معرفی
Başak Can is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Koç University. She is also affiliated with the Global Health Master Program, the Center for Infectious Diseases, and contributes to the Public Health module at Koç University's Medical School. Her work bridges anthropology, sociology, and public health, focusing on the intersections of political violence, medical care, gender, and environmental justice.
- PhD in Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania (2014)
- MA in Sociology, Boğaziçi University (2008)
- BA in Economics, Boğaziçi University (2004)
Her research spans three main areas: (1) the role of medical care and documentation in post-political violence contexts, explored in her forthcoming book Forensic Fantasies; (2) the interplay between gender, reproductive justice, and labor markets in Turkey; and (3) the health impacts of pandemics, including a funded study on occupational illnesses during lockdowns and a co-authored work in Economy and Society in the Time of the Pandemic (University of Chicago Press, 2021). Currently, she investigates how environmental factors influence cancer etiology and treatment in Turkey's industrial zones, integrating interdisciplinary frameworks from the Anthropocene and environmental anthropology.
She has secured funding from the Social Science Research Council for pandemic-related research and is engaged in collaborative projects with healthcare professionals, patient rights groups, and environmental activists. Her methodological approach combines ethnographic fieldwork, archival analysis, and interdisciplinary theory-building.
