Marhabo Saparova

Project Specialist

Marhabo Saparova is a doctoral candidate at Northeastern University Sociology and Anthropology Department. Saparova completed her MA degree in Cultural Studies at Sabanci University where she wrote her thesis on the role of religious affiliation in gendered migration experiences of Central Asian women university students in Turkey. MA training in Cultural Studies and involvement in SU Gender projects and activities (such as Curious Steps) have profoundly shaped her interest and passion for migration, gender and urban studies. Her second Master’s thesis in Sociology (Central European University) explores how Central Asian domestic workers negotiate, reject and, in some instances, embrace geopolitical nationalist discourses, post-socialist gendered moralities and expectations. Currently, she is writing her dissertation thesis on the politics of borders and migration in the everyday experiences of post-1990s Turkmen labor migrants in Turkey. This ethnographic project focuses on everyday life, survival strategies and community-building practices of Turkmen labor migrants in Istanbul.