People

Dr. Hilal Alkan

Research Fellow

Phone: +49-(0)30-80307-221 Personal website: https://zmo.academia.edu/hilalalkan
Research project: In the Company of Plants: Multispecies care and migrant home-making in Germany DFG Project Number: 458661090
Regional focus: Middle East and Europe, particularly Turkey, Syria and Germany
Dr. Hilal Alkan
Dr. Hilal Alkan

Positions

2021 - 2024
Researcher at ZMO
2020 - 2021
Research Fellow at ZMO
2018 - 2020
Georg Forster Fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at ZMO
2017 - 2018
Georg Forster Fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at Alice Salomon Hochschule
2016 - 2017
EUME Fellow at Forum Transregionale Studien
2013 - 2016
Assistant Professor at Istanbul 29 Mayıs University

Education

2007 - 2013
PhD in Political and International Studies, The Open University, Milton Keynes UK
2002 - 2006
MA in Sociology, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul
1998 - 2002
BA in Management, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

Scholarships, Research Fellowships, Awards

2017
Voltaire-Preis für Toleranz, Völkerverständigung und Respekt vor Differenz (Voltaire Award for Tolerance, International Understanding and Respect for Differences), Universitaet Potsdam
2017 - 2020
Georg Forster Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2016 - 2017
Europe in the Middle East-Middle East in Europe Fellowship, Forum Transregionale Studien
2007 - 2011
PhD Scholarship, The Open University
2006
European Studies Scholarship, Freie Universitaet, Berlin

Publications

Edited Books

2021. The Politics of the Female body in Contemporary Turkey: Reproduction, Maternity, Sexuality. Edited by Hilal Alkan, Ayşe Dayı, Sezin Topçu and Betül Yarar. I.B. Tauris.

2020, Urban Neighbourhood Formations: Boundaries, Narrations, Intimacies. Edited by Hilal Alkan and Nazan Maksudyan. Routledge.

Dissertation (e-print)

2013. Enchanted Welfare: Islamic Imaginary and Giving to Strangers in Turkey. The Open University, UK

Journal Articles

2022, "Caring (for) relations: Syrian refugees between gendered kin-contract and citizenship in Germany and Turkey", Citizenship Studies.

2021, 'The gift of hospitality and the (un)welcoming of Syrian migrants in Turkey', American Ethnologist, 48, 1-12.

2021, 'Temporal Intersections of Mobility and Informality: Simsars as (Im)moral Agents in the Trajectories of Syrian Refugees in Turkey and Germany', Migration Letters, 18, 2S. 201-213.

2020, 'Turkey: Civil Society & Marginalised Groups, Working Paper Series for the Governance Programme', ed. by Sanaa Alimia and Gianluca Parolin, Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations.

2019, ‘Sıkışıklıktan belirsizliğe: Almanya’ya göç eden Suriyelilerin gözünden Türkiye’ (Turkey in the eyes of Syrian Refugees who moved to Germany), Beyond Istanbul, the Journal of the Centre for Spatial Justice (5)

2018, ‘The sexual politics of war: Reading the Kurdish conflict through images of women’, Les Cahiers du CEDREF

2015, Kadınların Savaş Hakikatlerinin Peşinde’ (In Search of Women’s Truth of War), Feminist Politika (25)

Programmatic Papers

2021 (with Heike Liebau) ‘Witnessing as political activism: Zeitzeugen in Asia and the Middle East’. ZMO Programmatic Papers, 14. Berlin: Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient.

Book chapters

2022. Commemorating the First World War and its Aftermath: Neo-Ottomanism, Gender, and the Politics of History in Turkey. In: Neo-Ottoman Imaginaries in Contemporary Turkey, Springer, London.

2022. What makes it a home? A conversation on Syrian refugees, neighbourhoods and the right to be a host in Istanbul and Berlin. In: We, the City: Plurality and Resistance in Berlin and Istanbul, JOVIS, Berlin.

2021. 'Introduction' in The Politics of the Female body in Contemporary Turkey: Reproduction, Maternity, Sexuality. Edited by Hilal Alkan, Ayşe Dayı, Sezin Topçu and Betül Yarar. I.B. Tauris.

2021, (with Sezai Zeybek) Meyve Sineği ile %61/61% with the Fruit Flies. In: Mekanda Adalet Derneği/Center for Spatial Justice (Ed.), Istanbul.

2021, Eine prekäre Gegenwart in der Türkei. In: Lange, Katharina et al. Anfänge und Erinnerungen: Verbindungen und Begegnungen zwischen Syrien und Deutschland, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin.

2021, Abhängig von Simsar: Ein Notwendiges Übel. In: Lange, Katharina et al. Anfänge und Erinnerungen: Verbindungen und Begegnungen zwischen Syrien und Deutschland, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin.

2021. (with: Jurkiewicz, Sarah;Lange, Katharina; Hussein, Jamshid) Nachbarschaft. In: Lange, Katharina et al. Anfänge und Erinnerungen: Verbindungen und Begegnungen zwischen Syrien und Deutschland, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin.

2020, Syrian Migration and Logics of Alterity in an Istanbul Neighbourhood, in Urban Neighbourhood Formations: Boundaries, Narrations, Intimacies. Edited by Hilal Alkan and Nazan Maksudyan , Routledge: 180-199

2020, Introduction, in Urban Neighbourhood Formations: Boundaries, Narrations, Intimacies. Edited by Hilal Alkan and Nazan Maksudyan, Routledge, 1-14

2014, ‘Citizenship and Objection to Military Service in Turkey’, in Handbook of Global Citizenship Studies, Engin F. Isin ve Jack Harrington (eds), Routledge, London

2014, ‘Evin Dışında Ailenin Himayesinde: Kadınların Kent Deneyiminde Güven ve Temizlik’ (Under Family Protection: Notions of Security and Cleanliness in Women’s Urban Experiences), in Sınır Bilgisi, Ebru Kayaalp, Elif Çelebi ve Didem Haviloğlu (eds), Ayizi Yayınları, Ankara

2014, ‘Yoksulluğa Dokunmak: Beden, Disiplin ve İhtimam’ (Touching Poverty:,Body, Discipline and Care) TLÇK 2013 Derlemesi, Yedirenk Yayınları, İstanbul

2012, ‘Ethics of Care, Politics of Solidarity: Islamic Charitable Organisations in Turkey’, in Ethnographies of Islam: Ritual Performances and Everyday Practices, T. Pierret, B. Dupret, P. Pinto (eds), Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

2011, ‘Bir Aile Mekanında Cinsiyet, Cinsellik ve Güvenlik’ (Gender, Sex and Safety in a Family Place) in Mahrem Dönüşümler: Türkiye’de Sağlık, Beden ve Cinsellik. C. Özbay, A. Terzioğlu, N.Y. Yasin (eds), Metis Yayınları, Istanbul

 

Book reviews

2021, Urban Neighbourhood Formations: Boundaries, Narrations and Intimacies, Trafo - Blog for Transregional Research.

2018, Gaining Freedoms: Claiming Space in Istanbul and Berlin. B. Turam. Arab Studies Journal (16:1)

2015, Dişil Dindarlık: İslamcı Kadın Hareketinin Dönüşümü.(Feminine Piety: Transformation of  Islamist Women’s Movement) Z. Yılmaz, İnsan ve Toplum (9)

 

Translation to Turkish

2012, Gazze’nin Dipnotları, Joe Sacco, Ithaki, Istanbul (Footnotes in Gaza, Jonathan Cape 2009)

2011, Çatışma Sonrası Toplumlarında Hukukun Üstünlüğünü Sağlama Araçları: Hakikat Komisyonları, Birleşmiş Milletler İnsan Hakları Yüksek Komiserliği, Hakikat Adalet ve Hafıza Çalışmaları Merkezi, İstanbul (Rule-of-Law Tools for Post Conflict States: Truth Commissions, UNHCHR 2006)

2011, Hakikati Belgelemek, Louis Bickford, Patricia Karam, Hassan Mneimneh ve Patrick Pierce,Hakikat Adalet ve Hafıza Çalışmaları Merkezi, İstanbul (Documenting the Truth, ICTJ 2009)

2010, Güvenli Bölge Gorazde: Doğu Bosna’da Savaş, Joe Sacco, Ithaki, Istanbul (Safe Area Gorazde: War in Eastern Bosnia, Jonathan Cape 2007)

2009, Filistin – Edward Said’in önsözüyle, Joe Sacco, Ithaki, Istanbul (Palestine with Edward Said’s Introduction, Jonathan Cape 2006)

Recent Talks

21.10.2020: ‘Roundtable: Encountering Immigration Regimes: Syrian Refugees in Europe and Beyond’, The Here and Now in Forced Migration: Everyday Intimacies, Imaginaries, and Bureaucracies Workshop, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen

03.07.2020: ‘Gendered trajectories of a religious trope in negotiating Syrian migration to Turkey’, MIDEX Seminar Series, University of Central Lancashire

07.02.2020: ''Simsars as facilitators of mobility (?): Reflections on the moral rubric of Syrian refugees in Germany'', Transnationalism, (im)mobilities and informal practices in Europe, and beyond conference, University of South Lancashire

25.05.2019: ‘Neighbours, citizens, enemies: Negotiations of difference during the Syrian migration to Istanbul’, We the City: Plurality and Resistance in Berlin and Istanbul. Blickwechsel Conference, 23-25 May, Humboldt Universitaet Berlin

13.05.2019: ‘When today is all you could have: Syrian migrant temporalities between Turkey and Germany’, Lost and Gained on the Way: Placing ‘Transit Migration in Europe, Asia and Africa Conference, 13-14 May, ZMO, Berlin

16.04.2019: ‘From smuggler to realtor: Simsars as (im)moral agents in Syrian migrants’ lives’, 14-17 April, SIEF Congress, Santiago de Compostela

08.01.2019: ‘Discharge, displacement, exodus: intersecting routes of Turkish and Syrian migrants in Germany’, Ethnologisches Kolloquium, Universitaet Bayreuth

26.06.2018: ‘Displacement, Transnational Mobility and Religious Realities Workshop’, Regional Studies Association, 26-27 June, Collegium de Lyon, Lyon

13.07.2017: ‘Imaginary and Institution: The Afterlife of Waqf in the Turkish Welfare Regime’, Exploring Moral Economy and Civil Society in Eurasia Workshop, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale

07.07.2017: ‘When Images Collide: Workings of Sexuality in the Kurdish Conflict’, Imaging a ‘Middle East’, 6-7 July, Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Berlin

29.06.2017: ‘Europe Seen from the Inside and Outside’, Euroculture Summer School, 24 June-1 July, Universite de Strasbourg and Jagiellonian University, Krakow

17.05.2017: ‘Sexual Politics of the Turkish State in the Kurdish Conflict’, Kritische Türkeistudien Ringvorlesung, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Essen

24.04.2017: 'Between neighbourliness and animosity: Emergence of new polities during Syrian migration to Turkish cities’, Urban Studies Seminar, 24 April 2017, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin

24.03.2017: ‘Women's Initiative for Peace: Peace Activism and the Interaction Between Kurdish and Turkish Feminists’, Les Transformations du Régime du Genre en Turquie, 24 March, CEDREF, Paris 7 Diderot, Paris

30.11.2016: ‘Politics of Gender and Ethnicity in Turkey’, EUME Berliner Seminars, 30 November, Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin

Panel, Conference and Workshop Organisations

19-20.12.2020: Conference: Localization of Feminism, Havle Association, Istanbul, online (with Feyza Akınderdem, Burcu Kalpaklıoğlu and Fatma B. Demir)

13-14.05.2019: Conference: Lost and Gained on the Way: Placing ‘Transit Migration’ in Europe, Asia and Africa, Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin (with Katharina Lange, ZMO)

29.01.2019: Weber World Café on Changing Neighborhoods, Werkstatt der Kulturen Berlin (with Nazan Maksudyan, Centre Marc Bloch and Nadia von Maltzahn, Orient Institute Beirut)

23.06.2018: Panel and workshop: We are not waiting for the revolution: Feminist struggles in times of crisis-Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Iran. Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin (with Mariana Karkoutly, HU; Nil Mutluer, HU and Maria Hartmann, Adopt a Revolution)

17-18.05.2018: Workshop: Neighborhoods at Times of Crises and Change. Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin (with Nazan Maksudyan, ZMO)

2017-2018: Urban Studies Seminar Series: Urban Spaces of Arts, Leisure and Sports. Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin (with Nora Lafi and İlkay Yılmaz, ZMO)

28-30.08.2017: Panel: Refugees Welcome? The politics of hospitality and care in Turkey and Europe. PACSA Annual Conference, Amsterdam (with Pınar Şenoğuz, LMU Göttingen)

5-6.11.2016: Conference: Forced Displacement and Gender (Yerinden Edilme ve Toplumsal Cinsiyet Konferansı), Istanbul (with Hülya Dinçer, Zeynep Kıvılcım and others)

Media Appearance

Since March 2020: Bi-weekly radio programme ‘Havadan Sudan’, co-hosted with Sezai Ozan Zeybek, Özgürüz Radio.

08.03.2023: Deutsche Welle Türkçe, Almanya'da kadın cinayetlerine ömür boyu hapis talebi.

26.06.2017: Deutsche Welle Türkçe, BerlinCanlı

Selected Teaching

Winter Term 2020-2021: Methodology Workshop, Social Work as a Human Rights Profession MA program, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin.

Winter Term 2020-2021: C2 Module on Practice of Human Rights Based Social Work: Locally, Nationally, Internationally, Social Work as a Human Rights Profession MA program, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin.

Winter Term 2019-2020: C2 Module on Practice of Human Rights Based Social Work: Locally, Nationally, Internationally, Social Work as a Human Rights Profession MA program, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin.

Summer Term 2018-2019: D/E module on Research Methods, Social Work as a Human Rights Profession MA Program, Alice Salomon Hochshule Berlin

2019: Development and implementation of the training modules ‘Ecological Thinking’, Türkiye Eğitim Gönüllüleri Vakfı (TEGV) with Sezai Ozan Zeybek

Winter Term 2018-2019: Workshop on Gender and Care as part of the Gender Module, Social Work as a Human Rights Profession MA Program, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin

Winter Term 2018-2019: D/E module on Research Methods, Social Work as a Human Rights Profession MA Program, Alice Salomon Hochshule Berlin

Winter Term 2017-2018: Academic Writing Workshops, Social Work as a Human Rights Profession MA Program, Alice Salomon Hochshule Berlin

Summer Term 2015-2016: Sociology of Religion, Sociology Department, Istanbul Bilgi University

Winter Term 2015-2016: Migration and Social Work, Department of Social Work, Istanbul 29 Mayıs University

Winter Term 2015-2016: Gender and Social Work, Department of Social Work, 2nd year elective, Istanbul 29 Mayıs University

Winter Term 2014-2015: Sociology of the Modern Turkish Society, Department of Philosophy, Istanbul 29 Mayıs University

Winter Term 2013-2014: Human Geography, Anthropology MA Program, Yeditepe University, Istanbul

Thesis Supervision

Jennifer Schmid, MA Thesis, Transportation of Conflict: The Significance of the Kurdish Conflict in the Everyday Life of Kurdish and Arab Refugees from Syria in Germany, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, submitted November 2020

Cristina Guglielmini, MA Thesis, Monitoring Human Rights Violations at European Borders, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, submitted September 2019

Marlene Auer, MA Thesis, Criminalization of independent solidarity groups and organizations, providing assistance to refugees and migrants at Europe’s borders, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, submitted September 2019

Rebekka Johannes, MA Thesis, The experiences of family caregivers to persons with severe mental problems: perspective of rural Namibia, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, September 2019

Ivis Villareal Mendoza, MA Thesis, Transgenders in Venezuela and their Struggle for Identity and Recognition, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, submitted March 2019

Charity Smith, MA Thesis, Alternative Family Life in Canada: The Lived Experiences of Polyamorous Families in the Fringes of Legality Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, submitted September 2018

Marit Bugge, MA Thesis, Obedience and Dehumanization – Placing the Dublin Regulation within a Historical Context, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, submitted September 2018

Ina Thyra Oenema, MA Thesis, (Body)Mapping Statelessness: Bodies, Borders and Belongings, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, submitted August 2018

Noor Flihan MA Thesis, Voluntary Work and Social Work:  Two Activities Encountering Human Rights Issues, Filling in the Spaces, Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin, submitted August 2018

Memberships

  • Regional Studies Association, Research Network on the Politics of Displacement, Identity and Urban Citizenship in Migratory Contexts (2017-2018)
  • Academy of Exile Collegium (2017)
  • International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (since 2019)

Languages

  • Turkish: native speaker
  • English: full fluency (C2)
  • German: upper intermediate level (B2)

Recent Talks

03.07.2020: ‘Gendered trajectories of a religious trope in negotiating Syrian migration to Turkey’, MIDEX Seminar Series, University of Central Lancashire

25.05.2019: ‘Neighbours, citizens, enemies: Negotiations of difference during the Syrian migration to Istanbul’, We the City: Plurality and Resistance in Berlin and Istanbul. Blickwechsel Conference, 23-25 May, Humboldt Universitaet Berlin

13.05.2019: ‘When today is all you could have: Syrian migrant temporalities between Turkey and Germany’, Lost and Gained on the Way: Placing ‘Transit Migration in Europe, Asia and Africa Conference, 13-14 May, ZMO, Berlin

16.04.2019: ‘From smuggler to realtor: Simsars as (im)moral agents in Syrian migrants’ lives’, 14-17 April, SIEF Congress, Santiago de Compostela

08.01.2019: ‘Discharge, displacement, exodus: intersecting routes of Turkish and Syrian migrants in Germany’, Ethnologisches Kolloquium, Universitaet Bayreuth

26.06.2018: ‘Displacement, Transnational Mobility and Religious Realities Workshop’, Regional Studies Association, 26-27 June, Collegium de Lyon, Lyon

13.07.2017: ‘Imaginary and Institution: The Afterlife of Waqf in the Turkish Welfare Regime’, Exploring Moral Economy and Civil Society in Eurasia Workshop, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale

07.07.2017: ‘When Images Collide: Workings of Sexuality in the Kurdish Conflict’, Imaging a ‘Middle East’, 6-7 July, Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Berlin

29.06.2017: ‘Europe Seen from the Inside and Outside’, Euroculture Summer School, 24 June-1 July, Universite de Strasbourg and Jagiellonian University, Krakow

17.05.2017: ‘Sexual Politics of the Turkish State in the Kurdish Conflict’, Kritische Türkeistudien Ringvorlesung, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Essen

24.04.2017: 'Between neighbourliness and animosity: Emergence of new polities during Syrian migration to Turkish cities’, Urban Studies Seminar, 24 April 2017, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin

24.03.2017: ‘Women's Initiative for Peace: Peace Activism and the Interaction Between Kurdish and Turkish Feminists’, Les Transformations du Régime du Genre en Turquie, 24 March, CEDREF, Paris 7 Diderot, Paris

30.11.2016: ‘Politics of Gender and Ethnicity in Turkey’, EUME Berliner Seminars, 30 November, Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin

Panel, Conference and Workshop Organisations

13-14.05.2019: Conference: Lost and Gained on the Way: Placing ‘Transit Migration’ in Europe, Asia and Africa, Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin (with Katharina Lange, ZMO)

29.01.2019: Weber World Café on Changing Neighborhoods, Werkstatt der Kulturen Berlin (with Nazan Maksudyan, Centre Marc Bloch and Nadia von Maltzahn, Orient Institute Beirut)

23.06.2018: Panel and workshop: We are not waiting for the revolution: Feminist struggles in times of crisis-Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Iran. Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin (with Mariana Karkoutly, HU; Nil Mutluer, HU and Maria Hartmann, Adopt a Revolution)

17-18.05.2018: Workshop: Neighborhoods at Times of Crises and Change. Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin (with Nazan Maksudyan, ZMO)

2017-2018: Urban Studies Seminar Series: Urban Spaces of Arts, Leisure and Sports. Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin (with Nora Lafi and İlkay Yılmaz, ZMO)

28-30.08.2017: Panel: Refugees Welcome? The politics of hospitality and care in Turkey and Europe. PACSA Annual Conference, Amsterdam (with Pınar Şenoğuz, LMU Göttingen)

5-6.11.2016: Conference: Forced Displacement and Gender (Yerinden Edilme ve Toplumsal Cinsiyet Konferansı), Istanbul (with Hülya Dinçer, Zeynep Kıvılcım and others)