Birgan (she/her) is a political ethnographer and sociologist working on time and futurity, social movements, radical grassroots politics, and experiments in alternative forms of democracy. She holds a PhD in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics (LSE), and has taught at the LSE (London, UK), Bogazici University (Istanbul, Turkey), and the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA, USA) before joining BCU. Her work appeared in academic journals like the British Journal of Sociology and Social Movement Studies as well as more publicly oriented publications such as The Sociological Review Magazine and Jadaliyya.
Birgan is currently working on her first book where she critically analyses the strengths and limits of horizontalist political organisation, based empirically on her two-year ethnography of local assemblies in Istanbul/Turkey. Her ongoing research project examines the HS2 (High Speed Railway 2) in the UK from the perspective of future imaginations and social inequalities, which is funded by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant.
She is the Founder and Co-Convenor of the Activism, Social Movements and Revolutions (ASMR) Study Group at the British Sociological Association (BSA). She also serves as Co-Convenor of the BSA’s Theory Study Group, Co-Organiser of the Alternatives to Capitalism Network at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), and an Editorial Board member of the BSA’s flagship journal, Sociology.
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Social movements
- Grassroots politics
- Sociology of time and the future
- Alternatives to representative democracy
- Struggles for social justice
- Political ethnography
- Qualitative interviews
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA, London School of Economics, 2022)
- PhD in Political Sociology (London School of Economics, 2020)
- MA in Sociology (University of Southern California, 2015)
- BA in Social and Political Sciences (Sabanci University, 2012)
Leadership roles:
- Founder and Co-Convenor of the Activism, Social Movements and Revolutions Section of the British Sociological Association (BSA
- Co-Convenor of the Theory Section of the British Sociological Association (BSA)
- Co-Organiser of the Alternatives to Capitalism Network at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE)
- Editorial Board member of Sociology
Memberships:
- International Sociological Association (ISA)
- Member of the British Sociological Association (BSA)
- Member of the American Sociological Association (ASA)
- Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE)
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (Advance HE)
Module lead:
- SOC4040 Politics and Society
- SOC6037 Activism, Social Movements and Social Change
- Birgan’s ongoing research project is titled “High Speed Railway 2 (HS2): Infrastructure and Inter-Regional Inequalities.” This project is funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant (2023-2025).
- Director of Studies: Zhoyia Inam, “Environmental Justice in the Global South” (2023-2026)
- Second Supervisor: Julia Lurfova, “Queer musical (dis)comforts: An ethnography of youth ‘jam’ spaces” (2024-2027)
Journal articles:
Gokmenoglu, B. (2026). “Re-Politicizing Care for Social Change.” In “Book Review Symposium for Valeria Graziano, Marcell Mars, and Tomislav Medak (2025). Pirate Care: Acts Against the Criminalization of Solidarity. Pluto Press.” Postdigital Science and Education. [Invited contribution]
Gokmenoglu, B. & Manley, G. (2025). “Hope and Time Work in Dystopian Contexts: Future-Oriented Temporalities of Activism in Post-Referendum Scotland and Turkey.” Time & Society, 34(1), pp. 57-76.
Gokmenoglu, B. & Ruggero, E.C. (2025). “Introduction to Special Issue: Political and Transformative Uses of Time.” Time & Society, 34(1), pp. 3-10.
Gokmenoglu, B. (2024). “Politics of Anticipation: Turkey’s 2017 Constitutional Referendum and the Local 'No' Assemblies in Istanbul.” Social Movement Studies, 23(4), 446-461.
Gokmenoglu, B. (2022). “Temporality in the Social Sciences: New Directions for a Political Sociology of Time.” The British Journal of Sociology, 73(3), 643-654.
Media appearance:
Live with Arab Studies Institute podcast on the 10th year anniversary of the Gezi protests (3 episodes, 2023). Available here, here, and here.
Public writing:
- Gokmenoglu, B. (2023). “From the Organized Hope of 2013 to the Cruel Optimism of 2023: Generating Hope in Political Struggle.” Jadaliyya. [Also available in Turkish.]
- Gokmenoglu, B. and Ozkaya, D. (2023). “Remembering Gezi: Beyond Nostalgia Ten Years On.” Jadaliyya.
- Gokmenoglu, B. (2022, March 8). “Against the Clock: How Erdogan Politicised Time in Turkey’s 2018 Elections.” [Online]. The Sociological Review Magazine. [Also available in Turkish.]
- Ferreri, V., Gokmenoglu, B., Noula, E. & Zagaria, V. (2021, September 21). “Defiant Engagements.” In Musallam, F. & Zagaria, V. (Eds.). #PoliticalEngagements: Ethnography and Political Engagement. Allegra Lab.
- Gokmenoglu, B. (2021, April 1). “The Struggle at Turkey’s Boğaziçi University: Attacks on Higher Education Tighten the Grip of the AKP’s Hegemonic Project.” Public Seminar. The New School for Social Research.
