Today in Geography - Celebrating International Workers' Day with Mehmet Eroğlu

Today, we welcomed ⁠Mehmet Eroğlu⁠, a recent graduate of the Ph.D. program at the ⁠Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences⁠ at Michigan State University.

Mehmet is a human geographer whose research focuses on power struggles in the production of landscapes, particularly in relation to workers and working-class communities. His work seeks to understand how, to what extent, and under what structural constraints and opportunities workers exercise their agency in shaping their own geographies. While his broader research interests center on the intersections of labor, place, and power rather than specific regional contexts, his current research examines the struggles of informal coal miners in Turkey.

Mehmet discussed International Workers’ Day, a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on May 1st. To celebrate this important holiday, Mehmet encourages listeners to watch Bread and Roses, a film directed by Kenneth Loach, starring Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody and Elpidia Carrillo.

Our sponsor for this episode is the MSU Geography Undergraduate Program. At MSU Geography, you won’t just study the world — you’ll help shape it. Ready to map your future? Visit geo.msu.edu and talk with an academic advisor today.