Mehmet Yavuz

Mehmet Yavuz

Assistant Professor

Contact Information

307 Justin Hall
785-532-5510
myavuz@k-state.edu

Education

  • Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba
  • M.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Area(s) of Specialization and Interests

  • Peace and Conflict Studies
  • Ethnic Conflict and Peacebuilding
  • Community-Engaged Research
  • Qualitative Methodologies
  • Divided Societies
  • Queer Studies / 2SLGBTQIA Studies
  • Youth Participation in Peacebuilding
  • Reconciliation
  • Identity
  • Intergenerational Trauma and Violence
  • Refugee Experiences
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Cyprus
  • Turkey
  • The Balkans
  • The Middle East

Research, Scholarship, and Creative Endeavors

Dr. Yavuz's research explores the intersections of peacebuilding, identity, activism, and marginalization, with a focus on how these dynamics shape societies and contribute to transformative change. Further, Mehmet’s work critically examines and seeks to disrupt normalized everyday violence - whether direct, structural, or cultural - across various social and cultural spaces.

Dr. Yavuz’s current research projects focus on rural pride activism, queer peacebuilding, ethnic reconciliation, refugee experiences, and Media Peace Archives and the Yugoslav War. He is the recipient of the prestigious Big 12 Faculty Fellowship and serves as Associate Editor of Conflict Resolution Quarterly. His research has been supported by multiple grants, including the Margaret W. Moore and John Moore Archival Research Fellowship, the Peace and Justice Association Studies Mini-Grant, the International Peace Association (IRPA) Foundational Travel Grant, and the Kansas State University College of Health and Human Sciences Exploratory Development Research Grant (EDRG).

Courses Taught

  • CNRES 500: Peacebuilding & Society
  • CNRES 531: Core Conflict Resolution
  • CNRES 700: Community Peacebuilding
  • CNRES 751: Conflict Resolution: Core Skills and Strategies

Recent and Relevant Publications Include:

Yavuz, M. & Byrne, S. (2026). Civil society organizations and relational infrastructure: Challenges, obstacles, and measuring the success of peacebuilding work in Northern Ireland. International Journal for Peace and Justice. 1(2), 219-253 https://ojs.lib.umanitoba.ca/index.php/ijpj/article/view/1267/1232.

Yavuz, M., **Woods, P. & †Premuda, D. (2026). “Who is missing from the Table?”: LGBTQIA+ environmental and testimonial (in)justices and everyday peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 42(2), 657-670, https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2026.10154

Mehmet Yavuz. (2025). “All I Want is to Leave, but When I Do, I Never Truly Leave”: Queering Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Journal of Homosexuality, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2025.2500990

Mehmet Yavuz. (2025), Good Tune Theory: An Exploration of LGBTQIA+ Peacebuilding in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Conflict Resolution Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21486

Mehmet Yavuz. (2024). The evolution of Pride in post-accord Sarajevo: A journey of visibility and resistance. Peace Review, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2024.2432971

Mary Jean Hande, Mehmet Yavuz, Susan Rodriguez. (2024). Migrant justice research in crisis times: Developing reflexive, ethical, and responsive pandemic research with immigrant care workers. Studies in Social Justice, 18(3), 570-588. https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v18i3.4090

Mehmet Yavuz and Sean Byrne (2023). The peace is uneasy and needs to be won everyday: Economic assistance and peacebuilding among marginalized groups in Northern Ireland and the Border Area. 30 (1). Peace and Conflict Studies Journal.

Sean Byrne, Brett Mallon and Mehmet Yavuz. (2023). Civil society organizations, the Good Friday Agreement, and the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Special issue in Treatises and Documents: Journal of Ethnic Studies / Razprave in Gradivo, Revijaza narodnostna vprašanja, 90(90): 161-176. https://doi.org/10.2478/tdjes-2023-0011.

Mehmet Yavuz (2022). The Rise of the “penguin media”, censorship, resistance, and peace journalism: Turkey’s media policies between 2002 and 2020. Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies. 54 (2): 60-121.

Mehmet Yavuz, Kelly Gorkoff, Nadine Bartlett, Natassia D’Sena, and Rebeca Heringer (2022). “Train up peers, use their experience, whatever your life experience is”: community mobilization, peacebuilding, and the local turn. Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research. 11: 11-44.

Kelly Gorkoff, Nadine Bartlett, Mehmet Yavuz, Rebeca Herringer, Natassia D’Sena (2021). Networked architectures of crime prevention: Community mobilization in Manitoba. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice. 63(3-4): 89-111. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2021-0008.

Mehmet Yavuz and Sean Byrne (2021). Violence against queer community in Turkey: Implications for peacebuilding and social justice. Journal for Peace & Justice Studies, 30(1): 102-125. https://doi.org/10.5840/peacejustice2021301/26.