Professor Zafer Yenal

Keynote Speaker

Professor Zafer Yenal 2024 Speech Titles

The Future of Sustainability and a Sustainable Future
Human and non-Human actors: We Were Never the Masters of this World
Metaverse and Influencers: Brands among Utopias and Dystopias
At the Crossroads of Globalization and Localization: Political Economy of the 21st century
Trust and Reputation in a post-Covid world
Topsy Turvy world of the 21st century: City dwellers in villages and agriculture in cities
Food, History, and Culture: Journey around the World with Taste Essentials
Where is your food taste from? Cities and Food Cultures
Coffee and Industrialization: Could Marx Have Imagined the Revolution without Coffee?
From McDonald’s to Starbucks: Slowing down of Fast-food and the Upending of the Golden Age of Capitalism
The Birth of Modern Gastronomy: Our Contemporary Relationship with Food
Food Culture in Istanbul: Past and Present
Social Polarization and Transformation of Consumption Practices in Turkey

Speaker Profile

Zafer Yenal is a professor of sociology at Boğaziçi University since 2000. After receiving his BSc in economics at Middle East Technical University in 1989, he completed his PhD studies in sociology at Binghamton University in 2000. His research interests include sociology of consumption, sociology of food, rural sociology, political economy, human geography and historical sociology.

He has produced many written works on these issues. His most recent books include The end of agriculture as we know it (with Çağlar Keyder, İletişim Yayınları, 2013] and The Person You Are Looking For Cannot Be Reached Right Now: Lifestyle Representations in Turkey, 1980-2005 (with Meltem Ahıska, Osmanlı Bankası Publications, 2006). His recent articles include “Culinary Work at the Crossroads in Istanbul” (with M. Kubiena) in Gastronomica in 2016, and “Learning from Influencers: Branding in a World of Fragmented Reality and Trust” (with A. Toker) in Harvard Business Review Turkey in 2019 and “Politics of seed: The awakening of a landrace wheat and its prospects” (with D. Nizam) in the Journal of Peasant Studies in 2020. From January 2021, under the title Zappa Times, he publishes popular sociology newsletters on the communication platform Aposto!

Zafer Yenal has completed several research & consulting projects for global brands and international players in the food industry.