Perin Gürel

Perin Gürel is an Associate Professor of American Studies and concurrent Associate Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on transnational feminist perspectives, U.S.-Middle East relations, and gender/race dynamics in popular culture. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University (2011).

Her publications include The Limits of Westernization: A Cultural History of America in Turkey (Columbia UP, 2017) and Türkiye, Iran, and the Politics of Comparison (Cambridge UP, 2025). Her 2019 American Quarterly article won the Jack Rosenbalm Prize. She has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Research Institute in Turkey, and others.

Teaching courses include 'Transnational America,' 'Gender and Popular Culture,' and 'Islam and Feminism.' She advises the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion. Alongside academic work, she collaborates with her daughter Marjane on eco-fantasy novels like Laleh and the Language of the Birds (Wildling Press, 2026).