On the Issues Episode 135: Hafza Girdap

Today’s guest is Hafza Girdap, Spokesperson for Advocates of Silenced Turkey and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology at Hofstra University. In this episode, Alon and Hafza discuss the ten years since the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016, the countless human rights violations committed by the Erdogan government since then, and the status of women’s rights and minority rights in Turkey.

Originally published February 17, 2026

Full bio
Hafza Girdap is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology at Hofstra University and the Spokesperson for Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST). She holds a Ph.D. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Stony Brook University, New York. Her research focuses on gender, race, immigration, racialization and identity, human and women’s rights in Muslim-majority contexts, and the integration and adaptation of Muslim immigrant women, with particular attention to the redefinition of their cultural identities.

Beyond her academic work, Girdap is the director of the Gender Program at the European Center for Populism Studies (ECPS) and the co-founder of Set Them Free, a gender-based advocacy initiative. She is also the first elected Chair of the Muslim+ Feminists Caucus within the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), where she currently serves as Co-Chair, and a member of the Sister-to-Sister Committee of Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS).

In her research, Girdap actively incorporates the voices of female survivors of conflict, examining the coping mechanisms they employ to navigate challenges such as social discrimination, oppression, and violations of basic rights across various contexts—including their home countries, refugee camps, and new settlements. By framing reidentification as a form of agency, her work not only highlights the complexities of identity negotiation but also challenges epistemic dominance by contributing to alternative modes of knowledge production.

Girdap has also expanded her work in women’s rights advocacy. Over the past seven years, she has organized and spoken at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW) panels, focusing on the experiences and needs of women. She also mentors youth, encouraging their engagement as researchers and speakers in these global forums.