Leyla Neyzi

Turkish academic

Leyla Neyzi (born July 29, 1961) is a Turkish academic (anthropologist/sociologist/historian) who is currently working in Sabancı University, Istanbul.

Leyla Neyzi was born in Istanbul, Turkey, the daughter of Ali H. Neyzi, a businessman and writer, and Olcay Neyzi, a pediatrician. After graduating from Robert College of Istanbul, she studied Anthropology at Stanford University (BA 1982) and Development Sociology at Cornell University (PhD 1991). She worked as an assistant professor at Boğaziçi University, (1992–1994) and as the Oral History Project Director, Economic and Social History Foundation (1995–1996). She currently teaches Anthropology at Sabancı University. Leyla Neyzi produced a notable series of studies based on the diaries of Yaşar Paker, who issued from the tiny Jewish community of early 20th century Ankara, and who was twice enrolled in the labor battalions in Turkey, the first time during the Greco Turkish War (1919 1922) and the second time during the Second World War (in which Turkey did not take part). One of these studies was published in Jewish Social Studies in Fall 2005

Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award, Middle East Studies Association of North America, 1992. Research Award, Population Council Middle East Awards Program, 1998–1999 (Family History, Generation and Identity in Turkey). Research Award, Sabancı University, 2003–2004, (An Oral History of the Neighborhood of Teşvikiye). Visiting Scholar, Oxford University Programme on Contemporary Turkey and St. Antony's College, Senior Associate Member, 2004.