Ayça Ergun
Biographic Data
| ID | 136599 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ayça Ergun |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ayça |
| FAMILY NAME | Ergun |
| SIGNATURE | ERGUN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Middle East Technical University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8186-7850 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 104 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Womanhood bound to motherhood: Choosing childlessness in Türkiye
This article aims to evaluate the subjective experiences of voluntarily childless Turkish women, and based on the data collected through in-depth interviews where [a] what it means for them to be a childless woman, [b] what the motivations behind choosing a childless life are, and [c] how they negotiate their childless identity in a pronatalist society are explored. A total of 18 women were interviewed, and three meta-themes [negotiating identity…
International higher education as a soft power tool of Turkish foreign policy: The case of Azerbaijan
Eurasia emerged as a potential sphere of political, economic and cultural influence for Türkiye in the aftermath of the Soviet disintegration, which urged the country to redesign its foreign policy around new discourses and practices. In addition to developing economic, political and cultural ties, Türkiye instrumentalised its higher education as a soft power tool with a scholarship programme named the Great Student Project (GSP). This article ai…
Civil society negotiating between internationalization and de-Europeanization: The case of women’s organizations in Turkey
Since the Eastern enlargement in 2004, the EU has paid exceptional attention to strengthening civil society organizations (CSOs) in new member and candidate states, including Turkey. While the EU's contribution to Turkish CSO empowerment is ambivalent in general, women's organizations have benefitted from the opportunities connected to the accession process. However, since 2007, the AKP government has been hesitating to further the EU-membership …
Citizenship, National Identity, and Nation-Building in Azerbaijan: Between the Legacy of the Past and the Spirit of Independence
The aim of this article is to shed light on the process of nation-building and the formation of national identity in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. The peculiarity of Azerbaijani nation-building is that the debates on how to build a nation and define national identity were nourished by two discourses: Azerbaijanism ( Azerbaycançılıq) and Turkism ( Tűrkçűlűk). The article focuses firstly on the discourses on national identity and nation-building in the p…
The Internationalisation of Higher Education and Identity Construction in Azerbaijan
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of study abroad on identity development among Azerbaijani academics. The results suggest that study abroad has had a transformative impact on the new generation of academic professionals, who have become local agents, practitioners, and transmitters of values and professional conduct at home. This study shows that the location of study abroad—Turkey or a Western country—is significant in the …
Informal Practices in the Making of Professionals: The Case of Engineers in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
This study expands the understanding of the role of informality in post-socialist professions by examining the use of informal practices by an under-researched professional group of engineers in Azerbaijan. We use in-depth interviews with engineers educated in Soviet and post-Soviet periods to trace changes and continuities in the use of informal practices in their education and work. The study found that although many practices inherited from th…
Secularism and National Identity in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
Most studies relating to the issue of religion in Azerbaijan have been interested in studying religion, politics, and society, as well as the nature of the Islamic revival in post-Soviet Azerbaijan with only scant reference to secularism, its nature, and its role in shaping modern Azerbaijan. This insufficient interest is quite striking, considering that dünyǝvilik (secularism), literally meaning “this-worldliness,” is enshrined in the 1995 Const…
Defining semi-public space: A case study in the gated communities of Yaşamkent, Ankara
Urban space is accepted as an inextricable part of public life. It is assumed that the upper-middle class has been sequestering itself from the rest of society by living in enclosed and private spaces. This intentional disengagement from public life and public spaces has been studied by the literature on gated communities. This article operationalizes the gated community beyond the debate on social segregation and includes it in the discussion of…
Civil Society in Turkey and Local Dimensions of Europeanization
Since the Helsinki Summit of 1999 when Turkey’s candidacy for membership was accepted, the EU has exercised considerable transformative power over the development of Turkey’s civil society. This article examines Turkish civil society both as an agent of the ‘internationalization’ of domestic social agendas and as a reflection of more general Turkish perceptions of the EU and Turkey’s prospective membership. The first part of the article offers an…
Politics of Romanisation in Azerbaijan (1921–1992)
Writing systems are used as, and considered to be, important tools and symbols of political discourses of their time. This article presents a historical overview of the alphabet changes in Azerbaijan and shows how the alphabets were associated with the discourses of modernisation, nationalism and national identity construction. In the early twentieth century, the discussion on the need to shift from the Arabic alphabet to the Roman was actually a…
Negotiating Insider and Outsider Identities in the Field: Insider" in a Foreign Land; "Outsider" in One's Own Land
The authors present a self-reflexive and comparative account of their fieldwork experiences in Azerbaijan and Turkey to examine insider and outsider identities of researchers in settings that are neither unfamiliar nor fully familiar. It is argued that the researcher is often suspended in a betwixt-and-between position in the transformative process. This position is not necessarily a transitional one that leads to either the inclusion or exclusio…
The presidential election in Azerbaijan, October 2008
Negotiating Insider and Outsider Identities in the Field: Insider" in a Foreign Land; "Outsider" in One's Own Land
The authors present a self-reflexive and comparative account of their fieldwork experiences in Azerbaijan and Turkey to examine insider and outsider identities of researchers in settings that are neither unfamiliar nor fully familiar. It is argued that the researcher is often suspended in a betwixt-and-between position in the transformative process. This position is not necessarily a transitional one that leads to either the inclusion or exclusio…
Civil Society in Turkey and Local Dimensions of Europeanization
Since the Helsinki Summit of 1999 when Turkey’s candidacy for membership was accepted, the EU has exercised considerable transformative power over the development of Turkey’s civil society. This article examines Turkish civil society both as an agent of the ‘internationalization’ of domestic social agendas and as a reflection of more general Turkish perceptions of the EU and Turkey’s prospective membership. The first part of the article offers an…
Citizenship, National Identity, and Nation-Building in Azerbaijan: Between the Legacy of the Past and the Spirit of Independence
The aim of this article is to shed light on the process of nation-building and the formation of national identity in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. The peculiarity of Azerbaijani nation-building is that the debates on how to build a nation and define national identity were nourished by two discourses: Azerbaijanism ( Azerbaycançılıq) and Turkism ( Tűrkçűlűk). The article focuses firstly on the discourses on national identity and nation-building in the p…
The Internationalisation of Higher Education and Identity Construction in Azerbaijan
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of study abroad on identity development among Azerbaijani academics. The results suggest that study abroad has had a transformative impact on the new generation of academic professionals, who have become local agents, practitioners, and transmitters of values and professional conduct at home. This study shows that the location of study abroad—Turkey or a Western country—is significant in the …
Informal Practices in the Making of Professionals: The Case of Engineers in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
This study expands the understanding of the role of informality in post-socialist professions by examining the use of informal practices by an under-researched professional group of engineers in Azerbaijan. We use in-depth interviews with engineers educated in Soviet and post-Soviet periods to trace changes and continuities in the use of informal practices in their education and work. The study found that although many practices inherited from th…
Secularism and National Identity in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
Most studies relating to the issue of religion in Azerbaijan have been interested in studying religion, politics, and society, as well as the nature of the Islamic revival in post-Soviet Azerbaijan with only scant reference to secularism, its nature, and its role in shaping modern Azerbaijan. This insufficient interest is quite striking, considering that dünyǝvilik (secularism), literally meaning “this-worldliness,” is enshrined in the 1995 Const…
Defining semi-public space: A case study in the gated communities of Yaşamkent, Ankara
Urban space is accepted as an inextricable part of public life. It is assumed that the upper-middle class has been sequestering itself from the rest of society by living in enclosed and private spaces. This intentional disengagement from public life and public spaces has been studied by the literature on gated communities. This article operationalizes the gated community beyond the debate on social segregation and includes it in the discussion of…
The presidential election in Azerbaijan, October 2008
Civil Society in Turkey and Local Dimensions of Europeanization
Since the Helsinki Summit of 1999 when Turkey’s candidacy for membership was accepted, the EU has exercised considerable transformative power over the development of Turkey’s civil society. This article examines Turkish civil society both as an agent of the ‘internationalization’ of domestic social agendas and as a reflection of more general Turkish perceptions of the EU and Turkey’s prospective membership. The first part of the article offers an…
Politics of Romanisation in Azerbaijan (1921–1992)
Writing systems are used as, and considered to be, important tools and symbols of political discourses of their time. This article presents a historical overview of the alphabet changes in Azerbaijan and shows how the alphabets were associated with the discourses of modernisation, nationalism and national identity construction. In the early twentieth century, the discussion on the need to shift from the Arabic alphabet to the Roman was actually a…
Negotiating Insider and Outsider Identities in the Field: Insider" in a Foreign Land; "Outsider" in One's Own Land
The authors present a self-reflexive and comparative account of their fieldwork experiences in Azerbaijan and Turkey to examine insider and outsider identities of researchers in settings that are neither unfamiliar nor fully familiar. It is argued that the researcher is often suspended in a betwixt-and-between position in the transformative process. This position is not necessarily a transitional one that leads to either the inclusion or exclusio…
Defining semi-public space: A case study in the gated communities of Yaşamkent, Ankara
Urban space is accepted as an inextricable part of public life. It is assumed that the upper-middle class has been sequestering itself from the rest of society by living in enclosed and private spaces. This intentional disengagement from public life and public spaces has been studied by the literature on gated communities. This article operationalizes the gated community beyond the debate on social segregation and includes it in the discussion of…
Secularism and National Identity in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
Most studies relating to the issue of religion in Azerbaijan have been interested in studying religion, politics, and society, as well as the nature of the Islamic revival in post-Soviet Azerbaijan with only scant reference to secularism, its nature, and its role in shaping modern Azerbaijan. This insufficient interest is quite striking, considering that dünyǝvilik (secularism), literally meaning “this-worldliness,” is enshrined in the 1995 Const…
The Internationalisation of Higher Education and Identity Construction in Azerbaijan
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of study abroad on identity development among Azerbaijani academics. The results suggest that study abroad has had a transformative impact on the new generation of academic professionals, who have become local agents, practitioners, and transmitters of values and professional conduct at home. This study shows that the location of study abroad—Turkey or a Western country—is significant in the …
Informal Practices in the Making of Professionals: The Case of Engineers in Soviet and Post-Soviet Azerbaijan
This study expands the understanding of the role of informality in post-socialist professions by examining the use of informal practices by an under-researched professional group of engineers in Azerbaijan. We use in-depth interviews with engineers educated in Soviet and post-Soviet periods to trace changes and continuities in the use of informal practices in their education and work. The study found that although many practices inherited from th…
Citizenship, National Identity, and Nation-Building in Azerbaijan: Between the Legacy of the Past and the Spirit of Independence
The aim of this article is to shed light on the process of nation-building and the formation of national identity in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. The peculiarity of Azerbaijani nation-building is that the debates on how to build a nation and define national identity were nourished by two discourses: Azerbaijanism ( Azerbaycançılıq) and Turkism ( Tűrkçűlűk). The article focuses firstly on the discourses on national identity and nation-building in the p…
Civil society negotiating between internationalization and de-Europeanization: The case of women’s organizations in Turkey
Since the Eastern enlargement in 2004, the EU has paid exceptional attention to strengthening civil society organizations (CSOs) in new member and candidate states, including Turkey. While the EU's contribution to Turkish CSO empowerment is ambivalent in general, women's organizations have benefitted from the opportunities connected to the accession process. However, since 2007, the AKP government has been hesitating to further the EU-membership …
Womanhood bound to motherhood: Choosing childlessness in Türkiye
This article aims to evaluate the subjective experiences of voluntarily childless Turkish women, and based on the data collected through in-depth interviews where [a] what it means for them to be a childless woman, [b] what the motivations behind choosing a childless life are, and [c] how they negotiate their childless identity in a pronatalist society are explored. A total of 18 women were interviewed, and three meta-themes [negotiating identity…
International higher education as a soft power tool of Turkish foreign policy: The case of Azerbaijan
Eurasia emerged as a potential sphere of political, economic and cultural influence for Türkiye in the aftermath of the Soviet disintegration, which urged the country to redesign its foreign policy around new discourses and practices. In addition to developing economic, political and cultural ties, Türkiye instrumentalised its higher education as a soft power tool with a scholarship programme named the Great Student Project (GSP). This article ai…
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Law (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Political economy (4 works) · Turkey's Politics and Society (4 works) · Higher Education Governance and Development (3 works) · Internationalization (3 works) · National identity (3 works)