About
The stage is the oldest laboratory we have built for rethinking the world. Today, the planet itself is on that laboratory’s agenda.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Academic Biography
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gamze Şentürk Tatar is an academic whose research spans theatre, performance and ecology studies. Her work is shaped around contemporary theatre, theatre theory, dramaturgy, performance studies, British theatre, Turkish theatre and ecology. She approaches theatre not merely as a form of aesthetic expression but as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry in which social, cultural and political questions are debated.
Her academic work focuses on theatre and violence, gender and representations of women, digitalisation and the performing arts, storytelling in theatre, intercultural interaction and traditional forms of performance. Within this framework, she critically examines theatre’s relationship with changing cultural and technological conditions, the social function of the performing arts, and the meanings performance acquires in different cultural contexts.
In her ecology-oriented research, she explores the relationships between humans, nature and the environment in the context of ecological thought and environmental awareness. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, she investigates the potential of theatre and performance to address ecological crises, environmental transformations and non-human forms of life. Bringing theatre studies together with literature, cultural studies and environmental research, her scholarship considers the aesthetic, social and ecological dimensions of the performing arts in the contemporary world.
Education
- PhD (2020) — English Culture and Literature, Atatürk University
Dissertation: Hybridity in Selected Plays of Anthony Neilson - MA (2014) — English Culture and Literature, Atatürk University
Thesis: Feminist Strategies in Contemporary British Theatre - BA (2011) — English Language and Literature, Atatürk University (graduated first in class)
- BA (2022) — Political Science and Public Administration, Munzur University
- Associate Degree (2024) — Child Development, Atatürk University
- Associate Degree (2022) — Radio and Television, Atatürk University
Research Philosophy
My research brings theatre and performance studies into dialogue with ecological thought from a critical and interdisciplinary perspective. I examine the relationships between humans, nature and non-human life, as well as environmental crises and ecological transformations, in the context of theatre, dramaturgy and cultural representation. I explore the potential of art to cultivate ecological awareness and to question human-centred thinking, focusing in particular on how playwriting and the performing arts can foster ecological consciousness, challenge anthropocentrism and open up alternative ways of living for discussion.