Staff Profile
I received my Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Cornell University. My research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of anthropology, political theory, law & society studies, and urban studies. More specifically, my work focuses on counterinsurgency and policing, surveillance, class, racism, resistance, coloniality and memory.
My first book, Police, Provocation, Politics Counterinsurgency in Istanbul Cornell University Press, 2022) is the winner of the 2023 Anthony Leeds Prize for the best book in urban anthropology. Police, Provocation, Politics provides an ethnographically grounded analysis of the tension between policing and politics and presents a counterintuitive analysis of policing, focusing particular attention on the incitement of counterviolence and perpetual conflict by the state security apparatus. Rather than focusing on counterinsurgency’s strategies for producing docile and compliant citizens, I focus on the provocative aspects of policing. I argue in the book that counterinsurgency is a permanent and preventive war on politics. Engaging also with the literatures on political subjectivities, urban marginality, urban violence, racism and coloniality, memory, and resistance the book sheds light on the world-building practices of the oppressed and fearless resistance that is informed by what I call inspirational hauntings.
My work has appeared in various leading peer-reviewed journals, including Current Anthropology, Race & Class, IJURR, Social and Legal Studies, the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies and Berkeley Journal of Sociology.
Most of my articles are available on my academia page: https://newcastle.academia.edu/DenizYonucu
In addition to my academic writing, I also publish opinion pieces in English, Turkish, and German and appear in the international media, including DW, Germany’s international broadcaster, and France24 to discuss politics and human rights issues.
My research has been funded by more than 10 institutions across a variety of countries, including the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Newton Fund, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Einstein Foundation, the DAAD and Cornell University.
I am Directions Section co-editor of the Political and Legal Anthropology Review (PoLAR) and co-founder and co-convenor of the Anthropology of Surveillance Network (ANSUR). I am also a host on New Books Network's Policing, Incarceration and Reform podcast where I interview authors on topics related to policing, surveillance, carcerality, and securitisation and cofounder of the Under Surveillance Podcast.
Before joining Newcastle University in 2021, I worked as a DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor (W2) in Anthropology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and held postdoctoral positions at the Center for Technology and Society at the Technical University of Berlin, the Zentrum Moderner Orient, and the Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin. In 2015, I was a visiting scholar at the European Institute of the LSE.
My first book, Police, Provocation, Politics Counterinsurgency in Istanbul (Cornell University Press, 2022), sheds light on counterinsurgency's affect-and-emotion-generating divisive techniques and urban dimensions and shows how counterinsurgent policing strategies work to intervene in the organization of political dissent in a way that both counters existing alignments among dissident populations and prevents emergent ones. It provides an ethnographically grounded analysis of the tension between policing and politics and presents a counterintuitive analysis of policing, focusing particular attention on the incitement of counterviolence and perpetual conflict by the state security apparatus. Rather than focusing on counterinsurgency’s strategies for producing docile and compliant citizens, I focus on the provocative aspects of policing. I argue in the book that counterinsurgency is a permanent and preventive war on politics. Engaging also with the literature on political subjectivities, urban marginality, urban violence, memory, and resistance the book sheds light on the world-building practices of the oppressed and fearless resistance that is informed by what I call inspirational hauntings.
Both my research and teaching are guided by my commitment to interdisciplinary and decolonial approaches to pressing social issues. My teaching philosophy is based on the development of critical thinking skills and helping students hone their ability to denaturalize social relations through explorations of the structures and patterns that have shaped our historical present.
Before joining Newcastle University, I taught at various universities including the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Free University of Berlin, Cornell University, and Bosphorus University.
Selected Teaching Experience
Newcastle University (2021-):
Perpetual Wars: Crime, Policing and (In)Security (MA)
Critical Approaches to Security and Policing (BA),
Crime and Inequalities (BA),
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (2018-2020):
Decolonizing Anthropology (BA)
The Anthropology of Policing (BA&MA)
The Anthropology of Crime (BA &MA)
The Anthropology of Law (BA & MA)
Critical Approaches to the Violence in the Middle East (BA)
Free University of Berlin (2017- 2018):
Urban Anthropology (MA)
The Anthropology of Human Rights (MA)
Sabanci University (2014)
The Anthropology of the State (BA & MA)
Bosphorus University (2010-2014)
Introduction to Sociology (BA)
Society and State (BA)
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Articles
- Yonucu D. Sectarianism as racism: the collective punishment of Alevi communities in Turkey. Race & Class 2024, 63(3), 47-68.
- Yonucu D. Police, Provocation, Politics: Counterinsurgency in Istanbul: Acknowledging the 2023 Anthony Leeds prize in urban anthropology. City & Society 2024, 36(1), 5-6.
- Yonucu D. Inspirational Hauntings and a Fearless Spirit of Resistance: Negotiating the Undercover Police Surveillance of Racialized Spaces in Istanbul. Current Anthropology 2023, 64(4), 359-473.
- Yonucu D. Counterinsurgency in Istanbul: provocative counterorganization, violent interpellation and sectarian fears. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 2022, 49(5), 896-914.
- Yonucu D, Suciyan T. From the Ottoman Empire to Post-1923: The Catastrophe as Seen by the Angel of History. Critical Times 2020, 3(2), 300-311.
- Yonucu D. Urban vigilantism: A study of anti‐terror law, politics and policing in Istanbul. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 2018, 42(3), 408-422.
- Yonucu D. The absent present law: An ethnographic study of legal violence in Turkey. Social & Legal Studies 2018, 27(6), 716-733.
- Yonucu Deniz. Şehir, egemenlik ve çatışma mekânları. Toplum ve Bilim 2018, 146, 62-71. In Preparation.
- Yonucu D. Affect in the courtroom: beyond language and performance. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 2018, 50(3), 356-357.
- Yonucu D. Kapitalizm, Suçlulaştırma ve Siyaset. Birikim 2014, 297, 29-37.
- Yonucu Deniz. Capitalism, desperation and urgency. Red Thread 2011, 3, 1-10.
- Yonucu Deniz. A Story of a Squatter Neighborhood: From the place of the" dangerous classes" to the" place of danger". Berkeley Journal of Sociology 2008, 52, 50-72.
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Authored Book
- Yonucu D. Police, Provocation, Politics: Counterinsurgency in Istanbul. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2022.
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Book Chapters
- Yonucu D. Polis-Hapis Disinda Toplumsal Guvenlik Tahayyulu Ve Halk Komitesi Deneyimi (Experinces of Safety outside the Police-Prison Nexus). In: Yücesoy, F; Çavdar, O; Aslan, S, ed. Sosyal Bilimler Perspektifinden Aleviler ve Alevilik –2. Istanbul: Utopya Yayinevi, 2024, pp.219-231.
- Yonucu D. Irk, Irkçılık, Irksallaştırma. In: Cem Özatalay, ed. Toplumsal Yapı Türkiye'de Eşitsizlik, Tahakküm, Değişim. Istanbul: Iletisim, 2024, pp.404-421.
- Yonucu D, Yanik A. Adalet Fantezisi (The Fantasy of Justice). In: Ozvaris H, ed. Adalet Atlasi. Istanbul: Iletisim, 2023, pp.75-89.
- Yonucu Deniz. “Var-Yok Hukuk: Türkiye'de Hukukun Şiddetinin Etnografik Analizi”. In: Deger, Ozan, ed. Düşmanı Yargılamak. Ankara: Zoe Kitap, 2020, pp.212 – 241.
- Bora T, Yonucu D. State and Civilian Violence Against "Dangerous" Others. In: Özyürek, E; Özpınar, G; Altındiş, E, ed. Authoritarianism and Resistance in Turkey: Conversations on Democratic and Social Challenges. Cham: Springer, 2019, pp.229-235.
- Yonucu D. Türkiye'de Bir Yönetim Biçimi Olarak Mekansal Ayrıştırma: Tehlikeli Mahalleler, Olağanüstü Hal ve Militarist Sınır Çizimi [Spatial Segregation as a Technology of Governance in Turkey: Dangerous Neighborhoods, State of Emergency and Militarized Boundary Drawing]. In: Ayfer Bartu Candan, Cenk Özbay, ed. Yeni İstanbul Çalışmaları: Sınırlar, Mücadeleler, Açılımlar. Istabul: Metis, 2014.
- Yonucu Deniz. European Istanbul and Its Enemies: Istanbul’s Working Class as the Constitutive Outside of the Modern/European Istanbul. In: D. Reuschke; M. Salzbrunn; K. Schönhärl, ed. The Economies of Urban Diversity: Ruhr Area and Istanbul. Palgrave, 2013.
- Gönen Z, Yonucu D. Legitimizing violence and segregation: Neoliberal discourses on crime and criminalization of urban poor populations in Turkey. In: Bourke, A; Dafnos, T; Kip, M, ed. Lumpencity: Discourses of Marginality, Marginalizing Discourses. Red Quill Books, 2011, pp.75-103. In Press.
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Editorials
- Yonucu D, Parker C. Beyond pseudonyms: Ethics and politics of ethnographic representation. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 2024, epub ahead of print.
- Yonucu D, Parker CM. Racism and policing beyond North America. Political and Legal Anthropology Review 2023, 46(1), 112-113.
- Parker CM, Yonucu D. Landscapes of otherwise: Anthropological critique in want of" better" worlds. Political and Legal Anthropology Review 2023, 46(2), 264-265.
- Parker CM, Yonucu D, Curtis J. Introducing Directions Section. Political and Legal Anthropology Review 2022, 45(1). In Preparation.
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Online Publications
- Yonucu D, Peacock V, Steenberg R, Verdery K. The Anthropology of Surveillance: An Interview with Katherine Verdery. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 2024. Available at: https://polarjournal.org/2024/01/13/the-anthropology-of-surveillance-an-interview-with-katherine-verdery/.
- Yonucu D. Police Violence, Inspirational Hauntings, and Keeping the Struggle Alive. Society and Space: Society and Space, 2024. Available at: https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/police-violence-inspirational-hauntings-and-keeping-the-struggle-alive.
- Cooper AE, Yonucu D. Racism, Policing, and the Black Resistance in Britain: A Conversation with Adam Elliot-Cooper. Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA), 2023. Available at: https://polarjournal.org/2023/11/08/racism-policing-and-the-black-resistance-in-britain-a-conversation-with-adam-elliot-cooper/.
- Yonucu D, Parker CM. Racism and Policing in Global Perspective. Hoboken: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 2023. Available at: https://polarjournal.org/2023/11/08/racism-and-policing-in-global-perspective/.
- Yonucu D. Mafyalar neoliberal devletin kontrol aygıtı. BirGün Pazar, 2023. Available at: https://www.birgun.net/makale/mafyalar-neoliberal-devletin-kontrol-aygiti-474324.
- Yonucu D. Counterinsurgency and the Police: Perspectives from Istanbul. Urban Violence Research Network Blog, 2022. Available at: https://urbanviolence.org/police-provocation-and-politics/.
- Yonucu D. Counterinsurgency And Insurgent Safety in Istanbul. Urban History Association, 2022. Available at: https://themetropole.blog/2022/09/06/counterinsurgency-and-insurgent-safety-in-istanbul/.
- Yonucu D. Turkey’s United Front Against Kurds and Democracy. 2017. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/turkey-s-united-front-against-kurds-and-democracy/.
- Yonucu D. Colonial Envy and the Success of the Kurdish Political Struggle. 2017. Available at: https://politicalandlegalanthro.org/2017/05/11/colonial-envy-and-the-unbearable-success-of-the-kurdish-political-struggle/.
- Yonucu D. United in Nationalism: Notes on the Aftermath of the Failed Coup Attempt in Turkey. jadaliyya, 2016. Available at: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/33659.
- Evren E, Yonucu D. Turkey’s War and Struggle of Its Academics. ZMO Bulletin, 2016. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/26221539/Turkey_s_War_and_the_Struggle_of_its_Academics. In Preparation.
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Review
- Yonucu D. Genocide Never Sleeps. Allegralab 2021.