I am a sociocultural anthropologist specializing in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Kurdish politics and society. I earned my PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Toronto in 2020, supported by a SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier scholarship. My dissertation examined the urban dynamics of the Kurdish struggle for self-determination in Diyarbakir, Kurdistan. This study looks at the shift of confrontation between the Kurdish movement and the Turkish state from mountains to the city, and how it has transformed Kurdish politics toward establishing a Kurdish democratic autonomy in the region and developing new forms of engagement with the state.
From 2020 to 2022, I held a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship at Wageningen University, where my research focused on the politics of youth within the Kurdish movement. My work continues to engage with themes of sovereignty, social justice, and grassroots resistance, particularly in the context of stateless peoples.
My recent research interests have expanded to global and comparative education, focusing on the role of higher education in conflict zones and in times of crisis. I look at how universities can serve as vehicles for peace and justice, particularly in areas affected by war and statelessness. I am interested to learn more about grassroots educational initiatives around the world that emphasize community learning, mobilization, and the establishment of alternative and abolitionist pedagogical movements.
From 2020 to 2024, I served as the co-director of the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Rojava in the autonomous northeast Syria, where I continue to advise universities in the region. I am also the host and producer of The Kurdish Edition podcast, which explores Kurdish culture, music, and politics.
I have organized and contributed to numerous academic workshops, conferences, and summer school programs. Notable events include the workshop Rethinking the University, Regenerating Solidarity at the Institute for European Ethnology at HU Berlin in June 2024, and the conference Rethinking University through the Rojava Revolution, co-organized with the Centre for Solidarity with Alternative Universities (CSUA) and Paris 8 University in March 2022. I also organized the Summer School Program Education for Peace with Justice: Learning from Communities of Resistance in collaboration with the University of Bremen, the Peace with Justice Network, and the Center for Solidarity with Alternative Universities (CSUA) in Summer 2023. I have delivered keynote speeches at the PEER Network Symposium Supporting and Learning from Universities in Times of Conflict at the University of Sussex in July 2023, and at the Abolition/Radical Pedagogy: University Education in Times of Crisis conference at the University of Bremen in October 2024.
My writings as an academic and commentator explore themes such as urban development, displacement, and resistance in Diyarbakir and Kurdistan; the politics of youth activism in the Kurdish movement; leftist political movements in Kurdistan; democratic autonomy in the Middle East and Kurdistan; refugee camps in Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan; global uprisings and anti-imperialist solidarity; and the role of higher education as a vehicle for peace and social justice in conflict zones like Rojava. My work has been featured in journals such as Social Anthropology, Middle East Report, Jadaliyya, and Upping the Anti as well as in public commentary outlets like Le Monde diplomatique – Kurdî, The Kurdish Peace Institute, and Roar Magazine.
My broader research interests include political anthropology, sovereignty, social justice, stateless democracy, autonomy, grassroots movements, Kurdish culture and society, and the intersections between education, conflict, and radical pedagogies.
I have been teaching courses in anthropology, Middle East studies, Kurdish studies, social and political theory, and research methodology for several years at institutions including the University of Toronto, Wageningen University, the University of Rojava, and the University of Ottawa. At Carleton, I am currently teaching core anthropology courses that are ANTH1001 Introduction to Socio-Cultural Anthropology, ANTH2001 Foundations in Socio-Cultural anthropology, and ANTH3005 Ethnographic Research Methods. In addition to these course, I will be teaching ANTH4215 Anthropology of Utopia: Hope and Despair in Cultural Imaginations of the Future in winter 2025.
In Preparation. Utopian Politics in Kurdistan: How Jin, Jiyan, Azadî became a Global Slogan. Cultural Anthropology.
Forthcoming. Learning in the Midst of War: University and Resilience in Autonomous Northeast Syria/Rojava. Special Issue: Supporting and Learning from Universities in Times of Conflict: Towards Resilience and Resistance in Higher Education. Helen Murray, Birgul Kutan, Samia Al-Botmeh, Saradr Saadi, Mario Novelli, eds. Globalization, Societies and Education.
Forthcoming. “One city, two youth, many politics: the lived experience of Kurdish resistance among youth in Diyarbakir.” In Lived Experience: Critical Perspectives in a Changing World. Elaine Chase, Stephen Bell, Peter Aggleton, Purnima Mane, eds. UCL Press.
Forthcoming. “Reclaiming Knowledge, Rebuilding University: Higher Education against War and Repression in Autonomous Northeast Syria/Rojava.” In World Yearbook of Education 2026 - The Changing Geopolitics of Higher Education and Research: University Futures Reimagined. Katja Brøgger, Jenny Lee, Susan Robertson, and Hannah Moscovitz, eds. Rutledge.
2022. A Feminist Revolution is Challenging Iran’s Regime. Kurdish Peace Institute.
2022. “The Politics of Youth Activism in the Kurdish Movement.” In Jongerden, Joost, and Han Wiskerke. On meaningful diversity: past, present and future of Wageningen rural sociology. Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University.
2021. Waiting for Justice amidst the Remnants: Urban Development, Displacement, and Resistance in Diyarbakir. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale. 29(3): 847–861. doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.13083
2021. Essential Readings on the Left in Kurdistan. Jadaliyya and the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI).
2021. Global Uprisings and the Left’s Response: Re-theorizing Anti-imperialist Solidarity: A Roundtable with Edward Hon-Sing Wong, Sardar Saadi, and Niloofar Golkar. Upping the Anti: a journal of theory and action. Issue 22.
2020. The New Wave of Politics in the Struggle for Self-Determination in Rojhelat. Middle East Report 295.
