New peer-reviewed research on Expat Harem is published
My book is 20 years old and currently undergoing a "renaissance" in academic circles. It looks to remain the gold standard for Turkish expat memoirs.
It’s always a thrill to learn that someone has spent time with something I created, let alone adding it to the body of their own scholarship with a cool tag like #imagology.
I just noticed a new academic research article on the anthology I co-edited more than twenty years ago. A peer-reviewed paper Translating Türkiye’s women in a transnational context: the case of Tales from the Expat Harem by Hilal Erkazanci Durmus, an Associate Professor of Translation Studies at Hacettepe University in Ankara, has been published in the Translation Studies Journal this spring, March 2026.
Her article examines Tales from the Expat Harem from a translation studies perspective, as a cultural product moving within a social network.
Professor Durmus examines the book through the lens of translation sociology, an investigation into translation as a social practice. It looks at the “agents" involved—translators and editors acting as active mediators and cross-cultural agents—and how our choices were shaped by the institutions, publishing demands, and power dynamics of the time.
The study examines how the authors "translate" Turkish culture and women’s roles for a global audience.
Her research explores the social, economic, and political factors that influence how stories like these are produced, distributed, and received. It’s a deep dive into how translations impact the global circulation of ideas, especially when moving between major languages and cultures.
Professor Durmus teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on translation sociology and discourse, and her paper is tagged with some fascinating identifiers: cultural translation, feminist translation, imagology, migrant women (the "expats," in academic terms), and Türkiye.
Chuck Norris kept a roof over my head
In memoriam
For a little while in the early ‘90s, when I first got to Hollywood, apparently I was Chuck Norris’s favorite script reader at Cannon Films.
It was the ‘legendary trash house’ of low budget action pictures. (Read The Rise And Fall of Cannon Films - there was also a 2014 documentary about it.)
Because Norris liked my harsh script coverage (I would point out “We’ve seen this before! Nothing new here!”) he kept requesting me to read scripts submitted to him. Another cool $40 for me.
If I actually liked a script it was worth looking at, I suppose he began to figure. That helped me make my rent.
Thanks Chuck, for all the memories.
Chuck Norris (3/10/40 - 3/19/26)
It begins: Family of Mine research blog
Earlier this month I opened another blog channel here on my site. You can access it from the menu at the top of this page. It will focus solely on a new project I’m calling Family of Mine, and share pieces of that investigation.
I inherited a mystery. This is not a story that was passed down.
First post off my own site about this project, at LinkedIn.. Milestone! Anyway, I post it here too on my own blog because the fact of the matter is, something new is starting here, in a different blog on the same site.
The past few years I’ve been on a trail that started with some old family photos and interviews.
It grew into the research behind my new book-in-progress, Family of Mine, and led me into government archives, genealogy records, and parts of history I hadn’t expected to encounter.
If you enjoy family history or the research side of storytelling, you might like it.
What am I bringing to the civil service? All my experience and exposure.
My late-career stage brings a wealth of diverse experiences and perspectives that make me a unique and valuable candidate for civil service. My extensive background spans multiple decades and includes living and working in various American cities and three other countries, offering me deep insights into different cultural and social norms. Raised in a progressive Civil Rights hotbed, my early experiences shaped my commitment to social justice, inclusivity, and equity, while my upbringing in an integrated school district with BIPOC and AAPI teachers further enriched my understanding of diversity.
Throughout my career, I have consistently advocated for marginalized communities, from mentoring students of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and undocumented students to promoting gender equality and challenging workplace discrimination. My experience with transcendental meditation community has given me unique perspectives on spirituality. Additionally, growing up in a lower socio-economic environment taught me about systemic inequalities and the importance of creating opportunities for all.
My age also brings a level of resilience, adaptability, and problem-solving skills honed over decades of navigating diverse environments and challenging situations. This rich tapestry of experiences equips me with the maturity, empathy, and strategic vision necessary to contribute meaningfully to civil service, driving forward initiatives that promote equity and inclusion.
Neighbors helping neighbors 💪 with the Supervisor & the Fire Captain at the Palace of Fine Arts
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of organizing and hosting a SFFD NERT Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) disaster preparedness class with SF City Supervisor Stephen Sherrill at the Palace of Fine Arts — and what an energizing afternoon it turned out to be!
Neighbors Come Together to Get Ready
Our Eventbrite registration page garnered more than 400 visits, so I hope that means a lot of people are quietly interested in being better prepared. About 10% completed the registration.
We had about 25 people total in attendance, including a teenage boy who brought his parents (I love seeing families learning together), neighbors from Broderick and Filbert Street including a block with a longtime neighborhood watch group. We were joined by several Marina District Avila Street group leaders who are now organizing for emergency response — they’re already famous for their Halloween block parties! Folks came not just from Cow Hollow and the Marina, but also from Pacific Heights, the Richmond, and even the Mission and the Sunset District — a great mix of neighborhoods coming together to learn how to take care of each other when disaster strikes.
Fire Department and City Leaders Join the Effort
As the SFFD NERT Program Coordinator from the Fire Department, Fire Captain Brandon Tom came and spoke to everyone about the opportunities to get free training.
The Supervisor’s legislative assistant Jack Hebb captured footage for District 2’s channels. The event was featured in the Supervisor’s newsletter (thank you for including us — it was a very full news month!).
SFFD PIO Sam Menchaca was there filming videos for the Fire Department to share.
SFFD PIO Sam Menchaca captures footage of SFFD NERT Paul Tipp registering walk-ins. Thanks to Paul and fellow NERT Elisabeth Brandon for volunteering to assist during this special event!
A Perfect Setting for Community Connection
The Small Theatre space at the Palace worked beautifully — cozy, focused, and perfect for discussion. Huge thanks to Rich Goss for helping us secure it for this event! We had a handful of walk-ins, and curious pedestrians stopped by to ask what NERT is, including a tourist from Boston, Massachusetts who will now look to see about CERT classes in his area.
Instructor Sue Brown addressing the class in the small theatre of the Palace of Fine Arts
Learning the Nine-Step MYN Plan
Our instructor, SFFD NERT Sue Brown, did a fantastic job leading the 90-minute session, walking everyone through the nine-step MYN plan — a simple but powerful way for neighbors to coordinate after a disaster when first responders can’t reach us right away. The class focused on communication, checking on neighbors, and mapping local resources so we can all help one another in that “golden hour” after an emergency.
One of the most exciting takeaways? Supervisor Stephen Sherrill’s involvement seems to have inspired other districts to invite their supervisors to participate in a class. Sue tells me Districts 7 and 11 are now planning their own MYN events — how great is that? Preparedness truly spreads!
Keeping the Spirit of NERT Alive
No one from my street or block showed up (despite my relentless leafleting directly to their residences 😅), but I’m hopeful that awareness will begin to build. After all, District 2 is where NERT began — right after the Loma Prieta earthquake — and it’s up to us to keep that legacy alive. We still have 92-year-old NERTs here in the neighborhood waiting for the next generation to step up. I am thinking about them when I contact the rest of you!
The Next Generation Is Every Neighbor
We already have the free classes from generous volunteer instructor Sue Brown — we just need people to take them.
Stay Involved and Stay Prepared
Find a readiness event that works for you, and come!
If you couldn’t make it this time, keep an eye out for future SFFD NERT and Map Your Neighborhood trainings listed on the Fire Dept. site here: NERT TRAINING CALENDAR.
The more we know, the stronger and safer our community becomes.
Because in the golden hour after a disaster, we all become first responders.
My international experience
I have lived and worked in numerous American cities and other countries, gaining firsthand insights into various cultural and social norms. As an expatriate in Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia and the Near East, I learned to read the fine print of each culture. My work included translating Turkish culture on live television for five million Americans and publishing a stereotype-busting book about Turkey. These international experiences enhanced my adaptability and cultural competence, allowing me to navigate diverse environments effectively. They also reinforced my understanding of global interconnectedness and the importance of cultural diplomacy.
TBT: I applied for a patent for social discovery on a short form mobile streaming platform
When I was a cofounder of a mobile streaming platform called Second Screen - later we called it “10 Block” to represent the blocks of 10 minute video it could stream to social viewers on our platform - our final chapter was an M&A journey. To document our novel idea, we applied to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in 2019.
As the chief operating officer of our early stage startup, I led the initiative to create our patent application with a patenting law firm. The project had unusual demands, as entrepreneurs so often face, and faced budget restrictions as well.
“I found a Vietnamese-speaking entrepreneur who could interview the tech team in Vietnam and produce a technical sketch of our system.”
My work on this initiative included producing technical sketches of the system. This particular challenge involved locating a technically-minded entrepreneur familiar with patenting who could speak Vietnamese to interface with the development team in Vietnam who built the platform long before I joined the company. The sketches never existed, and the team had never produced a sketch.
Thanks to Gigi Wang at UC Berkeley’s School of Engineering Sutardja Center, I was able to connect with a local founder of a technical company who just graduated Berkeley with a PhD. She’s a brilliant woman who is currently CEO of her own startup addressing cognitive impairments with light and sound. Mai Nguyen had the skills and experience to be able to capture an accurate first sketch after just a half an hour call with the development team.
I’m not a technical person but I’m creative who can learn from a model and replicate it so once I had the first technical drawing I was able to produce all the rest of the drawings needed to make our patent application.
Our provisional application was filed in January 2020 with fellow 10 Block inventors Marc Lopez and Jade Gabriel.
TBT: I produced a planetarium exhibit about dinosaurs for a pioneering astrophysicist
When I was living in Kuala Lumpur, I produced a Planetarium theatre show for Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology & the Environment.
In 1996, an astrophysicist chose me to explain what happened to the dinosaurs.
Dr. Mazlan Othman, director general of Malaysia’s Space Science Studies Division in the Prime Minister’s Department, chose me to produce an educational exhibit for schoolchildren of this newly industrialized nation in Southeast Asia.
I researched and wrote a script on the astronomic demise of the dinosaurs as found in the geologic record (it’s that iridium layer!), then supervised a staff of 20 scientists to produce the presentation.
I reported directly to Dr. Mazlan, a pioneer in Malaysian space exploration whose next professional role was to direct the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna, and then to set up the National Space Agency in Malaysia.
To utilize the domed space theatre best, I designed surround-sound effects and music, supervised the sound recording, and oversaw the programming for a 20-projector system.
For the first time, the observatory’s suite of Minolta multimedia operations was used. I optimized and modeled its use in the program, and advised on needed upgrades.
I wrote a study guide for schoolteachers to accompany the permanent exhibit, which ran five times a day in two languages.
TBT 2011, 2013: false cosmopolitanism & brand mismanagement on social media
The Bellyflops of Social Media Mismanagement
I posted this in 2013 on my Medium page.
On the precipice of war, overreaching false cosmopolitanism continues. Plus, parents plan for unsustainable digital abstinence.
Today the Kenneth Cole Twitter account tweeted something thoughtless about “Boots on the ground” or not, don’t forget about sandals and loafers.
Nope.
Boots on the ground mean soldiers going to war possibly to be maimed or killed, and to wreak havoc on the lives of others. The precipice of war is not an opportunity to remind people you make loafers.
Feels like deja vu for Cole. Because it is. The brand flopped just like this in 2011.
In 2011 I made the connection between global mishaps of high profile brands and the false cosmopolitanism we’re all suffering.
There was Groupon’s SuperBowl ad fiasco, when the company attempted to mix consumerism with sensitive political, environmental, cultural, economic and social issues, and the Kenneth Cole Twitter debacle which appeared to make light of unrest in Cairo.
I wrote about earlier instances of the phenomenon of false cosmopolitanism in 2010. See links to that, and my influences below.
Access to the worldwide web makes us imagine we’re global thinkers. But most of us aren’t. Not even close.
In order to truly be global thinkers, we’d have to be xenophiles, actively and constantly bridging cultures, immersed and knowledgeable about multiple worlds.
Most people hang out in “like-minded microcosms” and when we cross a boundary online the new light shed on everyone’s prejudices and assumptions can take us by surprise.
This “xeno-confusion” is happening more often in the virtual realm, with higher and higher stakes.
Today’s other big story of social media mismanagement has been swiftly answered by Alexandra Samuel of Love Your Life Online. It falls into the category of unsustainable digital abstinence to solve problems that may crop up in the future.
“Don’t be scared to Facebook your kids,” she responds to Amy Webb’s piece at Slate “We Post Nothing About Our Daughter Online.”
Samuel writes: “Parenthood is such a central experience that there’s no way to cut it out of your online life without profoundly compromising your own ability to have authentic, meaningful connections online.”
That’s exactly right. Plus, digital abstinence doesn’t prepare you for the world your child will grow up in.
How are you preparing yourself for a wider world?
Conceiving of an Expat Harem inspired streaming series
Stealth project, defunct. Revolved a return to the cultural thread, in international streaming, if the time is right. (It wasn’t, 2022 and 2023 earthquakes and bombings changed the landscape, in a heated election year.)
Pitchbook for streaming series concept, 2022-2023
Expat Harem-related projects won't quit. The book is still for sale, and people are finding it like an actress in London who discovered it in a bookshop in London and sent it to a TV producer in Istanbul.
In 2022, at the request of that TV producer in Istanbul, I co-developed a streaming series concept inspired by the book "Tales from the Expat Harem" and its associated blog.
Collaborating with another writer, Katherine Belliel, whose Haze appeared in the book, and who coedited the sequel book Expat Sofra, we crafted a unique series that reflected the themes and stories from the original literary work.
This involved extensive research into the rights landscape, and entertainment legal agreements. We then pitched the concept to an international streaming service, leveraging our creative vision and strategic communication skills to present a compelling case for the globally accessible series.
The project demonstrated our ability to adapt literary content for a new digital medium while managing complex logistical and legal aspects.
Let's recap
I nominate Stephanie LB @LincolnsBible Black for a Cassandra Award.
Here’s the summer before. 2018.
“Treason is the reason for the season, someone said on Twitter.
I shared it on my Instagram along with contemporary Tweets from Louis Neufeld who was very early on many germane threads that drive our headlines today. Her 2017 threads deserve a receipts challenge. I nominate her for a Cassandra Award.
Here come the CONTENT CREATORS - 400 million impressions at the Democratic National Convention
I feel quite vindicated this month. The central contention of KIP, my passion project of the past decade, is hitting the mainstream. Everybody sees it!
A journalism society talked about feeling insulted this week. Meanwhile, journalists in the mainstream media had their lunch eaten last week by 200 ‘social media influencers’ invited to the Democratic National Convention who reached 400 million impressions (4x what cable news generated) for a media value of $800 million.
What a masterclass in disinter-media-tion. The Democrats went straight to the people.
The mainstream ‘journalism’ hits keep coming, with Dana Bash of CNN recycling racist Trump taunts as if it’s legitimate journalistic work in the first cable news mainstream media interview of the HARRIS WALZ team. Don’t waste our time!
I cannot help but notice these are the very same social media contributors I've been talking about as the non-traditional bridge media we need to connect to traditional journalism, and I conceived a framework to do that with my passion project KIP.
Journalists, it’s long past time for you to stop feeling insulted and get to work connecting with the people who are bringing news to us. They could use your rigor and training and experience, and we will all benefit from it. Democracy demands it.
By the way, I have a plan for that. Take a look at the KIP framework to connect journalists with content creators (I call them the Fifth Estate) and trusted independent parties to vet, frame, and generate discussion, games, research, education and commerce using current events.
Crazy Rich Asians & the impact of my work: I helped save an architectural gem in Southeast Asia
Remembering the time when I conceived, pitched, wrote, sold, published a three page story in a top newsweekly magazine out of Hong Kong that highlighted a historical building at risk from nearby development to 93,000 elite members of government, business and the arts.
The article had impact.
The year after the article was published, the building won a newly created UNESCO Heritage Award.
To promote the conservation of the greatest diversity of the region’s built heritage, in the year 2000 UNESCO inaugurated the annual Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, a program designed to respond to the question: “Within the realities of contemporary, fast-track development, what of the built heritage do Asians value and want to preserve from the past to inform the region’s place in the global future?”
quoted from TheSiamSociety.org Lessons from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation: International Best Practices in Thailand
Richard Engelhardt, Montira Horayangura Unakul and Julia Davies
In 2018 you saw this historic property in the film Crazy Rich Asians, which used it as a setting.
You know it from Crazy Rich Asians. I championed its story in 1998.
Video retrospective of GlobalNiche, my remote skills edtech startup 2011-2013 and beyond...
“Her groundbreaking concept of building an online professional presence as a way to advance business objectives for growth and sustainability… came long before companies understood the marketing potential of online social media, and began to hire social media managers in large numbers. And long before people understood why and how to use existing tools for effective remote work.”
I founded GlobalNiche in Istanbul with Tara Agacayak after evolving my 2006 cultural book to a 2010 global citizen blog to an online skill building business, and Tanya Monsef joined us when I moved to San Francisco. Here’s what Tanya, the Dean's Executive Professor of Management in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University for the past decade, says about GlobalNiche in 2024.
Watch a quick retrospective, excuse any missing media.
"Anastasia’s groundbreaking concept of building an online professional presence as a way to advance business objectives for growth and sustainability… came long before companies understood the marketing potential of online social media, and began to hire social media managers in large numbers. And long before people understood why and how to use existing tools for effective remote work.
Tanya recalls how I took my knowledge and prior success using book publishing’s “author platform” concept to reach the public with content marketing, branding and community outreach (that’s Expat Harem!), and combined it with the heavily-online techniques a serial expat like me has relied on during my overseas experiences, and then how I created a way to teach it to others, and then to scale it.
"GlobalNiche was a forward-thinking leader in digital solutions and thought leader to a global cohort of founders and business women, as well as organizations serving female innovators.”
This reminds me that Tanya and I continued to deliver talks and workshops well into 2014 and later, working with the Women’s Startup Lab in Mountain View, Turkish Women’s International Network in Menlo Park, and a women executives group at Cisco in San Jose, and I’ve guest lectured to her business students at Santa Clara University for several years.
““Ten years before Zoom became mainstream, GlobalNiche were already conducting live web video group meetings (using chat, recordings, etc) showcasing an ability to foresee trends and implement innovative solutions to increase opportunity. ”
"Ten years before Zoom became mainstream, GlobalNiche were already conducting live web video group meetings (using chat, recordings, etc) showcasing her ability to foresee trends and implement innovative solutions to increase opportunity,” she says.
"GlobalNiche was awarded Top Instructor by Udemy in 2013 as the most enrolled course.” You’ll see in the quick video above that Udemy noted we enrolled students from 17 nations in 2013.
Tanya recalls our 2013 win of an innovation challenge to connect 5 million women by national and international gender equality foundations, global health nonprofits, and academic leadership centers.
The multi-year strategic change initiative of San Jose State University, Public Health Institute (PHI), World Pulse, the Global Women's Leadership Network, Monterey Institute of International Studies, and the Global Fund for Women recognized GlobalNiche's pragmatic, resourceful plan to use free web technology and collaboration tools for connecting and transforming communities world-wide.
“In 2013 GlobalNiche won an innovation challenge to connect 5 million women, recognition of a pragmatic, resourceful plan to use free web technology and collaboration tools.”
ON CONTRIBUTING TO THE FUTURE OF WORK MOVEMENT
In 2014, I looked back on the workforce pioneering I’d done during GlobalNiche, and noted how awareness and adoption was coming for people who hadn’t yet felt the need for this online survival method:
“I’m proud to have added definition to, contributed to & participated in the movement toward every-day entrepreneurial thinking and acting and creative entrepreneurship as a solution for everyone, the incorporation of location independence and lifestyle design in populations beyond expats, travelers and life hackers, a new seriousness around digital identity, personal branding, digital footprints and online social networking in general for personal and professional development, reinvisioning the future of work with online collaboration and cocreation, the adoption of global communication best practices, the absolute tidal wave of online content marketing, the rise of the transformational consumer.”
