Topali Penelope

Penelope Topali is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology and History at the University of the Aegean. Her academic career began with a Mathematics degree from Aristotle University, followed by an MA in Applied Urban Anthropology (City University of New York) and a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of the Aegean.

Research Interests focus on migration, refugees, minority cultures, gendered labor dynamics, and the intersections of religion and work. Her work critically examines issues such as domestic labor migration, refugee representation in crises, and the socio-cultural impacts of mobility. She has conducted extensive fieldwork on Filipino domestic workers in Greece and the cultural politics of assisted reproductive technologies among Muslim minorities.

Grants & Research include leadership in the EPEAEK II program (2004-2008) on gender and domestic work, and participation in EU-funded projects like “(Under)privileged Citizens: Perceptions, Practices, Policies and Technologies of Assisted Reproduction in Greece” (2014). She is affiliated with the Ethnography Laboratory, History Laboratory, and Family and Kinship Studies Laboratory.

Courses Taught include undergraduate courses on migration anthropology and postgraduate modules on gender and migration, border studies, and field research methodologies.