Melis Gemalmaz

Biography

Melis Gemalmaz is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. She holds a B.A. in Cultural Studies and a B.S. in Computer Science from Sabanci University. Her research examines secular and non-secular ways of making sense of events that feel catastrophic, from individual trauma to collective crisis. Her early work explored women’s engagement with contemporary spiritualities in Turkey as a source for healing psychological distress and post-traumatic effects. Her current research at Notre Dame examines the long-term aftermath of the 2023 Turkey earthquakes, investigating the secular and religious forms of repair through in-depth ethnographic research in Antakya, southern Turkey.

Before joining Notre Dame, Melis worked in multiple research projects in Turkey, including those developed by the Hrant Dink Foundation and the VRL Lab for Computational Social Sciences. She is currently a research assistant on the Ethical Substance project.

Melis is a Richard and Peggy Notebaert Premier Fellow.