Ela Gezen

Candidate statement

Ela Gezen (Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2012) is Associate Professor of German at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research and teaching focus on 20th and 21st century German literature and culture, with emphases on literatures of migration, theater, minority discourses, transnationalism, and cultural theory. She is the author of Brecht, Turkish Theater, and Turkish-German Literature (2018) and is currently working on her second book, Cultures in Migration: Turkish Artistic Practices and Cultural-Political Interventions in West Berlin. Besides her editorial work, she has published articles on music, theater, and literature, focusing on the intersection between aesthetics and politics in both Turkish and German contexts. She has attended every GSA conference since her very first in 2008, and in addition to presenting papers, has collaborated with colleagues on organizing seminars, panels, and roundtables. Within the GSA she has served on the Program and Arts Night Committees, the Vision and Advocacy Working Group, the Executive Board, and is currently chairing the newly implemented Mentoring Award and Initiatives Committee. Together with colleagues, she plans to continue advocacy work, facilitate cross-committee and multi-organizational cooperation, and support existing committees in their efforts in making the GSA a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive professional organization.