Pinar Durgun

Dr. Pınar Durgun is an art historically trained archaeologist with a background in anthropology and museum studies, fascinated by the diversity of human reactions to death and dying. She analyzes cemeteries, studies mortuary practices, and works on funerary objects and burial architecture. Her research focuses on Anatolia and the wider ancient Near East and Aegean. At the moment she is the J. Clawson Mills Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art conducting collections research for her book on ancient Anatolian art. 

Pınar has taught at Brown University, Providence College, Connecticut College, Wesleyan University, and Koç University. She is also dedicated to public scholarship and advocates for accessible and exciting ways to communicate academic knowledge with larger audiences. In line with this goal, she explores how museums help us understand, protect, and engage with the past. She has worked at the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology on archaeological, ethnographic, and archival materials as a museum curator, collections manager, researcher, and educator.

She is the founder of Project Visiting Scholar, a non-profit database project that aims to lower accommodation costs and increase inclusivity at academic conferences. When she is not in the classroom, in the field, or in a museum, she is at a historical cemetery somewhere in New England, admiring gravestones.

Websites: https://pinardurgunpd.wixsite.com/pinardurgun; https://metmuseum.academia.edu/PinarDurgun

Project Visiting Scholar Website: https://pinardurgunpd.wixsite.com/visitingscholar; Twitter: https://twitter.com/Project_V_S