Ahsen Utku

PhD Candidate in Political Science

Ahsen Utku is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at Northeastern University, specializing in International Relations and Public Policy. She has a strong background and interest in conflict resolution, forced displacement, identity building and ethno-religious conflicts, democratization and policy-making concerning humanitarian crises. Ahsen has served as a Teaching Assistant for Comparative Politics and International Relations.

Related Schools & Departments

Political Science

Research Interests

Ahsen’s research focuses on forced displacement and migration, educational policies and inclusion of refugee and immigrant youth, democratization, nationalism and identity building, gender and conflict with a particular focus on the Balkans and the Middle East.

Biography

Ahsen received her Bachelor’s Degree from Political Science and Public Administration at Marmara University, and her first Master’s Degree from International Relations at Marmara University in Turkey. After she worked as a freelance journalist in Turkey for several years, she completed a joint degree Master’s at Harvard Divinity School and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Ahsen speaks Turkish and French, and she has studied Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, Greek, Spanish and Arabic through her studies. She is also passionate about (documentary) photography and cooking.

Publications

Policies, Propaganda, and Purdah: Forced Inclusion of Women in the Early 1900s in Turkey and Soviet Central Asia, AICIL Conference Proceedings, May 2015 (co-authored with Jessica Willis)

Conference Presentations

From Heroes to Commodities: Child Soldiers from the WWI to the 21^st Century Children and War: Past and Present, University of Salzburg, Austria, 2016

Nostalgia over Dead Sons: Patriotism and Boy Soldiers in the First World War. Memory, Melancholy and Nostalgia, University of Gdansk, Poland, 2015

Policies, Propaganda, and Purdah: Forced Inclusion of Women in the Early 1900s in Turkey and Soviet Central Asia. Annual International Conference on Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, Oxford University, UK, 2015

Transitional Justice and Collective Memory in the Post-conflict Balkans and the Path to Democracy. Peace in the Balkans and Turkey: Cultural and Commercial Diplomacy, Istanbul Commerce Chamber, Turkey, 2014

Reproduction of Nationalism through the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. International Interdisciplinary Conference, Croatia, 2012

Degrees earned and institutions:

BA, Marmara University

MA, Marmara University

MTS, Harvard Divinity School

MALD, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

Research Interests: Forced displacement and migration, educational policies and inclusion of refugee and immigrant youth, democratization, nationalism and identity building, gender and conflict with a particular focus on the Balkans and the Middle East

Contact info:
960A Renaissance Park
utku.h@northeastern.edu

More Student Paths

Charles T. Wallace-Thomas IV

Charles took "Sustainable Renewable Energy Development in the Global South" with Professor Shalanda Baker, which pushed him to further question systems as they exist, no matter their entrenched in society.
He did community service as part of the Ujima Global Leaders Program through the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute. He worked on the Timebank team, helping give back to local communities.
Charles split his time for his first co-op between the Center for Economic Democracy and the Boston Ujima Project, where he analyzed studies on community needs, including infrastructure and childcare.
He was one of the co-creators of the #BlackAtNU campaign and advocated for racial literacy courses and a restorative and transformative justice center on campus.
Charles made his own research project- a macroeconomic index to measure democratic participation in municipal economies, partnering with NU, the Columbus Foundation and the Center for Economic Democracy.
He worked at the Participatory Budgeting Project as a Program Associate, helping city systems and other organizations actively decide how to invest money across different spaces.
Charles graduated in 2022. ..

Casey Greenleaf

Casey took Global Markets and Local Cultures. After traveling, she better saw how the coursework mirrored real life, and knew her education was preparing her for the world.
She went on a DOC to Argentina and Uruguay, and become highly proficient while living in Buenos Aires and visiting the glaciers of the Patagonia region.
Casey completed her first co-op at the Museum of Fine Arts as a community arts program assistant. She gained valuable hands-on experience assisting in arts classes for local communities.
She joined the Sociology & Anthropology Student Association during her third year. It allowed her to get to know her fellow students and mirrored the small school experience she loved.
Casey studied abroad in Nepal for her capstone thesis. She lived alone for a month while she researched and wrote about the lived experience of climate change in the lower Himalayas.
She worked for the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, founded by Professor Sarah Wylie. She produced promotional videos, developed a virtual research event, wrote event programming, and more.
Casey graduated in 2020. ..

Sunita Pfitzner

Sunita took Revolution, Civil War, and Insurrection, taught by Professor Risa Kitagawa. The course invited students to question the motives behind acts of violence against governments.
She traveled on a Dialogue of Civilizations to Jordan and Egypt; while there she grew interested in Middle East politics and the Arabic language.
Sunita worked at the Institute for Economics and Peace in Sydney, Australia, where she analyzed data on the corruption of police forces in Mexico.
Sunita was a member of the International Relations Council and traveled abroad with the club to compete in Model Arab League, Model NATO, and Model UN conferences.
Sunita conducted research with Berna Turam, developing a greater understanding of the Mediterranean migrant crisis. She also researched the feminist response to Covid-19 with Val Moghadam.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2022.
..

Yasser Aponte

Yasser was in the Foundation Year program at Northeastern. The program was a rigorous deep dive into core subject classes that helped Yasser bridge the gap between his high school and college experiences.
He took Issues in Cities and Suburbs with Professor Erin Graves in Fall 2018. As someone deeply invested in urban life, he found the course was an enlightened look at the problems endemic to cities.
Yasser joined the Boston Beer Company as a Program Operations and Event Assistant for his first co-op. He worked on inventory, public relations, brewery events, and workspace organization.
He implemented community gardens all over Boston on deserted plots of land during his time as the Northeastern Campus Director for the campus’ United Nations Millennium Fellowship.
Yasser maintained a farm in Dorchester for The Food Project. He harvested crops, distributed produce through donations and food markets, and worked on overall logistics.
In 2020, Yasser won the Community Service Leadership award, given to students who show exemplary community engagement. He was recognized for his work at The Food Project, Northeastern Crossing, and more.
He graduated 2022 with his Bachelor’s in International Affairs and Religious Studies and his Master’s in Security and Resilience Studies, through Northeastern’s PlusOne program...