The Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies MA Thesis Award

The NSMES award committee has decided that the second MA-Thesis Award of the Society will be awarded to Maiken Omnes Frydenlund (University of Oslo) for the thesis “Meddling with my Dough-Baking Hands! Protest Language and Stigma in Contemporary Turkey”.

The thesis explores Turkish women's protest language through examples from the Feminist Night Walk and pictures of slogans posted on social media. It argues that Turkish women use humor and irony, and reappropriate stigmatizing language to raise awareness about women's rights issues in contemporary Turkey. We found the thesis to be interesting, and analytically and theoretically strong, as well as an original contribution to the field. We were impressed by Frydenlunds deep understandings of the language, social and political context and her ability to combine these in your analysis. The committee has consisted of Charlotte Lysa, University of Oslo (chair), Laura Wickström, Åbo Akademi University and Oliver Scharbrodt, Lund University. 

Previous winners: 

• 2020/21: Mathias Ghyoot, University of Copenhagen. “Brothers Behind Bars: A History of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Second Prison Ordeal, 1954 – 1964”.