Dr Kübra Zeynep Sariaslan is a social anthropologist specialising in gender and development with a focus on Turkey and Europe. Her book Empowering Housewives in Southeast Turkey: Gender, State, and Development is based on her dissertation, which she defended at the University of Zurich in 2018. She held a visiting fellowship at the University of Cambridge, where she researched on civil dialogue between Turkey and Armenia. She has also been a fellow at the London School of Economics and the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (Leibniz Association). Her recent work examined transnational politics and the creation of online news in exile. Currently, Dr Sariaslan is an associated researcher at the University of Bern and also teaches part-time.
Ethnic Discrimination Or Persecution
Forced Marriage
Gender-Based Violence/Domestic Violence /GBV
Government/State Actor Persecution
Journalist Persecution
Sexual Abuse/Assault
Political Persecution
Military/Police Service
Child Protection/Child Abuse
LGBTQ
Conducted independent research on exiled Turkish journalists in Europe, analyzing how they navigate political pressures and counter state-controlled narratives. Produced and presented expert articles and analyses addressing the intersections of exile, media freedom, and asylum-related issues.
PEER-REVIEWED MONOGRAPH
2023 Empowering Housewives in Southeast Turkey: Gender, State and Development. London: I.B. Tauris.
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES
2025 “Silent Stories: Reporting Armenia in Turkey's Independent Media” Journalism Practice (published online ahead of print) (SSCI/Q2)
2024 “Local Meanings of Peace: The Politics of Words and Emotional Labor among Civil Society Practitioners in Armenia and Turkey” Caucasus Survey (published online ahead of print) (co-authored with Armine Avetisyan) (ESCI/Q2)
2020 “Capitalism's Housewife: A Biographical Analysis of Women’s Empowerment in Turkey” Urban Anthropology and Studies of World Systems and World Economic Development. 49(1-2): 85-118.
2020 “This Is Not Journalism: Mapping New Definitions of Journalism in German Exile” ZMO Working Papers 25.
2019 “Fragment for Two-Legged Trees" in "Forum: On Politics and Precarity in Academia," Sabine Strasser and David Loher (eds.), Social Anthropology 27 (S2): 107. (SSCI/Q2)
2019 “State Politics and Feminist Engagements” Zanthro - Zurich Anthropology Working Papers 6.
BOOK CHAPTERS
2025 “Heroes and the Villain: Reflections on Humanitarian Solidarity with Journalist in Exile.” In Collective (ed.), Exiled Intellectuals: Encounters, Conflicts, and Experiences in Transnational Context: Volume 1: Academia and Media. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 191-210.
REPORTS AND PROCEEDINGS
2023 “What’s Next in Civil Dialogue Work in Turkey and Armenia after the Second Karabakh War?” (with Armine Avetisyan and Ihsan Karayazı), https://whatisnext.blog/
2016 “Housewives ‘in Progress’: Stories of Gender-Balanced Development in Southeast Anatolia” Proceedings of Papers of International Conference on Knowledge and Politics in Gender and Women’s Studies. Ankara: METU. https://www.academia.edu/41790576/Metu_Gender_and_Women_Studies
2009 “Making-do Entrepreneurship: The Case of Bay Leaf Production.” In Özge Çelikaslan and M. Süha Ünsal eds. Rural Europe: Final Academic Articles. Ankara: Bilkent University.
PEER-REVIEWED BLOG POSTS
2024 (In Turkish) “Türkiye ve Ermenistan’daki Bağımsız Gazeteciler Barış Gazeteciliği Adına Nasıl Desteklenebilir?” Demos Research Association. 24 Jan. demos.org.tr/
2023 “Supporting Independent Journalists in Armenia and Turkey” Caucasus Edition. 25 Dec. caucasusedition.net/
2023 “A Warm Welcome or an Act of Domination? News Reporting of Armenia-Turkey Relations” Media@LSE (blog). 27 Jun. blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse
2023 (with Armine Avetisyan) “What the Turkish Election Means for Armenia-Turkey Relations?” EUROPP (blog). 18 May. blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog
2021 (In Turkish) “Ev Kadını” FeministBellek (blog). 10 October. feministbellek.org/ev-kadini
2021 “On Online News Making, Cultural Translation, and Journalism Industry in Exile” Platypus (blog). 8 Apr. https://blog.castac.org
2021 “Clampdown. How Turkey’s New Internet Law Threatens Journalists” Geschichte der Gegenwart (blog). 17 Mar. geschichtedergegenwart.ch
2020 “Speaking of Border” Anthroblog (blog). Feb. anthro.unibe.ch
2017 “Overlapped Precarities” Allegra Lab (blog). Dec. allegralaboratory.net.
35 Muddy Dog Run
Essex Junction, VT 05452 USA