Ayten Gündoğdu

Ayten Gündoğdu is the Tow Associate Professor for Distinguished Scholars in the Department of Political Science at Barnard College. Her research critically examines human rights frameworks, migration politics, and modern political theory through the lens of Hannah Arendt's philosophy. She focuses on marginalized groups such as asylum-seekers, refugees, and undocumented migrants, analyzing how legal and political systems perpetuate exclusion and violence.

Education: Ph.D., University of Minnesota; B.A., Bogazici University, Istanbul. Her work bridges continental political theory with contemporary issues like border violence and racialized vulnerability. Recent research explores migrant deaths through a phenomenological framework informed by Fanon and Arendt.

Her book Rightlessness in an Age of Rights (2015) reinterprets Arendt's concepts within migration contexts, winning multiple awards. Current projects address border-related impunity and the complicity of law in lethal violence. She has held fellowships from Columbia, Yale, Harvard, and the Mellon Foundation.

Teaching includes courses on human rights, migration, and critical theory. Recent presentations include keynote addresses on border control and forced disappearances at conferences in Helsinki and Amherst. Her articles appear in leading journals like Constellations, Polity, and European Journal of Political Theory.