Dr. Danielle Schoon

Danielle V. Schoon was a guest at the MPI-MMG from February until May 2023. She is a cultural anthropologist whose work focuses on identity politics in contemporary Turkey. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the intersections of urban development and the rights regime in a Romani (“Gypsy”) neighborhood in Istanbul called Sulukule. Danielle has published several book chapters and a journal special issue on the politics of Romani identity in Turkey.

As a guest affiliate, Danielle continues her most recent research on the use of Hip Hop music and dance as a tool for building community among migrants and marginalized populations in Istanbul. She plans to expand this research to Berlin for the sake of making comparisons between Turkish Hip Hop in the German versus the Turkish context. How do shifting markers of identity (Turkish, Kurdish, Roma, Alevi, migrant, etc.) get expressed in Hip Hop among Turkish communities in Berlin versus Istanbul? What aspects of identity can/cannot be expressed in these two different contexts? How do Hip Hop music and dance artists engage with local political and social issues?

Danielle is also interested in the Science of Teaching and Learning and, as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures at The Ohio State University, she is constantly working towards improving her teaching methods using engaged pedagogy and active learning.