Gökçe Günel
Biographic Data
| ID | 127288 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gökçe Günel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gökçe |
| FAMILY NAME | Günel |
| SIGNATURE | GÜNEL G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Arizona |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8848-8121 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 108 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Patchwork Ethnography
Patchwork ethnography
Many ethnographers feel the pressure to suspend familial and professional ties to separate "the field" from "home" for prolonged periods. Since 2019, we have been developing the concept of "patchwork ethnography" to spotlight how ethnographers conduct fieldwork amid intersecting personal and professional responsibilities. We interrogate how researchers' personal lives impact the process of knowledge production, showcase the innovations that have …
Everything is Patchwork! A Conversation about Methodological Experimentation with Patchwork Ethnography
This article collectively discusses creative feminist approaches to ethnographic methods developed in response to challenging social, personal, environmental, and temporal conditions and pressures. Patchwork Ethnography, developed by Gökçe Günel, Saiba Varma and Chika Watanabe, recognises mundane pressures, and works with insights and experiences that emerge not only from doing research, but from what happens around the edges. By rendering the ma…
Infrastructure and the Remaking of Asia
Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong and the Center for Asian Studies at the
Etnografia de Retalhos
Neste material estão compiladas a tradução para o português do Manifesto por uma Etnografia de Retalhos e uma entrevista inédita realizada com duas de suas autoras, Chika Watanabe e Gökçe Günel. A entrevista aconteceu em julho de 2022, através da plataforma Zoom, e serviu para conhecer os dilemas e as perspectivas da proposta de etnografia defendida pelas pesquisadoras. O encontro também serviu para amparar e refinar o exercício de tradução que e…
Accumulation: Exploring the Materiality of Energy Infrastructure
A diplomatic trip
Why do infrastructures remain in place if they do not perform the functions which compelled their design? If soft infrastructures such as diplomatic trips do not increase bilateral trade volumes, why do they stay on the agenda? Drawing on fieldwork with businesspeople and government representatives attending a Turkish government sponsored diplomatic trip to Algeria, Mauritania and Senegal in 2018, this article makes three points. First, it shows …
New Perspectives on Energy
Leapfrogging to Solar
Discussions of energy in sub-Saharan Africa tend to focus on leapfrogging, theorizing how some non-Western countries might be able to avoid carbon-intensive fuels, such as coal and oil, and directly start using renewable energy infrastructure, mainly solar. While theories of leapfrogging have been attractive, there has been limited research on how exactly renewable energy resources are adopted in sub-Saharan Africa, especially at times of unrelia…
Spaceship in the Desert
Air Conditioning the Arabian Peninsula
With much of the Arabian Peninsula characterized by hot and arid weather conditions during long summer seasons, residents are forced to rely on air conditioning to cool their surroundings. Before the construction of air conditioning infrastructures, many would leave the coast during the summer months to head to oases, such as Al Ain near Abu Dhabi, or live in tents in the desert to find relief from the heat. From the 1950s, European and American …
The Backbone
This article studies the production of a power grid across six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, known as 'the backbone,' which has been conceptualized as an answer to power outages. First it analyzes how experts working with and around the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) advance claims to a regional territorial imagination. Second, it shows that the construction of the grid not only indicates a shift in the material arrangement of …
The Infinity of Water
This article examines the discourses and practices of climate change adaptation in the Arabian Peninsula. It suggests that climate change adaptation projects in the region are often attempts at reframing water-related challenges that are already present, regardless of the effects of climate change. For instance, the groundwater sources in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be destroyed not necessarily due to the predicted impacts of climate chan…
What Is Carbon Dioxide? When Is Carbon Dioxide
In this article, I focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS), a controversial climate change mitigation technology that operates by collecting carbon dioxide from point sources and depositing it in underground locations, such as depleting oil reservoirs. Specifically, I investigate the ways in which certain CCS professionals imagine and demand a reconceptualization of carbon dioxide: not as waste or as dangerous material that should be taxed and …
Ergos
In 2006, Abu Dhabi launched an ambitious project to construct the world’s first “zero-carbon” city: Masdar City. Soon after, Masdar Institute, a renewable energy and clean technology research center founded in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, opened its doors to an international group of faculty and students. Located at the heart of the Masdar City construction site, the Institute was responsible for experimenting with ne…
A Flying Man, a Scuttled Ship, and a Timekeeping Device
Arguably serving as a cenotaph for the fourteenth-century explorer, Dubai’s Ibn Battuta Mall constitutes an insular space for which history, geography, and climate have been produced. This essay studies the spatial strategies used and represented therein and argues that the building acts as what Peter Sloterdijk calls an “absolute island,” reproducing its outside as a vacuum that cannot be inhabited except in this manner. Furthermore, the mall an…
Patchwork ethnography
Many ethnographers feel the pressure to suspend familial and professional ties to separate "the field" from "home" for prolonged periods. Since 2019, we have been developing the concept of "patchwork ethnography" to spotlight how ethnographers conduct fieldwork amid intersecting personal and professional responsibilities. We interrogate how researchers' personal lives impact the process of knowledge production, showcase the innovations that have …
What Is Carbon Dioxide? When Is Carbon Dioxide
In this article, I focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS), a controversial climate change mitigation technology that operates by collecting carbon dioxide from point sources and depositing it in underground locations, such as depleting oil reservoirs. Specifically, I investigate the ways in which certain CCS professionals imagine and demand a reconceptualization of carbon dioxide: not as waste or as dangerous material that should be taxed and …
The Infinity of Water
This article examines the discourses and practices of climate change adaptation in the Arabian Peninsula. It suggests that climate change adaptation projects in the region are often attempts at reframing water-related challenges that are already present, regardless of the effects of climate change. For instance, the groundwater sources in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be destroyed not necessarily due to the predicted impacts of climate chan…
The Backbone
This article studies the production of a power grid across six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, known as 'the backbone,' which has been conceptualized as an answer to power outages. First it analyzes how experts working with and around the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) advance claims to a regional territorial imagination. Second, it shows that the construction of the grid not only indicates a shift in the material arrangement of …
Infrastructure and the Remaking of Asia
Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong and the Center for Asian Studies at the
Etnografia de Retalhos
Neste material estão compiladas a tradução para o português do Manifesto por uma Etnografia de Retalhos e uma entrevista inédita realizada com duas de suas autoras, Chika Watanabe e Gökçe Günel. A entrevista aconteceu em julho de 2022, através da plataforma Zoom, e serviu para conhecer os dilemas e as perspectivas da proposta de etnografia defendida pelas pesquisadoras. O encontro também serviu para amparar e refinar o exercício de tradução que e…
Leapfrogging to Solar
Discussions of energy in sub-Saharan Africa tend to focus on leapfrogging, theorizing how some non-Western countries might be able to avoid carbon-intensive fuels, such as coal and oil, and directly start using renewable energy infrastructure, mainly solar. While theories of leapfrogging have been attractive, there has been limited research on how exactly renewable energy resources are adopted in sub-Saharan Africa, especially at times of unrelia…
Air Conditioning the Arabian Peninsula
With much of the Arabian Peninsula characterized by hot and arid weather conditions during long summer seasons, residents are forced to rely on air conditioning to cool their surroundings. Before the construction of air conditioning infrastructures, many would leave the coast during the summer months to head to oases, such as Al Ain near Abu Dhabi, or live in tents in the desert to find relief from the heat. From the 1950s, European and American …
Ergos
In 2006, Abu Dhabi launched an ambitious project to construct the world’s first “zero-carbon” city: Masdar City. Soon after, Masdar Institute, a renewable energy and clean technology research center founded in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, opened its doors to an international group of faculty and students. Located at the heart of the Masdar City construction site, the Institute was responsible for experimenting with ne…
A diplomatic trip
Why do infrastructures remain in place if they do not perform the functions which compelled their design? If soft infrastructures such as diplomatic trips do not increase bilateral trade volumes, why do they stay on the agenda? Drawing on fieldwork with businesspeople and government representatives attending a Turkish government sponsored diplomatic trip to Algeria, Mauritania and Senegal in 2018, this article makes three points. First, it shows …
Everything is Patchwork! A Conversation about Methodological Experimentation with Patchwork Ethnography
This article collectively discusses creative feminist approaches to ethnographic methods developed in response to challenging social, personal, environmental, and temporal conditions and pressures. Patchwork Ethnography, developed by Gökçe Günel, Saiba Varma and Chika Watanabe, recognises mundane pressures, and works with insights and experiences that emerge not only from doing research, but from what happens around the edges. By rendering the ma…
A Flying Man, a Scuttled Ship, and a Timekeeping Device
Arguably serving as a cenotaph for the fourteenth-century explorer, Dubai’s Ibn Battuta Mall constitutes an insular space for which history, geography, and climate have been produced. This essay studies the spatial strategies used and represented therein and argues that the building acts as what Peter Sloterdijk calls an “absolute island,” reproducing its outside as a vacuum that cannot be inhabited except in this manner. Furthermore, the mall an…
Ergos
In 2006, Abu Dhabi launched an ambitious project to construct the world’s first “zero-carbon” city: Masdar City. Soon after, Masdar Institute, a renewable energy and clean technology research center founded in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, opened its doors to an international group of faculty and students. Located at the heart of the Masdar City construction site, the Institute was responsible for experimenting with ne…
The Infinity of Water
This article examines the discourses and practices of climate change adaptation in the Arabian Peninsula. It suggests that climate change adaptation projects in the region are often attempts at reframing water-related challenges that are already present, regardless of the effects of climate change. For instance, the groundwater sources in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be destroyed not necessarily due to the predicted impacts of climate chan…
What Is Carbon Dioxide? When Is Carbon Dioxide
In this article, I focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS), a controversial climate change mitigation technology that operates by collecting carbon dioxide from point sources and depositing it in underground locations, such as depleting oil reservoirs. Specifically, I investigate the ways in which certain CCS professionals imagine and demand a reconceptualization of carbon dioxide: not as waste or as dangerous material that should be taxed and …
Air Conditioning the Arabian Peninsula
With much of the Arabian Peninsula characterized by hot and arid weather conditions during long summer seasons, residents are forced to rely on air conditioning to cool their surroundings. Before the construction of air conditioning infrastructures, many would leave the coast during the summer months to head to oases, such as Al Ain near Abu Dhabi, or live in tents in the desert to find relief from the heat. From the 1950s, European and American …
The Backbone
This article studies the production of a power grid across six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, known as 'the backbone,' which has been conceptualized as an answer to power outages. First it analyzes how experts working with and around the GCC Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) advance claims to a regional territorial imagination. Second, it shows that the construction of the grid not only indicates a shift in the material arrangement of …
Spaceship in the Desert
New Perspectives on Energy
Leapfrogging to Solar
Discussions of energy in sub-Saharan Africa tend to focus on leapfrogging, theorizing how some non-Western countries might be able to avoid carbon-intensive fuels, such as coal and oil, and directly start using renewable energy infrastructure, mainly solar. While theories of leapfrogging have been attractive, there has been limited research on how exactly renewable energy resources are adopted in sub-Saharan Africa, especially at times of unrelia…
Accumulation: Exploring the Materiality of Energy Infrastructure
A diplomatic trip
Why do infrastructures remain in place if they do not perform the functions which compelled their design? If soft infrastructures such as diplomatic trips do not increase bilateral trade volumes, why do they stay on the agenda? Drawing on fieldwork with businesspeople and government representatives attending a Turkish government sponsored diplomatic trip to Algeria, Mauritania and Senegal in 2018, this article makes three points. First, it shows …
Everything is Patchwork! A Conversation about Methodological Experimentation with Patchwork Ethnography
This article collectively discusses creative feminist approaches to ethnographic methods developed in response to challenging social, personal, environmental, and temporal conditions and pressures. Patchwork Ethnography, developed by Gökçe Günel, Saiba Varma and Chika Watanabe, recognises mundane pressures, and works with insights and experiences that emerge not only from doing research, but from what happens around the edges. By rendering the ma…
Infrastructure and the Remaking of Asia
Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong and the Center for Asian Studies at the
Etnografia de Retalhos
Neste material estão compiladas a tradução para o português do Manifesto por uma Etnografia de Retalhos e uma entrevista inédita realizada com duas de suas autoras, Chika Watanabe e Gökçe Günel. A entrevista aconteceu em julho de 2022, através da plataforma Zoom, e serviu para conhecer os dilemas e as perspectivas da proposta de etnografia defendida pelas pesquisadoras. O encontro também serviu para amparar e refinar o exercício de tradução que e…
Patchwork ethnography
Many ethnographers feel the pressure to suspend familial and professional ties to separate "the field" from "home" for prolonged periods. Since 2019, we have been developing the concept of "patchwork ethnography" to spotlight how ethnographers conduct fieldwork amid intersecting personal and professional responsibilities. We interrogate how researchers' personal lives impact the process of knowledge production, showcase the innovations that have …
Patchwork Ethnography
Geography (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Water Governance and Infrastructure (6 works) · Engineering (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Energy and Environment Impacts (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (3 works)