BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Ezgi Karaoğlu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. She earned her master’s degree in social psychology, focusing on the attitudes of Turkish citizens toward Syrians in Turkey. During this time, she began working with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and later continued her humanitarian efforts at the Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM), the largest implementing partner of UNHCR in Turkey, where she managed a community center in Istanbul.

These challenging experiences shaped her critical perspective on migration research and humanitarianism. At Michigan State, her research examines the macro-structural forces driving international migration and the dynamics of humanitarianism. She explores questions such as how paternalism and power relations influence humanitarian interventions and how migrants engage in placemaking in cities, navigating patterns of exclusion and inclusion in urban spaces.

In her dissertation, Ezgi investigates the self-initiated integration strategies of middle-class Syrians in Istanbul, focusing on how they leverage their social and economic capital in the absence of government-led integration policies and within a politically and socially hostile environment.

Outside her primary research, Ezgi’s academic guilty pleasure is thinking, observing, and writing about street animals and interspecies interactions.

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CURRICULUM VITAE

Ezgi Karaoğlu

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Associated Programs

Women's & Gender Studies (WGS)

Global Urban Studies Program (GUSP)

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Publications

“Self-Settlement and the Challenges of Local Integration of Syrians in the Absence of Government Support”, Ezgi Karaoglu & Stephanie J. Nawyn, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Accepted (In Press)

“Covid-19 Skepticism and Public Health Norms during Refugee Assistance: Does Skepticism Always Lead to Poor Safety Protocol Adherence?”, Stephanie J. Nawyn, Ezgi Karaoglu, Natalie Qaji, Natalynn Qaji, BMC Public Health, March 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18232-3)

"Refugee COVID-19 Protocol Adherence and NGO Staff Perceptions: Paternalism and Power in Humanitarian Assistance", Ezgi Karaoglu, Stephanie J. Nawyn, Natalynn Qaji, Natalie Qaji, Ayat J. J. Nashwan, Stephen Gasteyer, Journal of International Humanitarian Action, October 2023

"Resilience to Nested Crises: The Effects of the Beirut Explosion on COVID-19 Safety Protocol Adherence", Stephanie J. Nawyn, Ezgi Karaoğlu, Stephen Philip Gasteyer, Rania Mansour, Ali Ghassani and Sandra T Marquart-Pyatt, Frontiers in Public Health, July 2022 (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.870158/full)

“Beyond COVID skepticism: Humanitarian assistance to refugees and hyper precarity during the COVID-19 pandemic’’, Ayat J. J. Nashwan, Stephanie J. Nawyn, Ezgi Karaoglu, Natalie Qaji, Natalynn Qaji, Migration Letters (Accepted in September 2023)

 "Resilience to Nested Crises: The Effects of the Beirut Explosion on COVID-19 Safety Protocol Adherence", Stephanie J. Nawyn, Ezgi Karaoğlu, Stephen Philip Gasteyer, Rania Mansour, Ali Ghassani and Sandra T Marquart-Pyatt, Frontiers in Public Health, July 2022

"Refugee COVID-19 Protocol Adherence and NGO Staff Perceptions: Paternalism and Power in Humanitarian Assistance", Ezgi Karaoglu, Stephanie J. Nawyn, Natalynn Qaji, Natalie Qaji, Ayat J. J. Nashwan, Stephen Gasteyer, Journal of International Humanitarian Action (under review)

 

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