About

Welcome!

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My name is Candan Turkkan. I am an assistant professor at Ozyegin University (Istanbul/TR) Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts and International Relations. I work on questions concerning urban food politics, critiques of capitalism (via global food movements and sustainability discussions) and mentalities of government (particularly of contemporary forms of neoliberalism, biopolitics and necroeconomics).  

I received my PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in political science. Though I am a political theorist by training, my work is proudly interdisciplinary and multi-method, transgressing the disciplinary boundaries of political theory, political economy and comparative politics. Most of my conversations are with food studies folks, but I also derive heavily and contribute to urban studies, women and gender studies, economic history, urban and human geography and anthropology. Political theoretical questions are at the foundation of my research and political theory remains my passion; however, my work has increasingly become much more flavorful!  

These days, I am teaching food politics, political economy and sustainability to the future chefs of Turkey and beyond at Ozyegin University. I am also working on a research project on the rise of a new generation of social media-savy, eco-concious, ex-urbanite ‘new farmers’ (funded by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, project#220K133). I am also a co-researcher/consultant in a bunch of other public and private sector research projects.

Follow the Publications tab, and you will find a list of my contemporary articles (academic), and essays (general audience) on questions of food, political economy and biopower.

Contact me at candanturkkan@gmail.com or candan.turkkan@ozyegin.edu.tr if you have any questions about me or my work or if you want to work together. You can also find out more about me through my profiles @ LinkedIn and Academia.edu (I would be happy send you any articles and essays should they interest you. ).

İstanbul’u Doyurmak İletişim Yayınları’ndan çıktı!

İstanbul’u Doyurmak: Gıda İaşesinin Politik Ekonomisi

İstanbul, yüzlerce yıl Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’na başkentlik yapmış, günümüzdeyse Türkiye’nin finansal kalbi olan, tarihî, kültürel ve ekonomik açıdan her zaman önemli bir şehir. İstanbul’u Doyurmak, “iaşe”nin, iktidarın kendini var etme araçlarından biri olduğu tespitinden hareket ederek söz konusu tespitin yüzyıllar içinde bu toprakların kendine has ekonomi politiğiyle nasıl dönüşüp ne gibi sosyal ve siyasi sonuçlar yarattığını ele alıyor.

Check out my new book from Brill!

Feeding Istanbul: The Political Economy of Urban Provisioning

Paperback out from Haymarket Books!

Tracing how the sovereign’s duty to provision the city and protect his subjects from hunger was gradually transferred to the market and became a responsibility of the subjects (later, citizens) alone, Feeding Istanbul makes a compelling case for situating food politics, and politics of urban provisioning in particular, at the center of the way we think about the relationship between the sovereign and the political community.

My ORCID ID:

Recently Published   

Candan Turkkan (2021) What is the Alternative? Insights from Istanbul’s food networks. Food, Culture & Society. DOI: 10.1080/15528014.2021.1960004

For more on publications, please see the Publications & Research tab. You can also find live updates on the most recent publications and events under the Most Recently… tab.