Ilay Romain Ors

Dr. Ilay Romain Ors is an Associate Professor in Social Anthropology, who is born and raised in Istanbul and currently based in Athens. She received her doctoral degree from Harvard University (Joint PhD in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies) after her masters studies in Social Anthropology at the University College London and her bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Political Science & International Relations at Bogazici University. Having held positions at Harvard University, the University of Oxford, the University of Aegean, Istanbul Bilgi University, and most recently, at the City St.George’s University of London, Ors is presently based at the American College of Greece. Her publications include a manuscript titled Diaspora of the City: stories of cosmopolitanism from Istanbul and Athens (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), an article titled “Culinary Complexities in Turkey and Greece: On Food, Nation, and Identity in the Aegean” in the Journal of Modern Greek Studies (2024), and a forthcoming title on Rum Polites from the Cambridge University Press. Her research, teaching, and publications encompass an interdisciplinary spectrum including urban studies, political movements, identities, minorities, migrations, cultural heritage, and everyday life in Greece, Turkey, Eastern Mediterranean, and the Aegean.