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).
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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
Outstanding PhD Thesis Award (Queen's University) - 2014
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. (2024) "Bio/Necropolitical Capture and Evasion on Africa–Europe Migrant Journeys." International Political Sociology, 18 (4), https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae039
2024
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.
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 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, 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
Outstanding PhD Thesis Award (Queen's University) - 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. (2024) "Bio/Necropolitical Capture and Evasion on Africa–Europe Migrant Journeys." International Political Sociology, 18 (4), https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae039
2024
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.
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.