Üsküdar Üniversitesi student Havvanur Özdemir's master's thesis, “Uçurum Kırlangıçları,” which examines the phenomenon of migration through the lens of women, particularly mothers, has been published as a book.
Havvanur Özdemir, a graduate of İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi's Sociology Department, completed her master's degree as a student of Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör in Üsküdar Üniversitesi's Faculty of Communication, Department of Media and Cultural Studies. Özdemir, since the start of the Syrian crisis in March 2011, visited camps in her hometown Gaziantep and examined the phenomenon of migration through women, especially mothers. Özdemir, who presented the initial findings of her research at the International Migration and Children Symposium organized by Üsküdar Üniversitesi in 2017, had this work included in a book published in England by Transnational Press London.
A Look at the Migration Phenomenon from Prague
To better understand the phenomenon of migration and observe different experiences firsthand, Havvanur Özdemir, who completed her Erasmus program and internship at Charles University's Centre for Geographical Migration in Prague, examined the migration phenomenon from a different perspective. Özdemir, who was a visiting researcher at the Finnish Institute of Migration in 2018, also worked as a coordinator in the Ista Women's Association's EU project titled “Skilled Women Are Coming.”
Continues Her Studies in the USA
Havvanur Özdemir completed her master's thesis titled “The Phenomenon of Migration and Changing Migration Discourses Through the Eyes of Syrian Mothers” in the Department of Media and Cultural Studies at Üsküdar Üniversitesi's Faculty of Communication in September 2020. Havvanur Özdemir, who has been working on the phenomenon of migration, forced migration, education of Syrian migrant children, Syrian migrant mothers, changing migration discourses, and EU projects since 2011, has been continuing her studies in America since October 2020.
“Woman and Migrant are Secondary Positions in This Order”
Havvanur Özdemir's thesis, on which she has been working for a long time regarding migration and migrants, was recently published as a book by Lejand Yayınları. Prof. Dr. Nazife Güngör, who wrote the foreword for the book, which has taken its place on the shelves, draws attention to the phenomenon of migration and women with these sentences: “Being a woman and being a migrant. Both, unfortunately, are secondary positions in this world order that humanity has established for itself. Life is always difficult for those in secondary positions. Women are the dependent segment of the male-dominated order, and migrants are in a secondary position compared to the citizens of the country they currently live in; both women and migrants are objects of the lives they live. At this point, the tragedy is doubled for Syrian women migrants. Being both a woman and a migrant has truly transformed life into a tragedy for them. This is also an important social and humanitarian problem that needs to be addressed and ameliorated. Drawing attention to social and humanitarian problems through specific, rather than general, interventions and developing solutions is more realistic and valid. With her work on Syrian refugee/migrant women, Havvanur Özdemir aimed to make a concrete contribution to this social problem and draw attention to this area.”