From the Coasts of Bosporus

Veronica Kostenko participated at the international conference on gender and migration in Istanbul

Veronica Kostenko, junior research fellow at LCSR, delivered a report at the international conference on gender and migration in Istanbul (May, 11-13, 2013).

International conference “Gender and Migration: Critical Issues and Policy Implications” was organized by the London School of Economics, London Centre for Social Studies, Swansea University and Marmara University in Istanbul. The place for the conference was chosen in such a way that it became possible to listen to many researchers from the sending society of Turkey. This particular event focused on gender issues in migrant communities, which is of special interest in the case of Muslim migrants.

The conference had 3 panels and several plenary sessions were held every day. Some of the lectures at those plenary sessions were of special interest. For example, Heaven Crawley from Swansea University talked on gender aspect in all the minority studies and lack of knowledge about women in all the groups of disadvantaged populations both in Europe and in the US.

A Turkish scholar Sibel Kalaycioglu gave a lecture on her research that has been lasting for over 20 years on value shift of those women who stay behind in Eastern Anatolia (a rural area in Turkey which keeps its position of the most sending region of Turkey for over 40 years) after their husbands go abroad in search of jobs.

My report was called “Gender Attitudes of Muslim Migrants in Western and Northern Europe”. It was important for me to show the results of my research at this conference as it united many scholars who work exactly in the same field as I do. Attitudes towards women and their position in migrant communities is a very interesting issue to discuss with Muslim researchers, as they have a perspective that is quite different from the European discourse in this field. I felt very confident when reporting on results to a new audience as I had a wonderful experience of discussing this project with colleagues at several LCSR conferences, which really helped. My final presentation on it that happened in April, 2013 at the seminar in St. Petersburg has also provided me with some insights which made my project better.

The organizers had also invited all the participants to a walking tour and a boat trip along Bosporus after the conference. This enjoyable day was preceded by a lecture from a famous Turkish urban researcher on the specific development of Istanbul city area. 

by Veronica Kostenko