Burcu Asena Salman

After graduating from Bilkent University in Archaeology and History of Art, she earned her master’s degree in Graphic Design and wrote her thesis titled "The Rhetoric of Achaemenid Art," in which she analyzed Persepolis reliefs using modern political propaganda and advertising techniques and compared them with Benetton ads.

Asena-Salman worked in the industry for 8 years in Istanbul as a communications specialist, artist agent, Marketing and PR Manager, and Project Manager for global companies such as Shell, Vodafone, Formula 1, MotoGP, WTCC, DTM, and Le Mans, as well as SAGA Event and MetGroup. In 2009, she moved to Iznik to work as a visiting artist with Turgut and Şebnem Tuna in their ceramic workshop.

She received her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Yeditepe University. Her dissertation is titled "The Rhetoric of Online Motherhood in Turkey," where Instamoms in Turkey were discussed. She adopted the Netnography method and defended her thesis in the presence of Robert V. Kozinets, the creator of the method, on her defense committee.

Her research interests lately are rhetoric, social media, crisis management communication, gender studies, performance anthropology, representation, and propagandistic efforts in the arts. Burcu Asena Salman is currently a full-time member of the Basic Sciences Unit at TED University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, where she has been teaching Art History since January 2015.