This week our team’s paper was presented at IMISCOE’s annual conference, on a panel about methodological considerations in digital migration studies.
Open access publication of commentary in issue #4 of Spheres on Media and Migration
I was asked to write a commentary for the latest issue of Spheres: Journal for Digital Cultures. The journal is open access, and this issue is dedicated to the theme of international migration and the […]
Symposium on the Politics of Twitter at the University of Amsterdam
Yesterday I dropped by an inspiring symposium on Public Lives/Private Platform: The Politics of Twitter organized by Matt Cornell and co. at the University of Amsterdam. Was a great, self-organized space for activists, academics, journalists, and critical tech enthusiasts of many sorts. The keynote lecture by Jillian York on the history of the hashtag was very cool and it was a pleasure to meet her.
Fieldwork blog: the many Istanbuls
The sheer expanse of Istanbul means that my respondents only really live in a few neighbourhoods of it.
Fieldwork blog: Gurbetci
To understand the historical, political, and emotional resonance of this migration, we must first analyse such categories as gurbet and gurbetci. The gurbetci – one who lives in exile, diaspora, or away from the homeland – lives in a state […]
Fieldwork blog: what do border-crossing videos do?
The first people I spoke with in Istanbul mentioned the protests outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam. This demonstration had followed the Dutch authorities’ decision to disallow Turkish ministers entry into the Netherlands to campaign for the […]
My book is out: ‘The Internet and Formations of Iranian American-ness’
I’m very happy to share that my book has been released.
Fieldwork blog: The Amsterdam-Istanbul connection vs. The Hague-Ankara tension
A week ago I was in Amsterdam, preparing for a month of field research in Istanbul. That same moment happened to be a time of exceptional diplomatic tension between the Netherlands and Turkey. What did that mean for the Turkish-Dutch connections of migration and digital media I wanted to study?
Guest lecture on using data visualization methods in anthropological research
I’m glad to have the rather unique opportunity of giving a guest lecture this week to anthropology students who want to know more about the possibilities of data visualization methods within an ethnographic research design. The lecture is part of a methods module in the Anthropology Bachelor at the University of Amsterdam that directly addresses questions about how compatible “qualitative” and “quantitative” methods are with one another.
Guest Lecture on Digital Memory
In January, 2017 I’ll be giving a guest lecture in the wonderful course, Somatechnics: Bodies and Power in a Digital Age, led by Dr. Domitilla Olivieri and Dr. Magda Gorska. My lecture will be based on a chapter of my book, The Internet and Formations of Iranian American-ness, which will also be coming out in 2017. The chapter focuses on how practices of collectively remembering the past involve various forms of media. Specifically, it raises questions about what digital mediation does to these practices of remembering. One of the striking examples that I discuss in the chapter is The Cat and the Coup.
