Our PhD Student Mariam Agha Presented Her Research at International Conferences

Mariam Agha, a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at Ibn Haldun University, presented her research “Like Those Who Dance in Stairwells: Navigating Ruptures, Liminality & Imaginaries in Exilic Filmmaking” at the BRISMES 2025 Annual Conference (Newcastle, July 1–3) and the 22nd IMISCOE Annual Conference (Paris, July 1–4). She also presented her study “On the Edge of Vanishing: An Ethnography of Exiled Egyptian Artists in Istanbul” at the 2025 Migration Conference held in London on June 2–4.

In her research titled “Like Those Who Dance in Stairwells: Navigating Ruptures, Liminality & Imaginaries in Exilic Filmmaking”, Mariam Agha examined the experiences of Egyptian filmmakers in exile in Istanbul. Through ethnographic fieldwork, content analysis, and in-depth interviews, she explored how artists forced into exile after the 2013 coup expressed their fragmented lives through filmmaking. The study analyzed how concepts of “permanent liminality” were embodied in their works and presented art as both a suspended moment of loss and a space where alternative imaginaries emerge. By situating exilic filmmaking between the poles of commercial and revolutionary art, Agha highlighted how these artists cultivate the potential to heal ruptures and reimagine their subjectivities.

In her study titled “On the Edge of Vanishing: An Ethnography of Exiled Egyptian Artists in Istanbul”, Agha delved into the intersections of displacement, art, and emotion, highlighting how exiled artists navigate the fragility of cultural memory and revolutionary subjectivity. The research characterized exile as a “comma suspended between unfinished pasts and uncertain futures” for these artists.

We congratulate our student on her valuable contributions and wish her continued success.