Episode 6: Serhun Al on Kurdish Movements, Peace, and the Role of Researchers in Society

In this episode, Anne Kirstine talks to Serhun Al about his fieldwork on Kurdish movements in Turkey and beyond. Serhun reflects on his own Kurdish roots and how they influence his research. He also explains how he navigates his positionality when conducting interviews in conflict zones, and shares his reflections on researcher neutrality.Serhun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Izmir University of Economics, where he recently returned after spending a year as a visiting scholar at the State University in Ohio. His research, published in both Turkish and English, focuses on ethnicity, nationalism, and security studies in the Kurdish Middle East and Turkey.