Kristine Lawson
My first time in my fieldsite, the Yedikule bostanlar (market farms) in İstanbul. Here I am getting the lowdown/tour with colleague and comrade Aleks Shopov (2014).
Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, I came to California in 2009 for a season on the river and ended up deciding to make a return to academia. Before transferring into the University of California system, I had an uncanny encounter at Columbia College with Dr. Clarke, and then Professor Hamilton, that dramatically shifted my approach to my studies and prepared me for academic excellence. I completed my bachelor’s degree, with highest honors, in anthropology at UC Berkeley in 2012 where I carried out two funded independent research projects on the Occupy Movement. I began my PhD training in cultural anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2013. I plan to advance to candidacy in 2016. Past careers as a theatre student in British Columbia and as an international whitewater raft guide have shaped my current work in participatory ethnography. My dissertation research focuses on urban farming activism in İstanbul. I use acoustic methods, including sound mapping and deep listening sessions to understand social and political relationships in the market farms of Yedikule. I also bring a collaborative approach to my investigations, employing practices of co-design with local participants. I am also currently working for the UCSC Blum Center on a research project on affordable housing and the housing crisis in Santa Cruz. My research interests include: urban farming activism in İstanbul, acoustic methodology, participatory approaches to ethnography, critical sustainabilities and urban studies, care as a radical political act, international coalition building amongst activists, affordable housing in Santa Cruz, California, health-wealth-housing nexus…
Past:
University of California Berkeley, B.A. Anthropology, Highest Honors, 2012
University of California Santa Cruz, M.A. Cultural Anthropology, 2015
Current:
University of California, Santa Cruz, PhD Cultural Anthropology, 2018 (expected)