Perin Gurel is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame, where she teaches classes on "Transnational America," "Islam and America," and "American Conspiracies." She received her Ph.D. in American Studies and a graduate qualification in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Yale University (2010). Her work interrogates the intersection of vernacular culture with international relations, with special focus on the United States and the Middle East after World War I. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as American Quarterly, the Journal of Transnational American Studies, and Journal of Turkish Literature. Her first book, The Limits of Westernization: Gender, Sexuality, and the United States in Turkey, explores how conflicts over the concept of “westernization” in Turkey have historically influenced U.S.-Turkish relations, cultural production, and sexual politics.