Azat Gundogan, Ph.D.

Honors Faculty- Dr. Azat Gundogan Headshot

Dr. Gundogan is an urban sociologist by training and holds BA and MA degrees in political science. He researches how people produce and organize space and time. This interest takes him to cities in the Global South, especially those on the edges, in my case, the broader Istanbul area. He has published articles and book chapters on peripheral urbanization in the broader Istanbul region, anti-urban renewal mobilization, and the Kurdish political movement in Turkey. He is also working on a book, provisionally titled Peripheral Urbanization and Urban Politics in the Istanbul City-Region. This work seeks to develop a holistic understanding of how the relentless growth of Istanbul – now classified as a third-tier global city – has formed and transformed its surroundings and how the makers of peripheral cities – migrant laborers – have negotiated living and working conditions in relation to the outlying status of their cities. His methodology combines urban ethnography, archival research in official archives and local and national periodicals, and governance and policy analysis. Before FSU, Dr. Gundogan taught at both large research universities and selective private liberal arts colleges in diverse settings in both the U.S. and Turkey, where he has worked with students from many different backgrounds. He held assistant professorships at the University of Michigan-Flint (2013-2014) and Mardin Artuklu University (2014-2016) in Turkey. During the 2017-2018 academic year, he has taught courses on sociological theory and urban sociology at FSU's Department of Sociology as a visiting assistant professor. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Gundogan is also a translator. He has co-translated five academic books from English to Turkish and dreams of one day translating a science fiction or fantasy novel. Outside the HSF, he is a sourdough baker and self-taught drawer (still learning crosshatching technique with an ink pen while being my sternest critic).

Social (In)equalities - IDH 3117
This course explores the structures and institutions of social inequality along the intersectional axes of class, race, and gender/sexuality by focusing on how these categories are socially constructed, maintained, and experienced.

Utopias/Dystopias: An Homage to Social Dreaming - IDH 3118
As models of a perfect society or fictional contemplations of bleak futures, utopias, and dystopias shed light on our present condition. This course examines utopian thinking, differing perspectives on state-society relations, and the question of individual freedom within society through various materials such as political manifestos, movies, novels, or poems.

Everyday Life: Time/Space/Power – IDH 3401
This course focuses on everydayness as an object of inquiry. We focus on the notions of habits, routines, tempo, rhythms, plans, schedules, and programs, boredom, lack of spontaneity and surprise, anxiety, and familiarity. We explore the intricate relationships between power, social space, everyday life, and the web of rhythms, places, objects, and bodies.

Global Urbanization – IDH 3407
In this course, students focus on the great urban diversity (e.g., language, citizenship, religion, ethnicity/race, class, socioeconomic status, gender, and sexuality).