ozgunt


Özgün Topak

Photo of Özgün Topak

Associate Professor
Coordinator, Criminology (CRIM)

Office: 724 Ross Building South
Phone: 416 736 2100 Ext: 33749
Email: ozgunt@yorku.ca
Primary website: Research Gate profile


I am an interdisciplinary social scientist of surveillance, migration and authoritarianism. My current research focuses on two themes: 1) Forced migration, borders, violence and surveillance, and 2) Authoritarian surveillance. I am primarily interested in the Global South/East contexts (e.g. the MENA and beyond), and the borderzones between the Global South/East and North/West (e.g. the Mediterranean).

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Degrees

PhD, Sociology, Queen's University, Canada
MA, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
BA, Istanbul University, Turkey

Professional Leadership

Associate Editor of Surveillance & Society

Research Interests

, Surveillance; Forced Migration and Borders; Authoritarianism; Human Rights; Critical Criminology; Theory
  • Surveillance Studies Network Early Career Researcher Prize - 2019
  • Queen's Social Sciences Outstanding Thesis Award - 2014
Books

Publication
Year

Topak, ÖE, Mekouar, M. and Cavatorta, F. (eds.) (2022) New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (368 pages).

2022

Book Chapters

Publication
Year

Topak, ÖE. (2022) “An Assemblage of New Authoritarian Practices in Turkey”, in Topak, ÖE, Mekouar, M. and Cavatorta, F. (eds.) New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 296-319

2022

Topak, ÖE, Mekouar, M. and Cavatorta, F. (2022). “New Authoritarian Practices in the MENA: Key Developments and Trends”, In New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1-29.

2022

Topak, ÖE. (2020). “Migration ‘Crisis’ and the Left: In Search of the Political,” in Robert Latham, Julian von Bargen, Niko Block and Adam Kingsmith, (eds.), Challenging the Right, Augmenting the Left: Recasting Leftist Imagination. Fernwood Publishing, 74-85

2020

Topak, ÖE. (2014). “The New Borders of the European Union: Digital Surveillance and Social Sorting”, in Mehmet Okyayuz, Peter Herrmann, and Claire Dorrity, eds., Migration—Global Processes Caught in National Answers. Viena: Wiener Verlag für Sozialforschung, 17-35.

2014

Lyon, D. and Topak, ÖE. (2013). “Promoting Global Identification: Corporations, IGOs and ID Card Systems”, in Kirstie Ball and Laureen Snider, eds., The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: Political Economy of Surveillance, London: Routledge, 27-43.

2013

Journal Articles

Publication
Year

Topak, ÖE. (2023) “Drones: Robot Eyes on Racialized Migrant Bodies”, International Migration, 61: 313–317.

2023

Topak, ÖE. (2021) “Border Violence and Migrant Subjectivities” Geopolitics. 26 (3): 791-816.

2021

Topak, Ö.E. and Vives, L. (2020). “A comparative analysis of migration control strategies along the Western and Eastern Mediterranean routes: Sovereign interventions through militarization and deportation”, Migration Studies 8(1): 66–89.

2020

Topak, ÖE. (2020) “Hotspot as a Biopolitical Borderzone: Biopolitical Violence and Waiting” Antipode. 52 (6): 1857–1878.

2020

Topak, ÖE. (2019) “Humanitarian and Human Rights Surveillance: The Challenge to Border Surveillance and Invisibility?”. Surveillance & Society. 17 (3/4): 382-404.

2019

Topak, ÖE. (2019) “The Authoritarian Surveillant Assemblage: Authoritarian State Surveillance in Turkey”. Security Dialogue. 50(5) 454–472

2019

Topak, Ö.E. (2017). “Migrant Protest in Times of Crisis: Politics, Ethics and the Sacred from Below”, Citizenship Studies, 21(1): 1-21.

2017

Topak, Ö.E. (2017). “The Making of a Totalitarian Surveillance Machine: Surveillance in Turkey under AKP Rule”, Surveillance & Society, 15 (3/4): 535-542.

2017

Topak, Ö.E. Bracken-Roche C, Saulnier A, and Lyon, D. (2015). “From Smart Borders to Perimeter Security: The Expansion of Digital Surveillance at the Canadian Borders”, Geopolitics, 20 (4): 880-899

2015

Topak, Ö.E. (2014). “The biopolitical border in practice: surveillance and death at the Greece-Turkey borderzones”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 32 (5): 815-833.

2014

Topak, Ö.E. (2013). “Governing Turkey’s Information Society”, Current Sociology, 61(5-6): 565–583.

2013

Other

Publication
Year

Topak, ÖE (2015) “Surveillance, migrant deaths and humanitarianism in the Mediterranean”, openDemocracy, 28 April 2015

2015

Topak, ÖE (2014) “No limits to brutality: deaths at the Greece-Turkey borders”, openDemocracy, 19 May 2014.

2014


Current Courses

Term Course Number Section Title Type
Fall/Winter 2023 AP/SOSC4661 6.0 A Surveillance and Crime SEMR



I am an interdisciplinary social scientist of surveillance, migration and authoritarianism. My current research focuses on two themes: 1) Forced migration, borders, violence and surveillance, and 2) Authoritarian surveillance. I am primarily interested in the Global South/East contexts (e.g. the MENA and beyond), and the borderzones between the Global South/East and North/West (e.g. the Mediterranean).

Degrees

PhD, Sociology, Queen's University, Canada
MA, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
BA, Istanbul University, Turkey

Professional Leadership

Associate Editor of Surveillance & Society

Research Interests

, Surveillance; Forced Migration and Borders; Authoritarianism; Human Rights; Critical Criminology; Theory

Awards

  • Surveillance Studies Network Early Career Researcher Prize - 2019
  • Queen's Social Sciences Outstanding Thesis Award - 2014

All Publications


Book Chapters

Publication
Year

Topak, ÖE. (2022) “An Assemblage of New Authoritarian Practices in Turkey”, in Topak, ÖE, Mekouar, M. and Cavatorta, F. (eds.) New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 296-319

2022

Topak, ÖE, Mekouar, M. and Cavatorta, F. (2022). “New Authoritarian Practices in the MENA: Key Developments and Trends”, In New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1-29.

2022

Topak, ÖE. (2020). “Migration ‘Crisis’ and the Left: In Search of the Political,” in Robert Latham, Julian von Bargen, Niko Block and Adam Kingsmith, (eds.), Challenging the Right, Augmenting the Left: Recasting Leftist Imagination. Fernwood Publishing, 74-85

2020

Topak, ÖE. (2014). “The New Borders of the European Union: Digital Surveillance and Social Sorting”, in Mehmet Okyayuz, Peter Herrmann, and Claire Dorrity, eds., Migration—Global Processes Caught in National Answers. Viena: Wiener Verlag für Sozialforschung, 17-35.

2014

Lyon, D. and Topak, ÖE. (2013). “Promoting Global Identification: Corporations, IGOs and ID Card Systems”, in Kirstie Ball and Laureen Snider, eds., The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: Political Economy of Surveillance, London: Routledge, 27-43.

2013

Books

Publication
Year

Topak, ÖE, Mekouar, M. and Cavatorta, F. (eds.) (2022) New Authoritarian Practices in the Middle East and North Africa. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (368 pages).

2022

Journal Articles

Publication
Year

Topak, ÖE. (2023) “Drones: Robot Eyes on Racialized Migrant Bodies”, International Migration, 61: 313–317.

2023

Topak, ÖE. (2021) “Border Violence and Migrant Subjectivities” Geopolitics. 26 (3): 791-816.

2021

Topak, Ö.E. and Vives, L. (2020). “A comparative analysis of migration control strategies along the Western and Eastern Mediterranean routes: Sovereign interventions through militarization and deportation”, Migration Studies 8(1): 66–89.

2020

Topak, ÖE. (2020) “Hotspot as a Biopolitical Borderzone: Biopolitical Violence and Waiting” Antipode. 52 (6): 1857–1878.

2020

Topak, ÖE. (2019) “Humanitarian and Human Rights Surveillance: The Challenge to Border Surveillance and Invisibility?”. Surveillance & Society. 17 (3/4): 382-404.

2019

Topak, ÖE. (2019) “The Authoritarian Surveillant Assemblage: Authoritarian State Surveillance in Turkey”. Security Dialogue. 50(5) 454–472

2019

Topak, Ö.E. (2017). “Migrant Protest in Times of Crisis: Politics, Ethics and the Sacred from Below”, Citizenship Studies, 21(1): 1-21.

2017

Topak, Ö.E. (2017). “The Making of a Totalitarian Surveillance Machine: Surveillance in Turkey under AKP Rule”, Surveillance & Society, 15 (3/4): 535-542.

2017

Topak, Ö.E. Bracken-Roche C, Saulnier A, and Lyon, D. (2015). “From Smart Borders to Perimeter Security: The Expansion of Digital Surveillance at the Canadian Borders”, Geopolitics, 20 (4): 880-899

2015

Topak, Ö.E. (2014). “The biopolitical border in practice: surveillance and death at the Greece-Turkey borderzones”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 32 (5): 815-833.

2014

Topak, Ö.E. (2013). “Governing Turkey’s Information Society”, Current Sociology, 61(5-6): 565–583.

2013

Other

Publication
Year

Topak, ÖE (2015) “Surveillance, migrant deaths and humanitarianism in the Mediterranean”, openDemocracy, 28 April 2015

2015

Topak, ÖE (2014) “No limits to brutality: deaths at the Greece-Turkey borders”, openDemocracy, 19 May 2014.

2014


Current Courses

Term Course Number Section Title Type
Fall/Winter 2023 AP/SOSC4661 6.0 A Surveillance and Crime SEMR