ÖZGE SAVAS

Image of Ozge Savas

Özge Savaş is a critical and applied social psychologist. She works with historically and systemically disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and communities, combining decolonial and intersectional feminist theories in explaining how systems of oppression are maintained. She examines the role of stigma, stereotypes, and prejudice in intergroup conflict.

Biography

Savaş received her Ph.D. in Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on understanding how people develop in(ter)dependence and belonging within various social, cultural, and economic systems and across their lifetimes. In answering questions about when, where, and how “people” feel included or excluded and who belongs, she adopts a social justice lens, uses multiple methods, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, and brings the macro (institutional), meso (symbolic), and micro (individual) levels of analyses together. Her research has significant social policy implications and applicability in addressing issues ranging from immigrant rights and humanitarian crises to the widening cultural/political divide and global gender inequality. Savaş joined the Bennington faculty in Fall 2020.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

 
(*denotes equal contribution), (**denotes student authors)
 
Savaş, Ö.,* & Dutt, A.* (2023) Decolonial and intersectional feminist psychology for the future of (forced) migration and refugee resettlementCurrent Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 4. 
 
Savaş, Ö.* Klein, V.,* & Conley, T. (2023) Epistemic exclusion and invisibility in sex research: Revisiting the WEIRD dichotomyThe Journal of Sex Research, 1–4. Advance online publication. 
 
Savaş, Ö., Caulfield, S., Smith, H.**, House, M.**, & Stewart, A. J. (2022) Vulnerability and empowerment on the ground: Activist perspectives from the Global Feminisms ProjectFeminism & Psychology, 1-18. Advanced online publication. 
 
Klein, V.,* Savaş, Ö.,* Conley, T., (2022) How WEIRD and androcentric is sex research? Global Inequities in Study PopulationsThe Journal of Sex Research, 1-8. 
 
Savaş, Ö., Greenwood, R. M., Blankenship, B. T., Stewart, A. J., & Deaux, K. (2021) All immigrants are not alike: Intersectionality matters in views of immigrant groupsJournal of Social and Political Psychology, 9(1), 86-104. DOI: 10.5964/jspp.5575
 

Blankenship, B. T., Davis, T., Areguin, M. A., Savaş, Ö., Winter, D. & Stewart, A. J. (2021) Trust and tribulation: Racial identity centrality, institutional trust, and support for candidates in the 2020 U.S. Presidential ElectionAnalysis of Social Issues and Public Policy.

Savaş, Ö. & Stewart, A. J. (2019) Alternative pathways to activism: Intersections of social and personal pasts in the narratives of women’s rights activistsQualitative Psychology6(1), 27-46. 

Blankenship, B., Savaş, Ö., Frederick, J., & Stewart, A. J., (2018) Piecing together the American voting puzzle: How voters’ personalities and judgments of issue importance mattered in the 2016 Presidential Election. Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy18(1), 172-191. 

Blankenship, B., Frederick, J., Savaş, Ö., Montgomery, S., & Stewart, A. J. (2017) Privilege and marginality: How group identification and personality predict right- and left-wing political activismAnalysis of Social Issues and Public Policy 17(1)161-183

Sümer, N., Sakman, E., Harma, M., & Savaş, Ö., (2016). Turkish mothers’ attachment orientations and mental representations of their childrenJournal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology 34(1), 49-63. 

 

Refereed Book Chapters

Savaş, Ö. & Al-Midani, S. (in press) Syrian refugees on the margins: Gendered and racialized excursions in home-making. In Y. Hanoosh, S. Howell, & A. Shryock (Eds.) Uncertain Refuge: Vitality and Vulnerability in Arab Detroit. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
 
Savaş, Ö. (2021) Whose Challenge is #ChallengeAccepted? Performative Online Activism During the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Erasures. In K. A. Haas (Ed). Being Human during COVID. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 

 

Public Engagements, Invited talks, and Workshops

Savaş, ÖTrauma-informed Mentorship Training. (2023) Social Sciences Solidarity Network, Turkey. Online Workshop delivered to the participants of the Network.

Savaş, ÖWEIRD and vulnerable psychology: Constructions of gender and global inequities in research. (2022) Invited speaker for Social Psychology Webinar Series at TED University, Ankara, Turkey.

Savaş, ÖOn belonging” (2022) Keynote at Southern Vermont Economy Summit in Mount Dover, VT.

Savaş, ÖWorkshop on Intersectionality(2021) Teaching Global Feminisms: Using Activist Interviews Across Disciplines Conference in Ann Arbor, MI.

 

 

Courses