Biography

As a Ph.D. lecturer, I have taught courses in writing, reading, literature, drama, gender studies, mythology, translation, and public speaking in the Department of American Culture and Literature at Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey between 2002 and 2012. Since August 2013, I have been teaching developmental and transfer level English courses and assisting students in the writing labs at Solano Community College and Santa Rosa Junior College.

Education

Ph.D., English Literature, 2007

Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey

Leading public university in Turkey with 24,000 students and 5,000 academic faculty. 2013 The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings place METU in the top 60 in the world

• Dissertation: “Mythmaking in Progress: Plays By Women on Female Writers and Literary Characters”
• Advisor: Prof. Meral Cileli; Co-Advisor: Prof. Nursel Icoz

M.A., American Culture and Literature (High Honors), 2002

Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

Top ranked private university in Turkey, with 8,000 students and 1,000 faculty & staff

• Thesis: “Intercultural Theatrics? A Streetcar Named Desire on the Turkish Stage”
• Advisor: Dr. Mary Louise Hill

B.A., American Culture and Literature (High Honors), 1998

Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

Primary state university in Turkey with 36.000 students and 3.500 academic faculty

Certificate of Teaching, 1998

Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey

2-year certificate course - Faculty of Education

Professional Areas of Interest and Publications (partial list)

• My 2012 book, published in Turkish, is titled Dunya Kadina Karsi: Kadina Duyulan Korkunun Temelleri (World Against the Woman: Roots of Female Hatred). This book analyzes the strategies that work to repress women throughout history.
• In my Ph.D. dissertation, published in the United States in 2009 under the title Plays by Women About Women Play Writers: How Women Create Myths About Themselves, I explored the process of women’s mythmaking in the plays written / adapted by women playwrights.
• In my MA thesis I worked to expand intercultural performance theories to incorporate the staging of translated plays into the theory. Through interviews with academicians, actors, directors, and dramaturgs, I sought to understand what intercultural theatre meant in Turkey and analyzed how an American play, in this case A Streetcar Named Desire, could come to be identified as an intercultural performance for the Turkish community. The outcome of this thesis turned out to be a book of interviews on intercultural theatre published by TOBAV (Foundation of State Theatre, Opera and Ballet Employees funded by the Turkish government). My article entitled “Intercultural Theatre?: A Streetcar Named Desire on the Turkish Stage” was published in Theatre Research International (Vol 33. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008. 70-83).
• In my recent research, I have begun to investigate the issues of gender in theater adaptations and translation. My analysis titled “Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart on the Turkish Stage: Gender in Theatre Adaptations” was published in Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cultural Diversity (Spring 2013, Volume 14, Number 1. 17-23). The article demands that the theories of translation must acknowledge the political power of translation as a means to construct social truths, as well as socially accepted myths.

Presentations (partial list)

• “Assertion of Self in Translation: Pinar Kür’s Translation of Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class.” 42 nd Annual PCA/ACA 2012 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations. Boston Marriott Copley Place, Mass.: USA. 11-14 April, 2012.
• “Bilgesu Erenus’ Mythmaking: Plays on Halide Edip Adivar and Virginia Woolf.” 2nd International Aksit Gokturk Conference: Myths Revisited. Istanbul University: Istanbul. 28-29 November 2011.
• “Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart on the Turkish Stage: Gender in Theatre Adaptations.” International Multidisciplinary Women’s Congress. Dokuz Eylül University: Izmir. 13-16 October 2009.
• “Feminist Mythmaking: Reclaiming the Myth.” International Congress of Comparative Literature and the Teaching of Literature and Language. Gazi University: Ankara. 29 April-1 May, 2009.
• “Female Mythmaking / Mythbreaking: Revisioning Patriarchal Myths and Rewriting Life in Rose Leiman Goldemberg’s Letters Home”. Gender Trouble in Modern / Post-Modern Literature and Art. Halic University: Istanbul. 17-18 April, 2008.
• “Revisioning Patriarchal Texts: Bryony Lavery’s Ophelia”. PCA/ACA 2008 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations. San Francisco Marriott, California: USA. 19-22 March, 2008.
• “Rewriting Patriarchal Myths: Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Love of the Nightingale”. 2nd International IDEA Conference: Studies in English. Hacettepe University: Ankara. 17-19 April, 2007.
• “Mythmaking in Progress: Blood and Ice by Liz Lochhead”. 1st International IDEA Conference: Studies in English: Bogazici University: Istanbul. 24-26 April, 2006.
• “Intercultural Theatrics for the Turkish Stage.” AATE/ATHE Joint Conference. New York: USA 31 July – 3 August, 2003.
• “Intercultural Theatrics? A Streetcar Named Desire on the Turkish Stage.” Coast to Coast: An Interdisciplinary American Studies Conference, Sheffield University: UK. 23 November, 2002.