Dr. Mine Bek – Georg Bollenbeck Fellow 2017

Bollenbeck fellowship created an opportunity to continue my research and also to be part of the newly developing research project on pop, popular culture and populism.

I completed my Ph.D  at Loughborough University, the UK. I also have a shorter experience in the US as a visiting scholar at MIT. Even though I visited Germany several times to attend conferences, I never had a chance to stay longer than a week in the past. Neither Germany nor any other place outside Turkey were in my agenda until I was dismissed from my position as a professor in 2017 only because of signing a peace petition. My colleague who previously worked here recommended Siegen University to me.
My background is media studies. I think the interdisciplinary character of media studies and my research interests match with the academic tradition at the University of Siegen. My research aimed to map the digital initiatives of diaspora from Turkey in challenging authoritarianism.

I believe that the internationalization of Siegen University is a great chance for the city of Siegen to transform towards being a multi-cultural cosmopolitan city. The whole world needs critical academic work and encounterings.