Mertcan Okul

Mertcan Okul is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student and Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Translation Studies Program in the Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies at Kent State University. In this capacity, Okul has served as instructor of record for Diversity in Today's Russia (MCLS 22217-001, Fall 2025), Introduction to Structural Concepts for Language Students (MCLS 10001, Spring 2026), and Global Literacy and Cultural Awareness (MCLS 20001-002, Fall 2026). Okul holds a Master of Arts (MA) in English Translation and Interpreting from Hacettepe University, where the master's thesis examined the role of translation in introducing queer nonfiction book covers into the Turkish market. Prior to this, Okul graduated as the valedictorian of the Bachelor of Arts (BA) program in English Translation and Interpreting at Trakya University.

Okul's research interests include queer translation studies, multimodal translation studies, and the sociology of translation. Okul's published work comprises two Turkish-language articles: the first examines queer representation strategies in the dubbing and subtitling of the Netflix animated series Q-Force, and the second investigates othering discourse in three Turkish translations of Michael Cunningham's The Hours. In addition, Okul's English-language master's thesis proposes a multimodal analytical framework for examining queer representation on translated book covers. Further information about Okul's research and academic background is available on Academia.edu at https://kentstate.academia.edu/MertcanOkul.

Research Keywords:

Embodied Translation, Queer Representation, Othering Discourse, Paratexts, Book Covers, Dubbing and Subtitling