Nathan is a former PhD student interested in theorizing contemporary Turkey through folkloric and anthropological approaches. His research focuses on how hometown (memleket) affiliation and nostalgic recollections shape Turkish imaginaries. Nathan draws attention to ways that the state's overt urbanization and developmental narratives exist in dialectic tension with preferences for small-scale localities. He also examines how nostalgia in Turkey is employed to mitigate perceived effects of globalization, urbanization and national trauma. 

 

Through ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, Nathan's dissertation seeks to uncover affinities for "local," village lifeways and their influence on conceptualizations of identity, belonging, community and state.