Zühal Gezicier
Zühal Gezicier
QUALIFICATIONS
2019 M.A., Women’s Studies, Institute of Migration, Gaziantep University, Türkiye
2012 B.A., Turkish Language and Literature
PRINCIPAL RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dom and Roma Communities; War and Forced Migration; Gender and Kinship; Informal Economies and Livelihoods; Dispossession; Social Exclusion and Inequality; Identity and Belonging; Memory and Oral History; Fundamental Rights; Everyday Life
RESEARCH PROFILE
I am a Dom researcher and Director of the Dom Research Center at Kırkayak Kültür in Gaziantep, Türkiye. My research focuses on Dom communities in Türkiye and the Middle East, particularly on gender, identity, livelihoods, social exclusion, dispossession, memory, and everyday life.
My current research examines how war and forced migration affect Dom families and kinship relations, with a focus on family relations, care practices, social support, and everyday life in post-conflict communities. Within the Romani Family in an Age of War (RAW) project, I am particularly interested in how kinship and family networks become resources for communities living through war, displacement, and uncertainty.
My earlier research explored how the transition from craft nomadism to informal economies has transformed social structures, livelihoods, and gender roles among Dom communities in southeastern Türkiye. I have a particular interest in Dom women’s labour, livelihood strategies, and different forms of dispossession.
For more than a decade, I have also worked with Dom and Abdal communities through community-based research and advocacy. My work includes oral history, field research, and research on access to fundamental rights and services, education, housing, justice, migration, and discrimination.
I am also interested in participatory research and the relationship between community knowledge, ethnographic research, and advocacy.
Book / Thesis
2019 Transformation of Gender Perception in Dom Society. Master’s Thesis, Gaziantep University, Institute of Migration, Women’s Studies.
Research Reports and Publications
2026 (Forthcoming) Erasure Through Dispersion: Issues and Perspectives on the Trafficking of Yazidi and Dom Minorities. In: Erasure in Iraq: Documenting the Everyday Practices of Fragmentation, Discrimination, and Removal. Taylor & Francis / Routledge. (co-author)
2025 Enclosure and Forms of Spatial Dispossession: “Gleaning” as a Mode of Livelihood for Dom Women. Global History Dialogues.
2024 Inaccessible Justice: The Roma's Pursuit of Justice in Turkey, Legal Barriers, and the Construction of Social Injustice. Romani Godi. (co-author)
2024 “We Started from Zero, We Returned to Zero Again…”: Problems in Access to Fundamental Rights and Services for Syrian Refugees, Dom and Abdal Communities after the February 6 Earthquake. Kırkayak Kültür. (co-author)
2022 “We Have Seen It All”: Examining the Experiences of Syrian Dom and Abdal Refugees in Accessing Fundamental Rights and Services in the Temporary Protection System in the Context of Discrimination. Kırkayak Kültür. (co-author)
2020 “Being Educated Is a Distant Dream to Us”: Dom and Abdal Children’s Education in Turkey: The Cases of Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa. Kırkayak Kültür. (co-author)
2019 Proposal for a Regional Social Inclusion Strategy: Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Kırkayak Kültür. (co-author)
2018 Nomadic Life and Women in Dom Communities. KA Journal 3(8): 40–49.
2017 The DOM: The “Other” Asylum Seekers from Syria. Kırkayak Kültür. (co-author)
Ongoing Projects and Grants
2025-2030 Romani Family in an Age of War (RAW). ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2024-COG), Horizon Europe, European Commission, grant agreement No. 101170655. Doctoral Researcher.
Professional experience
Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences / Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, Ph.D. Researcher, 2026–present
Researcher within the RAW project, focusing on war, forced migration, kinship, family relations, care practices, and everyday peace among post-conflict Dom communities.
Director, Dom Research Center, Kırkayak Kültür, Gaziantep, Türkiye
Coordination and implementation of field-based research, oral history documentation, project development, grant writing, rights-based advocacy, and policy-oriented activities addressing fundamental rights, structural discrimination, and social exclusion among Dom and Abdal communities in Türkiye and Syria.
Romani Godi Association- Founding Board Member
Community-based research, training, reporting, and mentorship with Dom, Abdal and Roma communities, with a particular focus on gender equality, fundamental rights, and community participation.
Council of Europe – Roma Integration Phase III, Thematic Consultant
Research and consultancy on mainstreaming Roma issues into public policies, addressing antigypsyism and discrimination, and housing policies and the legalisation of informal settlements.
Training and research networks
2025–present Global History Lab, University of Cambridge – Narrative Observatories
2025–2026 SOAS University of London – Archives of Solidarity
2025 University of Cambridge, CRASSH – Qualitative Research Methods
2024–2025 Södertörn University – Critical Romani Studies and Antigypsyism Research Colloquium and PhD Course
2023 European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) – Summer School
2022–2023 Central European University – Roma Graduate Preparation Program (RGPP)
Selected research networks
CEU Roma Students Network
Global Romani Coalition
Conference and Workshop Organisation
Dispossession of the Body in the Case of Dom Women: The Process of Transition from Craft Nomadism to Informal Economy. Paper presented at the International Online Conference The Roma in East Central Europe, co-organised by the University of Newcastle, Australia and the CEU Romani Studies Program, Central European University, Budapest, 18–19 April 2024.
Consultancy and expert advice
Kırkayak Kültür research reports
Romani Godi — Community-based gender equality trainings for Dom communities
ILO / Dissensus Research — Roma in the World of Work
