Dr. Nurhak Polat
Data Politics in Authoritarian Entanglements: Experimental Arrangements and Democratic (Im-)Possibilities
In the digital everyday, data and its technologies increasingly shape the practices and contradictions of the political. My research project demonstrates how data is politicized and depoliticized. Through interconnected ethnographic studies in Turkey, I explore how data becomes a contested object and a field of power for democratic (im-)possibilities. Empirically and theoretically, the project draws on Critical Data Studies as well as Digital and Political Anthropology to capture the complex entanglements between data, politics, surveillance, and governance. The project traces data politics using multi-sited ethnographic methods. In addition to public data and state data infrastructures, it focuses on practices of counter-data. The aim is to make often hidden authoritarian entanglements and subtle (soft-)authoritarian shifts visible and to critically analyze their contradictory data-political dynamics.
Research Interests
- Data Politics and Authoritarian Entanglements: Investigating Data-Related (Soft-)Authoritarian Practices and Politics in Digital Times, with a Regional Focus on Turkey.
- Digitalization of Contradictions: Analysis of the Role of Digital Technologies and Data Practices in the Production, Negotiation, and Processing of Social and Political Contradictions.
- Digital Un-Governabilities and Experimental Arrangements: Critical Analysis of Data-Based Governmentality – with Regard to Data-Critical Perspectives on Surveillance and Security Technologies, Crisis Politics, and Digital Power Entanglements in Contradictory Situations such as the Covid-19 Pandemic or Similar Data-Politically Relevant Moments.
Vita
- Since 2025
Research Associate, Institute for Ethnology and Cultural Studies, University of Bremen - Since 2019
Associated Member Research Group Soft-Authoritarianism, University of Bremen - 2017
Dr. Phil (European Ethnology), Humboldt University Berlin. Dissertation: Umkämpfte Reproduktionswege: In(vitro)Fertilität, Aktivismus, sozialer Wandel in der Türkei. Eine Ethnographie. - 2014 – 2015
Research Associate, Institute for Ethnology and Cultural Studies, University of Bremen - 2008 – 2013
Research Associate, Humboldt University Berlin, Institute for European Ethnology and Collaborative Research Center 640 „Repräsentationen sozialer Ordnungen im Wandel“. Subproject: Verwandtschaft als Repräsentation sozialer Ordnung und soziale Praxis: Wissen, verwandtschaftliche Performativität und rechtlich-ethische Regulation - 2008
Master’s Degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology, University of Vienna - 2007/2008
Scholarship Recipient, ÖOG – Austrian Orient Society Hammer-Purgstall - 2004/2005
Scholarship Recipient, ÖOG – Austrian Orient Society Hammer-Purgstall - 2003
Bachelor’s Degree in Social Anthropology, University of Istanbul
Publications
- Adam, Jens, Regina Römhild, Manuela Bojadzijev, Michi Knecht, Pawel Lewicki, Rika Spiekermann & Nurhak Polat (Hrsg.). 2019. Europa Dezentrieren. Globale Verflechtungen neu denken. Berlin: Campus Verlag.
- Polat, Nurhak. 2018. Umkämpfte Wege der Reproduktion: Kinderwunschökonomien, Aktivismus und sozialer Wandel in der Türkei. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
- Polat, Nurhak. 2024. Daten | Tat-Sachen: Datenpolitische Versuche im autoritären Kontext. Kongressband der DGEKW (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kulturanalyse, Europäische Ethnologie.
- Polat, Nurhak & Hagen Steinhauer. 2024. Wissenschaft und Kritik in autoritären Geflechten. In Timo Heimerdinger & Marion Näser-Lather (Hrsg.), “Position beziehen”, “Haltung zeigen”?! – Bedingung und Problem kulturwissenschaftlicher Forschung, 77 – 98. Waxmann-Verlag.
- Polat, Nurhak. 2023. Unregierbar gemacht?: Pandemie-Tracking und Datenpolitiken in autoritären Geflechten. Kommunikation & Gesellschaft 24(1). 1-36. https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/hup2/kommges/article/view/866
- Polat, Nurhak, Gülcan Ergün, Filiz Öz & Cihan Yapistiran. 2022. Pandeminin Gölgesinde Kapitalizm: Gözetim, Veri Siyaseti, Özgürlük / Capitalism in the Shadow of the Pandemic: Surveillance, Data Politics and Freedom. Praksis Journal, Sonderheft Digitaler Kapitalismus (59). 129–150.
- Polat, Nurhak. 2021. Fantastic microscopic hair of uterus: Navigating reproductive trajectories, biomedical bodies and renegotiation of heterosexual femininities and masculinities. In Alkan, Hilal, Ayse Dayı, Sezin Topçu & Betül Yarar (Hrsg.), Reproduction, Maternity, Sexuality: The Politics of the Female Body in Contemporary Turkey, 63–83. Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Polat, Nurhak. 2021. Gelebte Verflechtungen: In-Vitro-Technologien, Körper, Körperpolitik. In Treiber, Angela & Rainer Wenrich (Hrsg.), Körperkreativitäten: Gesellschaftliche Aushandlungen mit dem menschlichen Körper, 225–256. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
- Polat, Nurhak. 2020. Negotiating Masculinities: Reproductive Technologies, Biosocial Exclusion and Men’s Engagements in Turkey. NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies 15(3-4). 267–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/18902138.2020.1799169
- Polat, Nurhak. 2020. Dijital pandemi gözetimi, beden politikaları ve eşitsizlikler [Digital pandemic surveillance, body politics and inequalities]. Kültür ve Siyasette Feminist Yaklaşımlar (41). 94–107.
- Polat, Nurhak. 2020. Koronavirüs normalligi, viral izler ve dijital otoriterlesme [Die Korona-Normalität, Virale Spuren und digitalautoritäre Tendenzen]. Birikim (373). 30–35.
- Mutlu, Burcu, Neslihan Şen, Nilay Erten, Nurhak Polat, Seda Saluk & Şafak Kılıçtepe. 2018. Cinsellik, Üreme/Doğurganlık ve Sağlık Politikaları Üzerine Sohbet [A Conversation on the Politics of Sexuality, Reproduction and Health]. Kültür ve Siyasette Feminist Yaklaşımlar (33-34). 123–155. https://feministyaklasimlar.org/sayi-34-35-haziran-2018/cinsellik-uremedogurganlik-ve-saglik-politikalari-uzerine-sohbet/
- Polat, Nurhak. 2012. Concerned Groups in the Field of Reproductive Technologies: A Turkish Case Study. In: Knecht, Michi, Stefan Beck & Maren Klotz (Hrsg.), Reproductive Technologies as Global Form. Ethnographies of Knowledge, Practices, and Transnational Encounters, 197–226. Campus Verlag.
- Knecht, Michi, Maren Klotz, Nurhak Polat & Stefan Beck. 2011. Erweiterte Fallstudien zu Verwandtschaft und Reproduktionstechnologien: Potentiale einer Ethnographie von Normalisierungsprozessen. Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 107(1). 21-48.
Talks, Workshops and Events
- 18.09.2024
Lecture Gegendaten: Methodische Erweiterungen und Herausforderungen Digitale Methoden und Daten in Ethnografie und qualitativer Forschung at the 9. Arbeitstagung der Kommission Digitale Anthropologie der DGEKW, University of Vechta - 15. – 20.07.2024
Organization and Implementation YISARES 2024: Young International Scholars Sommer Research School. Demographic Imaginaries: Soft Authoritarianism, Majoritarian Identity Politics and Demographic Anxieties with the Research Group Soft Authoritarianism and Worlds of Contradictions, Central European University Budapest - 31.05.2024
Lecture and Workshop (Un)paradoxes of data, “Promises, Practices, Paradoxes – Research Data Reflection” organized by RUSTlab with Klaus Hoeyer, Ruhr-Universität Bochum - 15.12.2023
Organization and Implementation of the Workshop Engaging with data: Ideologies, Methods and Challenges with Prof. Lindsay Poirier and Tim Schütz, University of Bremen - 04.10.2023
Lecture Politiken mit Daten in autoritären Geflechten at the DGEKW Conference, Dortmund - 29.07.2022
Lecture Democratic (Im)Possibilities?: Digital Data Turns, Pandemic Surveillance, Ethnography at the Conference EASA2022: Transformation, Hope and the Commons, Queen’s University Belfast - 17.07.2022
Lecture Dilemmata der (Nicht-)Positionierung. Kulturwissenschaftliche Forschung, Kritik und Verantwortung in autoritären Geflechten with Hagen Steinhauer at the Conference “Position beziehen, Haltung zeigen?! – Bedingung und Problem kulturwissenschaftlicher Forschung“, Institut für Kulturanthropologie und Europäische Ethnologie Freiburg - 27. – 29.10.2022
Organization and Implementation YISARES 2022: Young International Scholars Autumn Research School: Situating Soft Authoritarianism Between Geopolitical Complexities and Everyday Practices online, University of Bremen - 15.10.2021
Organization and Implementation of the Workshop Pandemie nach Foucault: Biopolitik, Macht und Wissen in einer Pandemie in Turkish language, Online - 30.09.2021
Organization and Implementation of the Roundtable Authoritarianism and Digitalization: Paradoxes, Entanglements, Practices at the Conference „Worlds. Zones. Atmospheres. Seismographies of the Anthropocene“ by DGSKA, University of Bremen - 28. – 29.06.2021
Organization and Implementation of the Event Series Politics of Repression – Strategies and Resistances in Scholarship with the International Offices and Researchers from Leibniz Universität Hannover, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Georg- August-Universität Göttingen, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg and the Scholars at Risk Network, Online - 25.05.2021
Panel Discussion PublicCrisisAcademia – Lessons on Repression from Turkish Universities at the Event Series „Politics of Repression – Strategies and Resistances in Scholarship“ with Dr. Ulrike Flader and the International Office Universität Bremen, Online, University of Bremen - 2020 – 2021
Organization and Implementation of the Event Series and Thematic Semesters of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Studies Solidarität neu befragen and Eine Uni Ein Buch – die Uni Bremen liest Albert Camus‘ Die Pest, University of Bremen - 07.07.2020
Organization and Implementation Repression and Solidarity in Global Academia with Dr. Martina Grimmig and Dr. Ulrike Flader, Online, University of Bremen - 20.01.2020
Lecture Körper(teile) ‚assistierter‘ Reproduktion und Grenzen at the Lecture Series Körperaktivitäten: Zum gesellschaftlichen Umgang mit dem menschlichen Körper, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt - 22.08.2019
Lecture Digital authoritarian: Practices of digital-datafied surveillance at the Summer School of the Institute for Human Sciences: Democracy and Demography, Burg Feistritz Österreich - 21.03.2019
Organization Kick-off Workshop for the Interdisciplinary Research Group „Soft Authoritarianisms“: Comparative Interdisciplinary Perspectives with Prof. Dr. Shalini Randeria, Dr. Ulrike Flader and Worlds of Contradiction, University of Bremen - 06.04.2018
Lecture Negotiating Biomedical Masculinities and Reproductive Technologies in Contemporary Turkey: An Ethnographic Analysis at the International Symposium Health, Reproduction and Sexuality: Neoliberal-Authoritarian Modes of Governing the Woman’s Body in Turkey, University of Bremen - 25. – 28.10.2012
Organization and Implementation of the Conference Re-Ordering the Social – Producing Change: Contemporary Ethnographies of Turkey in an Interconnected World with Michi Knecht, Stefan Beck and Levent Soysal, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin