Tess M. Waggoner is (a) human who researches, creates, and writes.
Tess received a joint B.A. (magna cum laude) in Religious Studies and Asian and Middle East Studies from Kenyon College in May 2013. Tess also minored in Philosophy, and was active in many student organizations, including the Middle East Student Association and the (revamped) Kenyon Observer. Her undergraduate thesis, “God, Catastrophe, Land and Memory: The Palestinian Nakba” was jointly awarded the Simpson Prize by the Religious Studies department in May 2013.
After Kenyon, Tess lived in central Turkey for five and a half years. In the 2013-15 academic years, Tess was a Fulbright U.S. Student Program English Teaching Assistantship grantee in Kirikkale, Turkey; from 2016-2018 they studied in the M.Sc. Program in Social Anthropology in the Sociology Department at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Tess also provided administrative support to the American Programs Unit of the Turkish Fulbright Commission from 2015-2018.
The proud granddaughter of the late Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail, they serve on the steering committee for their Memorial Lecture Series at the University of Toledo, and maintain the Lecture Series’ web and social media presence.
Tess is a member of the Middle East Studies Association, and has held memberships in AAI’s National Policy Council as well as the American Anthropological Association, the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Network of Arab American Professionals (NAAP), and the Fulbright Association, among others.
This website was established in 2010 and is maintained to serve as a platform to maintain collections of works online. All opinions or positions reflected herein do not represent the views of any current or previous employers or associations.
Visualizing Politics: Election Season in Turkey
Today Turkish citizens are heading to the polls to vote in local elections taking place across the country, including an estimated 6 million young people, eligible to vote for the first time. In the midst of election season, Turkish politics and civil society have faced waves of controversy. Issues involving internet access and freedom of information … Continue reading Visualizing Politics: Election Season in Turkey
Come As You Are: Mevlana Seb-I Arus 2013
The week leading up to December 17 is known in Konya, Turkey as the Mevlana Festival, in celebration of the ‘urs of Celaladdin Rumi. ‘Urs is an Arabic word which can be translated as “wedding day;” in this context it refers to the death anniversary of a Sufi saint, or revered Islamic mystical figure. The … Continue reading Come As You Are: Mevlana Seb-I Arus 2013
Silifke Museum
Silifke [Greek: Σελεύκεια, Seleukeia, Latin: Seleucia ad Calycadnum] both a municipality and town in Mersin Province which is home to some fabulous sites of antiquity, many of which can be explored freely on foot, or observed passing by on newly paved highways and village roads. The quality and variety of objects on display at Silifke’s city museum is thus … Continue reading Silifke Museum
