Exile, Precariousness, and Subjectivity in Academia. Interview with Aslı Vatansever
In this podcast, we talk to Aslı Vatansever, author of the book At the Margins of Academia. Exile,
Precariousness, and Subjectivity (Brill, 2020) about academic precarity, political repression, and the
possibility for resistance.
Aslı Vatansever (PhD, University of Hamburg, 2010) is a sociologist of work and social stratification
with a focus on precarious academic labour. After she got dismissed from her position as associate
professor and banned from public service in Turkey due to her participation in the Academics for
Peace campaign in 2016, she has been hosted as guest researcher at various institutions in Germany
and Italy.
Her ongoing research project at Bard College Berlin investigates forms of academic labour
activism in Europe. Her books include Sources of Islamism in the Ottoman Empire (2010), Ready to
Teach Anything. The Transformation of the Academic into Unskilled Worker (2015, co-authored with
Meral Gezici-Yalçın), and At the Margins of Academia. Exile, Precariousness, and Subjectivity (2020).