PUBLICATIONS

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Demirsu, Ipek (2023) Book Review: The Return of the Native: Can Liberalism Safeguard Us Against Nativism?", by Jan Willem Duyvendak, Josip Kesic, Timothy Stacey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), in Ethnic and Racial Studies, Doi: 10.1080/01419870.2023.2226716.

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The book is a timely and engaging read that offers a systematic unpacking of the nativist logic between identity and territory, which has become ever more pervasive in western liberal democracies.

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Demirsu, Ipek (2022) "The ‘Anti-gender’ City of Verona and Grassroots Spatial Resistance: An Interspatial Analysis of Contentious Politics," (11 December 2022) About Gender: International Journal of Gender Studies. DOI: 10.15167/2279-5057/AG2022.11.22.2072.

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Internationally renowned as the romantic setting of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, the formulation of ‘love’ the city of Verona has come to champion is premised on heteronormative scripts, where the ‘natural family’ between ‘natives’ is espoused as the panacea against the ills of a globalizing society. It is no coincidence that Verona was the choice of venue for the World Congress of Families in 2019, as the city has become a laboratory of the anti-gender movement amidst the decades-long resistance of feminist and LGBTQ+ groups. Premised on three years of fieldwork, this article employs a tripartite interspatial analysis to unpack the making of an ideal ‘anti-gender space’ on the one hand, and the protracted grass-roots resistance on the other hand in the mid-sized Italian city of Verona. Starting with the traditional field of political space, the article first addresses the conflict over citizenship rights in the city between the anti-gender alliance among institutional and non-institutional actors and the grassroots struggle for the recognition of sexual and reproductive rights. The second dimension explores the everyday dynamics of contentious movements in shared urban spaces involving border drawing and bor-der-erasing in city space. And thirdly, representations of territoriality and counter-territoriality on semantic space is analyzed, where urban imaginaries can act as stimulus for connecting with transnational actors. The article seeks to expand the interdisciplinary dialogue on the spatialities of sexual politics between critical geography and political sociology. It is argued that a spatial analysis of contentious sexual politics needs to take into account all three interwoven dimensions to fully understand the role of the ‘local’ within the ‘transnational’ in the nexus of state-movement-countermovement.

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Demirsu, Ipek, (2021) “Watching Them Grow: Intergenerational Video-Calling

Among Transnational Families in the Age of Smartphones,” (5 July 2021) Global Networks. DOI: 10.1111/glob.12334.

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This article investigates the novel forms of intergenerational communication in transnational families introduced by the widespread use of video-calls on smartphones. Centring on the kin-keeping role of the mother, the study analyses 30 semi-structured interviews with migrant Turkish mothers living in 10 different countries around the world, as the facilitators of video-calls and intergenerational mediators. It is argued that smartphone mediated video-calls add new dimensions to the communication that expand the possibilities of self-expression and bonding for the migrant child with their grandparents in the form of visual performance, spatial sharing and spatio-temporal longing, while offering new ways of carrying out traditional grandparenting roles in a digitalized setting. Such intergenerational communication is mediated by migrant mothers as manifested through the practice of simultaneous multigenerational communication engaging all three generations on different forms of exchange enabled by the device itself. Although the new generation born into the digital age struggle with the paradox of separation vis-à-vis virtual togetherness, everyday video-calls on smartphones not only help keep the image of ‘family’ alive for the migrant child, they also generate a circumambient virtual setting that permits the transfer of family culture, knowledge and values wherein the younger generation can learn from the parent–grandparent relationship model.

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Demirsu Ipek & Müftüler-Baç, Meltem (2019) "The Turkish-EU Cooperation on the Refugee Crisis: The Turkish Perceptions in the Parliamentary Debates," in (eds.) Kolja Raube, Jan Wouters, and Meltem Müftüler-Baç, Parliamentary Cooperation and Diplomacy in EU External Relations, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

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Turkey faces many challenges managing the intake of an unprecedented number of refugees and feels the ramifications of the Syrian crisis the most. As the human tragedy of refugees fleeing their war-torn country unfolded, the need for a viable cooperation between Turkey as a candidate country and the EU has proven to be vital in overcoming a common challenge, resulting in the reutilization of the Readmission Agreement and a congruent Joint Action Plan. Hence, this chapter undertakes an investigation of how this partnership was framed in the Turkish political scene in the nexus of the oscillating path of Turkey’s accession process and the gravest humanitarian crisis of our times. In this context, parliamentary representation presents itself as an inclusive site wherein a plethora of political viewpoints find expression in deliberating key policies. The analysis suggests that there has been a general tendency of skepticism towards the EU in the Turkish political discourse, and a concomitant expectation for a more committed involvement in the refugee issue, which is increasingly framed in a security narrative. 

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Demirsu, Ipek & Cihangir-Tetik, Damla, (2018) “Constructing the Partnership with Turkey on the Refugee Crisis: EU Perceptions and Expectations,” in Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, vol. 21 no. 6, pp. 625-642. DOI: 10.1080/19448953.2018.1506291.​

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Turkey faces many challenges managing the intake of an unprecedented number of refugees and feels the ramifications of the Syrian crisis the most. As the human tragedy of refugees fleeing their war-torn country unfolded, the need for a viable cooperation between Turkey as a candidate country and the EU has proven to be vital in overcoming a common challenge, resulting in the reutilization of the Readmission Agreement and a congruent Joint Action Plan. Hence, this chapter undertakes an investigation of how this partnership was framed in the Turkish political scene in the nexus of the oscillating path of Turkey’s accession process and the gravest humanitarian crisis of our times. In this context, parliamentary representation presents itself as an inclusive site wherein a plethora of political viewpoints find expression in deliberating key policies. The analysis suggests that there has been a general tendency of skepticism towards the EU in the Turkish political discourse, and a concomitant expectation for a more committed involvement in the refugee issue, which is increasingly framed in a security narrative. 

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Demirsu, Ipek (2017) "Talking Security and Rights: Framing the Counter-terrorism Legislation in the UK." Journal of Language and Politics, vol. 16 issue. 6, DOI:10.1075/jlp.15043.dem. 

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This article addresses the question of how draconian counter-terrorism policies are legitimized in long-established democracies. Being the heartland of liberal rights, the UK comes to the fore as a striking case where some of the most controversial security policies have been enacted. The study undertakes a systematic frame analysis of UK parliamentary debates with the help of ATLAS.ti, which allows the analyst to trace and map out recurrent concepts, themes, and arguments as well as their overall distribution. While demonstrating the workings of securitization in the formulation of key counter-terrorism legislation, the study unearths how the security narrative in the UK context evidently relies on the language of rights in invoking legitimacy. The study suggests that far from negating the indispensable status of human rights, security narrative resorts to the latter’s moral power and mimics rights language, heralding the weight of these international norms even in hard-core security matters.

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Demirsu, Ipek & Müftüler-Baç, Meltem (2017) “The Turkish-EU Cooperation on the Refugee Crisis: The Turkish Perceptions in the Parliamentary Debates,” PACO Working Paper, No. 07 August 2017, Jean Monnet Network PACO-Interparliamentary Cooperation in the EU’s External Action.

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This exploratory research offers a comparative policy analysis of the so-called 'refugee crisis' from the point of view of Turkish policy-makers in light of Turkey's EU accession process.

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WORK IN PROGRESS

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Demirsu, Ipek. "Identitarian Movements in the Touristic City Center: The Marketing of Hate in Verona,"

Under review by International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.

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This paper articulates the historical center of Verona as a public space in which far-right and populist right-wing groups seek to construct an exclusionary local identity that draws on inter alia, the intersection of white supremacy, northern pride, and Catholic fundamentalism. It is argued that such perfectly preserved heritage and the presupposed authenticity of the city is not only utilized to forge ideal protagonists of city life, but is also marketed for touristic consumption. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, archival research, and in-depth interviews the study investigates the construction of an exclusionary local identity in the historical center of Verona through acts of territorialization and the marketing of the nativist nostalgia it is premised on.

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Demirsu, Ipek. "Visualizing Unlikely Co-existence: Bottom-up remapping of an outward-looking neighborhood," Under review by City & Community.

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In the Italian peninsula, the city of Verona comes to the fore not merely owing to its stunning historical, but also for its reactionary environment of intolerance premised on an imagined white northern identity. This is until one crosses the bridge to arrive at the neighborhood of Veronetta offering an inclusive outward-looking space with pluralist interconnections. Part of a three-year fieldwork, this research investigates the everyday practices of multiculturalism in shared urban spaces from the point of view of its inhabitants, allowing an oasis like Veronetta to strive in a city dominated by defensive localism. The visual participant method of photo-elicitation is utilized, where residents are asked to photograph and narrate their situated everyday practices. The article argues that existing sources of sociability are amplified through transformative placemaking practices of grassroots actors, turning this no-go zone into a movement space with extended cognitive borders that challenge exclusionary place-based identities.

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Demirsu, Ipek. "Heteronormative Territoriality in the City of Love: The ‘Anti-gender’ City of Verona and Grassroots Spatial Resistance," Under review by About Gender. 

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The article employs a tripartite interspatial analysis to unpack the making of an ideal ‘anti-gender space’ and protracted grassroots resistance thereof in the mid-sized Italian city of Verona. Starting with the traditional field of political space wherein the anti-gender alliance among institutional and non-institutional actors with resulting local policies are examined, in relation to an extended struggle for the recognition of sexual and reproductive rights. The second dimension explores everyday dynamics of contentious movements in shared urban spaces through practices of territorialization and deterritorialization. And thirdly, the symbolic rewriting of territoriality and counter-territoriality is presented as an interrelated semantic form of collective action, with repercussions in places beyond. It is argued that a spatial analysis of sexual politics needs to take into account all three interwoven dimensions to fully understand the role of the ‘local’ within the ‘transnational’ in the nexus of state-movement-countermovement.

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CONFERENCE PAPERS

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2022 May,  Weaving the Transnational Anti-gender Network Conference Scuola Normale Superiore (Florence)

 "Heteronormative Scripts of Belonging in the City of Love: Verona as a Stronghold of the Transnational Anti-gender Movement"           

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2021   September, 15th European Sociological Association Conference (Barcelona)

“Contending Movements in Shared Urban Spaces: Practices of Territorialization in Verona.”

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2021 June,  8th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference (Trento)

“Identitarian Movements in the Touristic City: The Marketing of Hate in Verona.”

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2021 January,  ESA RN 37 Urban Sociology Midterm Conference (Bologna)

“Visualizing Co-existence in Urban Spaces: City-zen Remapping of a Multicultural Neighbourhood.”

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2019 November, University of California Santa Cruz, Department of Sociology Colloquium Series (Santa Cruz)

“Verona the City of Love and Hate: The Struggle to Define City-scape and Belonging in the Age of Right-wing Populism.”

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2019 June, International Migration Conference (University of Aldo Moro, Bari) 

"Watching Them Grow: Intergenerational Video Chatting Among Migrant Children."

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2018 October, ETH Zürich Center for Comparative and International Studies Colloquium Series

“Counter-terrorism and the Prospects of Human Rights: Securitizing Difference and Dissent.”

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2017 September, 8th International Conference ICSR Mediterranean Knowledge-Medworks (University of Salerno)

"The Turkey-EU Cooperation on the Refugee Crisis: Turkish Perceptions in the Parliamentary Debates” (Co-authored with Prof. Meltem Müftüler-Baç)

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2017 March, The European Union and Turkey in Times of crisis (KU Leuven)

"The European Union's Perspective on The Refugee Deal with Turkey" (Co-authored with Damla Cihangir- Tetik) 

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2016 February, Parliamentary Cooperation and Diplomacy in Europe and Beyond International Conference (Brussels)

“Framing the Partnership: Expectations and Perceptions of the Turkey- EU Cooperation on the Refugee Crisis”

 

2015 October, Workshop at VU Amsterdam (Amsterdam)

"EU and the Democratization of National Security in Turkey: Policies and Perceptions, 

 

2015 June,  Security in the European Union and Its Neighborhood: Challenges and Policy Responses, with the  Support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Dundee)

“Breaking with the Dark Past? European Union and the Democratization of Security Policies in Turkey”

 

2015 April, Maximizing the Integration Capacity of Europe, Young Researchers Workshop (Istanbul)

“Breaking with the Dark Past? European Union and the Democratization of Security Policies in Turkey”

 

2015 April, Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference (Chicago)

“Prevalent Policy Frames in the Making of Counter-terrorism Policies: A Comparative Analysis of Turkey and the UK”

 

2013 November, New Zealand Political Science Association Conference (Christchurch)

“The Trade-off between Human Rights and National Security: A Comparative Analysis of the UK  and Turkey”

 

2012  June,   BISA-ISA Joint Conference (Edinburgh)

“Is WikiLeaks the Harbinger of Global Civil Society or a Re-affirmation of Realism in World Politics?”

 

2012  April,   Midwest Political Science Association Annual Conference (Chicago)

“Role of the European Public Opinion in Turkey’s EU-bid.”

 

2011  June,    ATINER-9th Annual International Conference on Politics & International Affairs (Athens) “Political Islam and The Spiral Model of Human Rights Change: The Case of Turkish Penal Code Reform and Women’s Human Rights.”

 

2010  September,   ECPR Graduate Conference (Dublin)

“Political Islam and the Protection of Women's Human Rights”

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