Harvard University
Joint Ph.D. Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies
Harvard University
M.Phil. Middle Eastern Studies
Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
B.A. Sociology
Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
B.A. Political Science and International Relations
Ilay Romain Ors is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology in the Department of Social Sciences at Deree – The American College of Greece. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at City St. George’s University of London, a recent Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies, a Research Affiliate at the University of Oxford, and an Independent Scholar at the Independent Social Research Foundation. Fellow of IHCLA and Board Member at ACG Institute for Global Affairs, Professor Ors has been researching, teaching, and publishing on a variety of subjects in the interdisciplinary fields of migration, urban studies, minorities, social movements, identity formation, intercultural communication, everyday life, and political relations in Turkey, Greece, and the Aegean.
Polites: Istanbul Rum, Constantinopolitan Greeks. (Forthcoming) Cambridge University Press
“Resisting migration, redefining diaspora: Rum Polites in the global diaspora of the City.” In Handbook on Diasporas and Migration. Kaya, A. and Kılınç, N. (eds.) Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026
“Aegean Migrations: Dreaming of European Utopias in Dystopian Hotspots.” In Utopia, Migration, Ecotone. Feyereisen, J. (ed.) Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée, 2026, 313-326
“Culinary Complexities in Turkey and Greece: On Food, Nation, and Identity in the Aegean.” Journal of Modern Greek Studies. 42 (2): 225-256 (2024)
“Constantinopolitans in the Diaspora of the City: The Global Community of Rum Polites of Istanbul.” In Routledge Handbook of Turkish Diasporas. Arkilic, A., Senay, B. (eds.) Routledge, 2024, 107-119.
“Rum Polites in the Context of Turkish-Greek Relations.” In A Century of Greek-Turkish Relations: A Handbook. Christofis, N., Deriziotis, A. (eds.) Transnational Press, 2024, pp.151-164
İstanbullu Rumlar ve 1964 Sürgünleri [Greek Orthodox community of Istanbul (Rum Polites) and 1964 Expulsions] İletişim, 2019
Diaspora of the City: Stories of Cosmopolitanism from Istanbul and Athens. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018
“Cosmopolitan Nostalgia: Geographies, Histories, and Memories of the Rum Polites.” In Istanbul: Living with Difference in a Global City. Fischer Onar, N., Pearce, S., Keyman, F. (eds.). Rutgers University Press, 2018, 81-96
“Genie in the Bottle: Gezi Park, Taksim Square, and the realignment of democracy and space in Turkey.” In Toward New Democratic Imaginaries – Istanbul Seminars on Islam, Culture and Politics. Benhabib, Seyla & Kaul, Volker (eds.). Springer, 2016, 26-33