmeliyet Merkezi, İstanbul.
2019 İttifak, Dayanışma ve Çelişki Kavramları Işığında Özgür Kadın Hareketinin Türkiye Kadın/Feminist Hareketler İçindeki Konumu [The Positionality of the Free Women’s Movement within the Women’s/Feminist Movements in Turkey in Light of the Concepts Coalition, Solidarity and Conflict], Tarih Vakfı (History Foundation), İstanbul.
Publications
Editorialships
2023 Feministische/Frauenbewegungen in der Türkei: Ein historischer und intersektionaler Überblick, Orlanda Verlag, hrsg. mit Dr. Handan Çağlayan
2018 Sounds of Silence–V Kayseri’s Armenians Speak, Küçükkırca İ. A., Yılmaz A. (ed), HDV Publications. Sessizliğin Sesleri – Kayseri Ermenileri Konuşuyor, Küçükkırca İ. A., Yılmaz A. (ed), HDV Yayınları.
Articles
2024 “The Digital Course Homelessness and Homemaking as a Counter-Hegemonic Struggle against Illiberal Polypore States.”, with Prof. Andrea Petö, Global Studies Quartertly (Under Review).
2018 “İttifak, Dayanışma ve Çelişki Kavramları Işığında Türkiye’de Kadın/Feminist Hareketler” [“Women’s/Feminist Movements of Turkey in Light of the Concepts Coalition and Solidarity”], DISA Publications.
2018 “Thinking Suriçi Through the Home Space”/ “Suriçi’ni Ev Mekânı Üzerinden Düşünmek”, Heinrich Böll Foundation, DISA Publications.
2015 “20. Yüzyıl Feminist Düşüncesinde (Toplumsal) Cinsiyet Kavramının Dönüşümü” [“The Transformation of the Concept of Gender/Sexuality in the 20th Century Feminist Thought”], Kaos Queer+, Winter.
2015 Koalisyon ve Dayanışma mı? Ya da Belki Farklı Bir Yaklaşım: Kürdistan Özgür Kadın Hareketi ile Türkiye’deki Feminist Hareket Arasındaki İlişkisellik”, Trespassing: Toplumsal Cinsiyet, No.5, Kış.
2012 “Etnisite, Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Sınıf Ekseninde Mevsimlik Kürt Tarım İşçileri” , Toplum ve Kuram, No. 6-7, Kış-Güz.
Book Chapters
2024 “The Transformation of the Private Home in Sur, Diyarbakır after the Displacement, 2015-2020” “Culture, society and political economy in Turkey” book series with Peter Lang (Under Review).
2018 Epilogue “Home Space in the Narratives of Kayseri’s Armenians” Küçükkırca, İ. A., Yılmaz A. (ed.) Sounds of Silence–V Kayseri’s Armenians Speak, HDV Publications.
2017 “The Relation between the Feminist Movement in Turkey and Free Woman’s Movement in Kurdistan 2015-2016”, in Aksoy, Hürcan Aslı (ed.) Patriarchat im Wandel. Frauen und Politik in der Türkei [Patriarchy in Change. Women and Politics in Turkey], Campus Verlag.
2015 “Transformation of Rural Space: Kurdish Seasonal Hazelnut Workers in Diyarbakır”, in Jongerden J., Gambetti Z. (ed.) Spatial Reproduction of the Kurdish Issue. Routledge, 2015.
