Özgün Erdener Topak
Associate Professor
Office: 724 Ross Building South
Phone: 416 736 2100 Ext: 33749
Email: ozgunt@yorku.ca
Primary website: Research Gate profile
Özgün Erdener Topak is 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, CanadaMA, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
BA, Istanbul University, Turkey
Professional Leadership
Associate Editor of Surveillance & Society
Research Interests
- Surveillance Studies Network Early Career Researcher Prize - 2019
- Outstanding PhD Thesis Award (Queen's University) - 2014
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Topak, ÖE. (2024) "Bio/Necropolitical Capture and Evasion on Africa–Europe Migrant Journeys." International Political Sociology, 18 (4), https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae039
Topak, ÖE. (2023) “Drones: Robot Eyes on Racialized Migrant Bodies”, International Migration, 61: 313–317.
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.
Topak, ÖE. (2020) “Hotspot as a Biopolitical Borderzone: Biopolitical Violence and Waiting” Antipode. 52 (6): 1857–1878.
Topak, ÖE. (2019) “Humanitarian and Human Rights Surveillance: The Challenge to Border Surveillance and Invisibility?”. Surveillance & Society. 17 (3/4): 382-404.
Topak, ÖE. (2019) “The Authoritarian Surveillant Assemblage: Authoritarian State Surveillance in Turkey”. Security Dialogue. 50(5) 454–472
Topak, Ö.E. (2017). “Migrant Protest in Times of Crisis: Politics, Ethics and the Sacred from Below”, Citizenship Studies, 21(1): 1-21.
Topak, Ö.E. (2017). “The Making of a Totalitarian Surveillance Machine: Surveillance in Turkey under AKP Rule”, Surveillance & Society, 15 (3/4): 535-542.
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
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.
Topak, Ö.E. (2013). “Governing Turkey’s Information Society”, Current Sociology, 61(5-6): 565–583.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/SOSC4661 6.0 | A | Surveillance and Crime | ONLN |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/SOSC4661 6.0 | A | Surveillance and Crime | ONLN |
Özgün Erdener Topak is 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, CanadaMA, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
BA, Istanbul University, Turkey
Professional Leadership
Associate Editor of Surveillance & Society
Research Interests
Awards
- Surveillance Studies Network Early Career Researcher Prize - 2019
- Outstanding PhD Thesis Award (Queen's University) - 2014
All Publications
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Topak, ÖE. (2024) "Bio/Necropolitical Capture and Evasion on Africa–Europe Migrant Journeys." International Political Sociology, 18 (4), https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae039
Topak, ÖE. (2023) “Drones: Robot Eyes on Racialized Migrant Bodies”, International Migration, 61: 313–317.
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.
Topak, ÖE. (2020) “Hotspot as a Biopolitical Borderzone: Biopolitical Violence and Waiting” Antipode. 52 (6): 1857–1878.
Topak, ÖE. (2019) “Humanitarian and Human Rights Surveillance: The Challenge to Border Surveillance and Invisibility?”. Surveillance & Society. 17 (3/4): 382-404.
Topak, ÖE. (2019) “The Authoritarian Surveillant Assemblage: Authoritarian State Surveillance in Turkey”. Security Dialogue. 50(5) 454–472
Topak, Ö.E. (2017). “Migrant Protest in Times of Crisis: Politics, Ethics and the Sacred from Below”, Citizenship Studies, 21(1): 1-21.
Topak, Ö.E. (2017). “The Making of a Totalitarian Surveillance Machine: Surveillance in Turkey under AKP Rule”, Surveillance & Society, 15 (3/4): 535-542.
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
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.
Topak, Ö.E. (2013). “Governing Turkey’s Information Society”, Current Sociology, 61(5-6): 565–583.
Current Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/SOSC4661 6.0 | A | Surveillance and Crime | ONLN |
Upcoming Courses
| Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall/Winter 2024 | AP/SOSC4661 6.0 | A | Surveillance and Crime | ONLN |
