‘In Focus’ – An Interview with Professor Eylem Atakav
Meet Professor Eylem Atakav (she/her) – a filmmaker and Professor of Film, Gender, and Public Engagement at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the United Kingdom.
Professor Atakav’s academic research focuses on the representation of women and gender issues in media. Her award-winning film Growing up Married (2016) bridges her academic practice with her creative work on women’s issues. The short, documentary-style film takes her back to her hometown of Izmir, Turkey, where she is in conversation with four women who have been child brides. In the film, they recollect their memories, discussing for the first time, their trauma as adults.
Representation, voice, and agency sit at the heart of Professor Atakav’s practice as a researcher, teacher, and filmmaker. Her most recent documentary is Lifeline (2020), which sheds light on the reality of working on the frontline of domestic abuse services in England during Covid-19. She is the recipient of a number of awards including the Academic Achievement Award at the International Women Filmmakers Festival in 2021, and the Social and Cultural Impact Award in 2019.
She is a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, has won the Society of Cinema and Media Studies Pedagogy Award in 2016), and was elected as the first European academic who served as Chair of the Learning, Teaching, and Scholarship Knowledge Community at NAFSA, the Association of International Educators, which is the world’s largest organization for international education.
Professor Eylem Atakav | Professor and Filmmaker
“At the heart of my academic identity is the concept of providing women a space to voice their experiences. What characterizes my approach to dealing with the challenges I face is through surfacing the inequalities and toxic behaviors we face for being who we are, through filmmaking and teaching.”
Tell us about yourself and your work.
I am originally from Izmir, Turkey. I have dual nationality: Turkish and British. I came to the UK as an international student on a scholarship to study for my master’s degree in Media Studies back in 2003. From there, I was awarded a scholarship to complete a Ph.D. in Film Studies. I joined UEA in 2009, and have been teaching in the Film, Television, and Media Studies department since. I teach various courses, from world cinema and women’s filmmaking to media and the Middle East.
Over the years, I have turned to documentary filmmaking as a form of research. I have made films on domestic abuse, gendered violence, and forced marriage.
Professor Atakav’s recent documentary Lifeline, which reveals the reality of working on the frontline of domestic abuse services in England during Covid-19.
In Turkey, people’s names carry a sharp and immediate political resonance. This historically stems from a desire to reflect changing realities, usually during turbulent times, and demonstrates how the personal encapsulates the political. My name, Atıl Eylem for example, is an extremely political name that literally means ‘go for action’. It has an overt link with the leftist political activism that both my parents were a part of in the 1970s.
The story behind my name does not only refer to the name of one of the left-wing journals (Atılım) which had to be published clandestinely, but also assigns me the role and pride of carrying in my name values of the left-wing activists who fought, and at times were either killed or tortured, for their ideas. This extraordinary responsibility attached to my identity has become pivotal in the research that I do as an academic and more recently a filmmaker. There is a power and impact in marrying creative practice with theory.
“The story behind my name does not only refer to the name of one of the left-wing journals (Atılım) which had to be published clandestinely, but also assigns me the role and pride of carrying in my name values of the left-wing activists who fought, and at times were either killed or tortured, for their ideas.”
What are some of the challenges or barriers you have faced, and continue to face in your industry as a racialized woman of colour?
The challenges start with language. Sure, it has been my choice and decision to live, study, teach, and work in a language that is not my mother tongue but I did not choose to be treated differently for it. Being ‘accented’ has been a mini celebration of diversity within my own identity, but on a day-to-day, it has also been very challenging, and not at all because of my language capabilities, but rather from the perspective of those who choose to approach me differently.
I have met people (even within academia, and particularly amongst those who seemingly integrate theoretical debates on equality and diversity in their teaching, scholarship, and research) who start speaking to me really s-l-o-w-l-y, asking me with a slightly raised tone and a suspiciously slow pace: ‘Do you understand what I mean?’ Yes, of course I understand what you mean!
Just because my pronunciation of words may be slightly different than yours, does not mean my English is not proficient. There are a few issues here: first, our slogans for diversity can be “empty”. And second, it really demonstrates how academia suffers from the same structures it tries to knock down. This example of language and accents extends to other dimensions of our identities, and continues to reinforce the idea of a ‘standard’ and ‘default.’
“I have met people who start speaking to me really s-l-o-w-l-y, asking me with a slightly raised tone and a suspiciously slow pace: ‘Do you understand what I mean?’ Yes, of course I understand what you mean!”
Academia is a space where research and critical thinking, justice, and advocacy for equality are more important than scholars’ identities. I am disappointed to say though that we don’t always see this in practice. I have had many instances where my ideas have received no citations or mentions because academics have struggled to pronounce my name. Their solution has been to avoid it, and when confronted, the response is almost always the same: ‘I didn’t want to mispronounce your name! I would rather be called Alien or Elena (not sure how they got that from Eylem!) and retain the ownership of my ideas.’
Another example is when your ‘otherness’, (in my case, I am not white and British-born), somehow gives people permission to continuously educate you, even when you’re fully qualified. At a conference, I had a colleague who wrote down a list of words they thought I could not pronounce properly. From my pronunciation being corrected and my work being overlooked to my name being mispronounced and hearing patranoising praises, the reality is that academia can at times be a space filled with microaggressions.
“From my pronunciation being corrected and my work being overlooked to my name being mispronounced and hearing patranoising praises, the reality is that academia can at times be a space filled with microaggressions.”
What are some tools, resources, strategies, and approaches you use to cope with these challenges?
My motto in academia is: just get on with it, Atakav! Do what you are passionate about; your response to challenges is the quality and the impact of the work you do. Academia is a place where you see a clash of egos on a daily basis. For academics, our job is who we are. I try my best to approach toxic behaviour with compassion and kindness.
“At the heart of my academic identity is the concept of providing women a space to voice their experiences. What characterizes my approach to dealing with the challenges I face is through surfacing the inequalities and toxic behaviors we face for being who we are, through filmmaking and teaching.
Professor Eylem Atakav giving a talk One teacher, One camera, One voice at TEDxUniversityofEastAnglia.
What advice would you give to younger women of colour in your industry?
My advice is: carry on doing what you believe in and shout out about what you are passionate about. Also, always look for ways to address inequalities you face. Don’t ever be silent. Raise your voice through the work you produce.
How do you see the future of workplaces for women of colour?
In academia, approaches have been changing. But change does not necessarily mean all is well. Efforts need to be internalized fully and put into practice wholeheartedly. We need to see more women of color in universities’ leadership positions, and we need to teach our students much more diverse content, making inequalities visible.