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Merve Tabur is a lecturer in Comparative Literature at Utrecht University, with a focus on environmental humanities. Her research examines representations of environmental destruction through speculative fiction, film, and visual arts, particularly in the context of Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA). Merve engages with a diverse range of Arabic, Turkish, and Anglophone sources to address contemporary issues such as climate change, extractivism, extinction, and environmental justice. She critically investigates the discourse surrounding the Anthropocene, demonstrating how cultural production in SWANA both challenges and redefines universalist notions of the term. Tabur's current book project explores the conceptions of futurity and environmental justice within a comparative perspective on SWANA. She earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Penn State University and has taught various courses, including comparative literature, world literature, English composition, and Arabic language. In addition to her academic work, Merve is a postdoctoral researcher for the European Research Council-funded CoFutures project at the University of Oslo and co-created the podcast series 'Unraveling Anthropocene: Race, Environment, Pandemic.' She has also translated numerous academic works on gender politics, cultural history, and literary theory.
Department of Psychology