I am a doctoral candidate at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Law and Teacher at Tampere University, Finland.
My doctoral research project investigates the interplay between the externalization and internalization of migration management and the political agency of refugees in irregular circumstances (including asylum seekers), particularly within transit countries and border zones. This empirical socio-legal project employs a transdisciplinary perspective through combining law and social sciences with visual art. The project dissects migration management as a mutually constitutive process between borders and the struggles of refugees to be included in the destination states. Within this project, I conduct a case study on the border regimes produced through deportation and containment practices at the European Union's Greek-Turkish external border and the implications of these practices for refugees and their 'access'. In so doing, I employ a range of qualitative methods, mainly content analysis and visual approaches, to develop a grounded theoretical-analytical framework with perspectives from critical border studies.
I hold a Master of Social Sciences (MSocSc) degree in International Relations and Political Science from Tampere University (Finland, 2019). My master’s thesis Rethinking Rightlessness: the “Right to Have Rights” and the EU-Turkey Statement assesses the impact of the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016 on the rights of migrants in Greece and Turkey through Hannah Arendt’s theoretical lens of the “right to have rights”. I also received a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and a minor degree in International Relations from Koç University (Istanbul, Turkey) in 2017.
I am also enthusiastic as a political cartoonist about reflecting the contemporary phenomena within the realm of law and society, such as human rights issues, inequalities, and injustices, in my editorial cartoons.
My doctoral research project investigates the interplay between the externalization and internalization of migration management and the political agency of refugees in irregular circumstances (including asylum seekers), particularly within transit countries and border zones. This empirical socio-legal project employs a transdisciplinary perspective through combining law and social sciences with visual art. The project dissects migration management as a mutually constitutive process between borders and the struggles of refugees to be included in the destination states. Within this project, I conduct a case study on the border regimes produced through deportation and containment practices at the European Union's Greek-Turkish external border and the implications of these practices for refugees and their 'access'. In so doing, I employ a range of qualitative methods, mainly content analysis and visual approaches, to develop a grounded theoretical-analytical framework with perspectives from critical border studies.
I hold a Master of Social Sciences (MSocSc) degree in International Relations and Political Science from Tampere University (Finland, 2019). My master’s thesis Rethinking Rightlessness: the “Right to Have Rights” and the EU-Turkey Statement assesses the impact of the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016 on the rights of migrants in Greece and Turkey through Hannah Arendt’s theoretical lens of the “right to have rights”. I also received a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and a minor degree in International Relations from Koç University (Istanbul, Turkey) in 2017.
I am also enthusiastic as a political cartoonist about reflecting the contemporary phenomena within the realm of law and society, such as human rights issues, inequalities, and injustices, in my editorial cartoons.
NOW OUT!
My master's thesis 'Rethinking Rightlessness: The "Right to Have Rights" and the EU-Turkey Statement' is now published as a book by On İki Levha Yayıncılık A.Ş. You can order the book from this link (within Türkiye) or this link (outside Türkiye, within Europe).
With the increasing uses of EU's externalization measures and informal readmission arrangements, such as the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016, it becomes ever-increasingly important to understand the implications of these measures for refugees and their 'right to have rights'. From the back cover: 'While the case studies which this work is based upon are predominantly taken from mid-2015 until February 2019, it continues to help us see and understand the current situation that rightless refugees are facing at the doorsteps of the EU, within Turkey, or elsewhere in the world. This work, therefore, provides illuminating insights for people who would like to learn further about the contemporary struggles of refugees who are directly or indirectly affected by the externalization measures of the EU.' |
WHAT IS THE RELATION BETWEEN LAW AND CARTOONS?
The title is bizarre, isn't it? It's because I'm a law graduate and interested in drawing cartoons at the same time. I have always been planning a career in becoming a lawyer since the age of eight, and highly concerned with global issues since the age of eleven, when I started to draw caricatures. My passion in editorial cartoons sparked my interest in human rights. Actually, if we assume that drawing caricatures is a way of expression and freedom of expression is protected by legal norms; well, that's the relation!
MY FIRST SKETCHES AS A CARTOONIST...
Here are some pages from my first and second volumes of my comic book, Bad Cat Cannibal. These are the drawings that I drew starting from when I was eleven until fourteen. That's how I dived into the world of drawing cartoons!
Doing ‘visual ethnography’ without being aware of it!
Visual ethnography is described as an approach that uses visual methods, such as photography, painting, drawing, or video, to learn and know about people, society, and cultures and to communicate this to others (Pink, 2020). In my doctoral research project, for instance, I draw on visual ethnography to learn about and voice the refugees’ experiences with borders and bordering and of border-crossing in the paintings they created.
Visual ethnography was something I have actually done before — but I didn’t know! In 2015, I have reflected on my fieldwork experience in the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, India in a comic book, though through the eyes of a fiction character I created when I was eleven (Bad Cat Cannibal). This visual auto-ethnographic project involved the comics, with own drawings, cover and layout design, where I narrate my experiences of conducting a social impact project alongside a team of ten peers from my university in Istanbul, Turkey. The project aimed to promote water hygiene and sanitation for the residents of Dharavi. I drew the comics by hand, scanned and published a few copies, as well as created a digital copy. From the back cover: "Bad Cat Cannibal, while being a good lawyer in one of the most well-known law offices in New York City and living in a penthouse with an enormous luxury, finds himself in the second most populated city of India as a volunteer in the slums." Click here to view the full story!
Visual ethnography is described as an approach that uses visual methods, such as photography, painting, drawing, or video, to learn and know about people, society, and cultures and to communicate this to others (Pink, 2020). In my doctoral research project, for instance, I draw on visual ethnography to learn about and voice the refugees’ experiences with borders and bordering and of border-crossing in the paintings they created.
Visual ethnography was something I have actually done before — but I didn’t know! In 2015, I have reflected on my fieldwork experience in the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, India in a comic book, though through the eyes of a fiction character I created when I was eleven (Bad Cat Cannibal). This visual auto-ethnographic project involved the comics, with own drawings, cover and layout design, where I narrate my experiences of conducting a social impact project alongside a team of ten peers from my university in Istanbul, Turkey. The project aimed to promote water hygiene and sanitation for the residents of Dharavi. I drew the comics by hand, scanned and published a few copies, as well as created a digital copy. From the back cover: "Bad Cat Cannibal, while being a good lawyer in one of the most well-known law offices in New York City and living in a penthouse with an enormous luxury, finds himself in the second most populated city of India as a volunteer in the slums." Click here to view the full story!
CONTACT
Berfin Nur Osso
Doctoral candidate
Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki
PL 4 (Yliopistonkatu 3)
00014 Helsinki, Finland
Email: [email protected]
Orcid: 0000-0003-1955-5236
Berfin Nur Osso
Doctoral candidate
Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki
PL 4 (Yliopistonkatu 3)
00014 Helsinki, Finland
Email: [email protected]
Orcid: 0000-0003-1955-5236