Spotlight: Marie Curie Fellow Dr Erol Saglam

Could you tell us a bit about your background and how you’ve come across the IGP?

I am an Associate Professor of social anthropology, working on the intersections of masculinities, the state, and political imagination throughout the last decade. Since my doctoral studies in the UK, I have worked in different countries, including Sweden, Germany, UK, and Turkey. Through these projects I have explored how my interlocutors' political orientations are fashioned through rather mundane everyday practices, collective memories, and what is often dismissed as irrational or illogical. 

Prof Henrietta Moore has been an influential figure in anthropological circles and the Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP) has established itself as an interdisciplinary spot for a radical re-thinking of how we approach and understand society. Since Dr Sehlikoglu works on similar themes, including the often neglected power of the imaginaries, we started collaborating on a number of projects and articles, which had brought me in to IGP as a visiting fellow of the Takhayyul Project last year. 

Could you tell us about your project as Marie Curie Fellow?

My two-year long project attends to the political reverberations of conspiracy theories among professional, educated, and well-off men in contemporary Europe. As I have been working on conspiracy theories for time now, I realized how discussions around conspiracy theories focus solely on their falsity and claim they were common among uneducated, low-skilled, and 'left-behind' social groups. Through a comparative analysis, my project tests those presumptions and explores whether 'elites' also circulate conspiracy theories or not. 

What does prosperity mean to you?

Prosperity, for me, is related more to the socio-economic structures that help individuals realize their goals and desires to advance our collective well-being. It, hence, is economic as well as socio-political, enables our individual labourings to get better versions of ourselves, and simultaneously assists us overcoming adversities and injustices. For this reason, prosperity is a process through which political imaginaries, perception, and emotions/affects are incorporated into wider structures.

What professional/academic achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

Throughout the last decade, I have succeeded in working with rather reclusive social groups, including ultra-nationalists, conspiracy theorists, treasure hunters, bureaucrats, and elites. Looking back at my scholarship, I am proud of not giving up in the face of conventional assumptions around difficulties in accessing such circles, establishing rapport with my interlocutors, and rethinking the parameters of ethical praxis in such settings. This accomplishment, I am aware, is not a one-off thing but rather a process, the significance of which I have become aware of only in the past few years. 

Who is influential to you and why?

Might be a bit cliche, my interlocutors across different research projects have been immensely influential in the way I come to forge both my professional and personal relationships today. I really have learnt a lot about the way humans fashion themselves alongside many different orientations that they live by and the heterogeneities they harbour within and among them. Whenever I thought I knew how the social field in front of me operated, my interlocutors showed me other dimensions that I had not even imagined. And they did it, even when our politics clashed, with an open mind and kindness that I strive to emulate now.

Do you have a recent book, film, or podcast that you would recommend?

One timeless piece on humans' ambiguity--both to breach fundamental moral codes and to always rediscover compassion--is The Act of Killing by J Oppenheimer. I find it extremely useful as a text to rediscover how our social worlds are vulnerable and yet are also reparable. I would also suggest a podcast series I am co-hosting (alongside Deniz Yonucu and Vita Peacock) where we discuss recent works on surveillance with scholars working on the theme from different angles. As the rise of surveillance technologies (and their incessant abuses by various political and economic actors) is an important issue that everyone should be familiar with in the contemporary world, I would suggest everyone have a look at the episodes.