CFD Team Spotlight: Fulya Pinar, Research Support
The Newsletter Team sat down for an interview with one of our team researchers, Fulya Pinar, for an interview about her work, passions, hobbies, and special CFD projects. The transcript of our interview is below.
CFD Team: Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am from eastern Turkey, born in a snowy town, yet most of my youth was spent in the sunny coastal city of Antalya – a stark contrast to my hometown. I am a cultural anthropologist, working with internally and externally displaced people and their allies in Turkish cities, looking at the solidarity networks and movements established among them. Right now, I am working on my article and book projects, deriving from my ethnographic Ph.D. research.
CFD Team: What is your role within the Center?
I am providing research support on projects connected to migration in and through Turkey, working closely with colleagues and students within and beyond BU.
CFD Team: What experiences most directly led you to your role with the Center?
My two-year-long ethnographic project with diverse displaced communities and their allies across Turkey! Most displaced people reside as urban migrants in Turkey with constant uncertainty about their futures. Understanding how this influences their mobilities, livelihoods, and aspirations requires a long-term, engaged research – which connected me to the Center.
CFD Team: What inspires you about this work?
My focus has been extensively human-centered, prioritizing the lived experiences, stories, and needs of displaced communities. This knowledge is of great significance in an era where numerous politicians, mainstream media outlets, and many citizens discuss and scapegoat migrants without possessing substantial understanding of their realities. In my work, I emphasize the importance of understanding migration as part of multi-scalar violence across local and global scales, denaturalizing the rather simplistic narratives on migrant “illegality” and border “security.”
CFD Team: Tell us about some of your passions and hobbies outside of academia. What makes you you?
I draw ethnographic comics and illustrations, and draft prose and poems to match my illustrations. I also sing and play electric guitar (and try to learn classical kemanche). With my spouse, we regularly take very long walks in nature and we certainly do love good food – hence we do lots of cooking together.
CFD Team: Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I would like to be still teaching and writing. I also would like to initiate an experimental ethnography lab, where scholars, activists, artists, students, and local communities would come together to analyze complex social phenomena through engaged research and work on rendering knowledge more accessible.
CFD Team: Do you have any tips or advice for people starting in your field?
Embrace the multiplicity of voices and viewpoints and try to be comfortable with moments of uncertainty or difficulty in comprehending complex subjects. Foster meaningful connections with people that transcend the conventional dichotomy of the “researcher” vs. the “researcher.” Recognize that every individual possesses the capacity for – and actively engages in – critical analysis. The value in our work lies in our willingness to learn from others.