Biography Dr. Asli Duru
I am a postdoctoral fellow currently based in University of Munich as part of the DFG Emmy Noether project "Changing Imaginations of Istanbul". I have a doctoral degree in geography and master's and undergraduate degrees in history, cultural studies and political science. My current work focuses mainly on the everyday geographies of health and wellbeing in cities. I am interested in both the everyday therapeutic settings and the political implications of these interactions. One strand of this work considers how food and eating generate therapeutic encounters and can be a medium to express dissent in cities. Another strand considers self-declared health and happiness in Istanbul and looks at the importance of sea and access to waterfronts in subjective assessments of wellbeing. A third strand will deal with young people's everyday health practices and assessments of quality of life. My general research interests revolve around relational political economy and gender perspectives on the material cultures of mental health and wellbeing in cities. I am specifically interested in visual, sensory, narrative artistic methods to articulate the subtle, incomplete, uneven but often inconspicuous and intensive perceptions and performances of what makes a city liveable under global capitalism.