Our mission is to foster a deeper understanding and a more affirmative perspective of migration, migrants, refugees, and diaspora communities. We strive to create a platform that highlights the complexities, challenges, and contributions of these diverse groups through insightful content and compelling narrative. Our goal is to dismantle stereotypes, promote human rights, and advocate for inclusive policies/ We offer a space for authentic voices, educational resources, and informed discussion. We are committed to nurturing a global community that values cultural exchange, supports the vulnerable, and recognizes the integral role of mobility in shaping a more equitable and interconnected world.
Prof. Dr. Mahir Şaul | Executive Director
After carrying out for several decades ethnological fieldwork in West Africa and archival research on the colonial period, he shifted his focus to international African migration and started in 2010 fieldwork in Turkey. He published on social structure, kinship relations, economic history, environmental history, colonial history in agrarian villages, political organization in the pre-colonial period, rebellion against colonial rule, Islamic history, and African cinema. In 2002, he was awarded the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Amaury Talbot prize (for best book on Africa); in 2004 the Association of Africanist Anthropology of the USA granted him its Distinguished Africanist award. Between 1982 and 2022 he worked as a professor in the anthropology department at the University of Illinois, USA. He retired since then and works as an independent scholar. He worked as a visiting professor or as a research scholar at Yale University (USA), Laboratoire d’Antropologie Social (Paris), Laboratoire ERMES (Orléans), Freie Universitãt Berlin, the Max Planck Institute at Halle and other international institutions. Research grants he received include the National Science Foundation USA, National Endowment for the Humanities, MacArthur Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Most recently he received TUBITAK’s International Fellowship for Outstandıng Researches and led between 2020 and 2023 a research projectentitled Migratıon From Sub-Saharan to Turkey and the Mediterranean Basin. He published more than 70 academic journal articles and five books. He has degrees from Lycée of Galatasaray (1970), Boğaziçi University (1975) and Indiana University (MA 1978, PhD 1982).
Web page at: https://mahirsaul.com
Nevra Babürşah | Content and Outreach Coordinator
Advocate for liberal values such as equality, freedom and justice; sociologist, researcher, journalist. An activist who believes that all groups and classes should have the same basic rights and opportunities.
She started working on migration in 2021 as a team member of the research project “Migration from Sub-Saharan Africa to Turkey and the Mediterranean Basin” conducted by Prof. Mahir Saul from the University of Illinois, USA, as part of TÜBİTAK’s 2232 International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers program. She conducts research on the religious activities of migrants living in Turkey, migrant workers and migrant-local marriages. Between 2017-2021, she worked as a columnist and interview reporter on international relations and foreign policy in national newspapers. She worked as a publishing house editor between 2019-2021. She has 2 published novels. She is completing her master’s degree in Media and Cultural Studies.
Dr. Asma Hedi Nairi Özen | Programs Coordinator
Ph.D., is a migrant lawyer, academic, and human rights advocate with a multifaceted background in sociology, law, and international relations. As a member of the African Diaspora in Turkey, she has been working towards improving human rights, with a particular emphasis on issues related to refugees and migration and the role of diasporas.
In the last decade, Asma has collaborated with various international and regional civil society organizations. Her work has mainly centered on improving the livelihoods of refugees, fostering social cohesion, and addressing the broader rights of migrants and refugees. In her academic endeavors, she has explored the realms of discourse, xenophobia, and the critical role of narratives and representations, focusing on how they influence the rights and well-being of migrants and refugees.
