Dr Dilvin Dilara Usta
- dusta at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
- Lecturer in Criminology
Biography
I am an interdisciplinary UK-based academic specialising in the social and political issues related to migration, intimate relationships, sexuality and border criminology. I employ the view and approach of decolonisation in Sociology and Criminology to understand intimacy, sexuality and family practices within the migration process and non-Western cultural contexts. My research encompasses a wide range of topics, including the intimate relationships of transnational migrants, domestic violence, the identity of women in rural areas, and the impact of religious and cultural norms on marginalised identities and sexual practices. These academic works involved research projects, fieldwork, and collaboration with a variety of stakeholders at national and international levels.
After spending several years in both the academic and public sectors, I have developed a deep passion for researching politically and socially challenging social issues and working with the public to develop knowledge. During my research career in academia and the public sector before becoming academic, my career development goals have been orientated by exploring marginalised issues and pressured groups, creating an innovative, culturally sensitive methodological approach, establishing research-related public communication, and building a research-based teaching approach...
Before joining Bournemouth University as a Lecturer in Criminology, I was an Associate Lecturer in Sociology at the University of York, where I also completed my PhD.
I welcome postgraduate students who are interested in researching migration, border criminology, sociology of personal life, intimate relationships, and sexuality studies.
moreResearch
My research has always been inspired by bringing out culturally and politically challenging issues and practices that have been previously overlooked. The ongoing questions for my work are around gender and sexuality in the context of the migration process, intimate practices in non-Western culture, and state regulations that manage the migration of marginalised populations.
I am currently working on a case study titled Private Matters, Political Borders: A Participatory Art-based Case Study funded by CfSHV QR funding, Bournemouth University. I explore how sexuality can be the main reason for migration for non-Western Muslim migrants to the UK, investigate the political and cultural struggles of non-normative sexualities from a comparative, transnational context, and analyse migrants’ pre-and post-migration experience. One of the important elements of this research is to select participatory-arts-based methods that lend themselves to generating deeper insights into sensitive, personal struggles, subjective experiences, and decisions around the relevant topic while providing an egalitarian, participatory approach to creating meaningful outcomes.
My PhD, entitled 'The Passionate Journey: Everyday life and Practices of Transnational Migrants in the UK', explored how transnational Turkish migrants understand and experience intimacy, migration and intimate relationships over time and place. It examined specific issues and practices concerning the intimacy of transnational Turkish migrants by emphasising the relationships between intimacy and culture, gender ideologies and the migration process... By exploring intimate practices in the contexts of non-Western culture, transnationalism, migrant diasporic identity, religion and gender, this thesis introduced a new framework for understanding contemporary Turkish migrant profiles and displayed how their lives and intimate relationships change through their migration process.
My central discussions indicated that participants' intimacy experiences and interpersonal relationships are influenced by cultural norms, religious values, and migratory experiences. Its main contribution was to offer new ways of understanding and researching intimacy within non-Western societies by adding new insight into the existing literature on intimacy and migration. The thesis contributed to academic approaches on intimacy and relationships, suggesting intimacy is culturally structured, socially constructed and diverse across cultures.
This thesis proposed alternative empirical ways of researching intimate practices in the context of transnationalism by considering how they negotiate, de-traditionalise and sustain intimate relationships. While their intimate experiences highlight the significance of a range of personal and intimate relationships in the lives of migrants, they introduced alternative ways of conceptualising intimacy beyond the implications of the late modernity thesis and ethnocentrism.
While completing my PhD research, I worked as a Research Associate at the University of York's Students' Union on the lockdown experiences of marginalised students. I utilised qualitative analyses of digital data, including written pieces, spoken word poetry, photovoice, photo collage, drawings, videos, and multimedia stories. I implemented advanced qualitative research techniques and methodologies. I contributed to the project's dissemination activities by writing a section in the final report on relationships between student identities and places and by giving a conference presentation of the project findings at the Annual Learning and Teaching Conference at the University of York.
My experiences as a social researcher have also come from conducting semi-ethnographic fieldwork, including in-depth interviews and participatory observations during my master's degree, where I explored religio-political issues related to same-sex sexuality and relationships in the LGBTQ+ community in Turkey.
moreJournal Articles
- Usta, D.D. and Ozbilgin, M., 2023. The hidden side of migration: Understanding sexuality as an aspiration to migrate. Frontiers in Sociology.
- Usta, D.D., 2023. ‘Are we falling apart?’: manufacturing familyhood through transnationalism. Journal of Family Studies, 29 (5), 2372-2390.
- Usta, D.D., 2018. Same-Sex Intimacy, Intimate Citizenship and Experiences of Lived Religion of Non-Heterosexual Muslims: A Critical Review of Existing Studies. International Journal of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Conferences
- Usta, D.D. and Ozbilgin, M., 2023. The Hidden Side of Turkish Migration: Understanding sexuality as an aspiration to migrate to the. In: The Migration Conference 2022 7-10 September 2023 Rabat.
- Usta, D.D., 2023. Growths in‐between places: Identity formation process and authentic self(s) of transnational migrants. In: The Migration Conference 2023 23-26 August 2023 Hamburg.
- Usta, D.D., Salvatelli, R. and Stade, T., 2021. Student engagement with digital learning during the first national lockdown. In: Annual Learning and Teaching Conference 12-15 July 2021 York.
- Usta, D.D., 2019. Same-sex Intimacy and Intimate Citizenship: Lived Experiences of non-heterosexual Muslims. In: DAKAM, Gender and Women Studies'18, III International Conference on Gender and Women Studies 19 December 2018 Istanbul.
- Usta, D.D., 2019. Non-heterosexual Muslim Whispers: Negotiation of Same-sex Sexuality and Lived Religion: A Methodological Example of Non-heterosexual Turkish Muslim Identity. In: The University of Warwick, Social Sciences Centre for the Study of Women and Gender, Graduate Seminar Series 8 January 2019 Coventry.
Reports
- Glover, N., Usta, D.D., Salvatelli, R. and Stade, T., 2021. Life in Lockdown: A storytelling/narrative project exploring the lived experiences of students at the University of York during the first national lockdown.. University of York: YUSU, Univeristy of York.
Others
- Glover, N., Usta, D.D., Salvatelli, R. and Stade, T., 2021. Life in Lockdown: It is amazing what we can learn from students when we listen. Wonkhe. Published.
Profile of Teaching UG
- My research lends itself well to establishing a research-related teaching approach. In my current job, I employ my research findings as a pedagogical tool to help students enhance their sociological, criminological and methodological imaginations on contemporary social issues. This year, I am leading the second-year unit called Ethnographies of Crime and Policing. I am also part of the teaching team for the first-year Introduction to Criminological Theory unit, the second-year Human Trafficking and Criminality unit and the third-year Terrorism, Protection and Society unit.
Internal Responsibilities
- Panel Member, Social Sciences & Humanities Research Ethics Panel
Journal Reviewing/Refereeing
- Frontiers in Sociology, Open peer review, 19 Jan 2023
Qualifications
- PhD in Sociology (University of York, 2021)