Müge Gedik
Müge Gedik is a Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative Literature. Her research integrates feminist theory, ecocriticism, and contemporary Turkish and hemispheric American literatures and cultures to explore how water narratives from the Turkish coast of the Eastern Mediterranean and Caribbean contexts illuminate relationships between human and more-than-human worlds. She studies how literature documents the shift from small-scale to industrial fishing, portrays islands as sites of ecological resilience, and imagines climate futures grounded in multispecies reciprocity and justice. Bridging comparative literary studies, environmental history, and sustainability science and practice, her work investigates how stories about water, animals, and technology can function as cultural resources, foster environmental awareness, and contribute to intergenerational well-being.
In Autumn 2024, she co-developed and held the role of teaching assistant for the pilot "DLCL 167: Introduction to Environmental Humanities" course, under the guidance of Dr. Ximena Briceño (ILAC). She is an active collaborator in faculty–student initiatives in the interdisciplinary field of Environmental Humanities at Stanford. Her doctoral research is generously supported by the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship (SIGF).
Her public humanities work includes co-producing the Unravelling the Anthropocene: Race, Environment, and Pandemic podcast series with the Liberal Arts Collective at Penn State, which brought together academics, activists, and artists to address the intersections of environmental crises, infectious diseases, and racial justice during COVID-19. The series fostered dialogue on environmental questions through accessible digital platforms.
Müge is also a dedicated language educator and taught the first-year Turkish language courses throughout the 2023-2024 academic year at Stanford. Her commitment to facilitating student-centered learning began prior to Stanford at Literacy Pittsburgh, a nonprofit serving local and newcomer communities, where she developed English language curricula, co-designed lessons to foster learner agency, and connected participants with community resources. These experiences shaped her approach to scholarship and teaching as a collaborative, inclusive practice that engages meaningfully with the public.
In the 2025–2026 academic year, she served as a Graduate Public Service (GPS) Fellow, participating in a team-based, community-engaged research practicum in partnership with the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Collaborative Network. Working alongside community partners and learning from diverse communities that access California’s coastal areas, she has supported locally grounded approaches to marine conservation that honor ecological knowledges across generations and cultures.
2025 Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow (SIGF), Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE)
2025–Present Graduate Coordinator, Environmental Humanities Project, Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages
Summer 2026 Partnership for Climate Justice in the Bay Area Fellow with OneShoreline, Haas Center for Public Service
2025–2026 Graduate Public Service (GPS) Fellow, Haas Center for Public Service