Lect. PhD ESMA KARADAĞ

Esma Karadağ completed her PhD at the University of Cape Town, focusing on the representations of Pan-Africanism in South African high school history classrooms and how students engage with this concept. She also earned her Master’s degree in History at the same university with distinction, examining the South African War from the perspective of the late Ottoman intellectuals.

She has served as a visiting and postdoctoral researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden University, where she conducted research in African studies and education, and taught courses at the postgraduate level. Her academic and field experience centers on the intersections of education, identity, and historical narratives across the African continent.

Karadağ’s research focuses particularly on Pan-Africanism as a form of nationalism, identity and belonging, decolonisation processes, and history education. Her work explores how young people engage with historical narratives and how these interactions shape discussions of social cohesion, exclusion, and belonging. In this context, she approaches education policy, curriculum debates, and inequalities in knowledge production from a critical perspective.