Dr Umit Cetin
I have been a lecturer in Sociology in this department since 2007 where my specialist teaching is in sociological theory, sociology of religion and work experience. I completed my first degree in Sociology here and my MSc at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I have completed my PhD at the University of Essex, researching into suicide in the Alevi Kurdish/Turkish community in London. Since 2010 with Dr Jenkins, I have been working with the Alevi community around identity issues.
My main research interests are in the areas of classical and modern social theory, work and employment, religion, migration, suicide and identities. My PhD was funded by the Sociology Department at the University of Essex, consisting of a sociological examination of suicide amongst second generation Alevi-Kurdish young men in London. Since 2010, Dr Celia Jenkins and I have conducted further research with the London Alevi community concerning identity issues with second- generation youth. We pioneered a unique collaboration between the London Alevi Community Centre, local schools and ourselves to produce units on Alevism at Key Stages 1-3 for the core RE curriculum. These are the first schools in the world to teach Alevism in the core curriculum so we have enjoyed widespread publicity in the Turkish press both here and in Turkey and the curriculum materials will be published for use by other schools. In 2014, we won the British Education Research Association Prize for our collaboration with the secondary school piloting the lessons and will use the £2,000 prize money to fund an after-school club to explore Alevi hidden culture. In 2014, together with Dr Caroline Barnes and colleagues from Kocaeli University in Turkey as co-applicants, we received a British Academy Fellowship Award of £10,000 to conduct an international survey of the London Alevi community and their communities of origin in Turkey.