Gunay Uslu (; born 25 October 1972) is a Dutch cultural historian and politician, who has served as State Secretary for Culture and Media in the fourth Rutte cabinet since 10 January 2022. She is a member of the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

(D66) party.

Early life and education

Uslu was born in 1972 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

as the daughter of Turkish immigrants. She attended her

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...

between 1985-1992 at the

Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam :*''Content in this edit is translated from the existing Dutch Wikipedia article at :nl:Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam; see its history for attribution.'' The Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam, shortly MLA, is a school in Amsterdam-Zuid, a borough of Ams ...

, where she completed the MAVO and

HAVO ''Hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs'' (havo, meaning "higher general continued education" in Dutch) is a stream in the secondary educational system of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Suriname. It has five grades and is generally attended at ...

curricula. After obtaining propaedeutic diplomas in teacher education (

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

) from the

Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences The Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences (HvA), or Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS), is a large institute for higher professional education in the Netherlands, established in 1993. The HvA mainly offers bachelor ...

in 1993 and in

Dutch law The Netherlands uses civil law. The role of case law is small in theory, although in practice it is impossible to understand the law in many fields without also taking into account the relevant case law. The Dutch system of law is based on the Fr ...

from the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

in 1996, she studied

cultural studies Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...

at the University of Amsterdam and obtained an MA degree in 2001, specializing in the policy and management of European

cultural history Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

. In 2015, she obtained a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

degree in History, Art History, and Archaeology from the same university.

Career

From 1997 to 1999 and from 2014 to 2020, Uslu held management positions at the Corendon Tourism Group, which was co-founded by her brother Atilay. Between 2001 and 2018, she taught several courses at the University of Amsterdam, including heritage studies,

museology Museology or museum studies is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and education. Terminology The w ...

and

cultural policy Cultural policy is the government actions, laws and programs that regulate, protect, encourage and financially (or otherwise) support activities related to the arts and creative sectors, such as painting, sculpture, music, dance, literature, and ...

. Uslu has also worked for the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

project manager A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined f ...

for

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and events and has been the

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of exhibitions at, among others, the Allard Pierson Museum and Amsterdam Museum. On 10 January 2022, she joined the fourth Rutte cabinet as State Secretary for Culture and Media, on behalf of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uslu, Gunay 1972 births Living people 21st-century Dutch historians 21st-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch women politicians Democrats 66 politicians Dutch people of Turkish descent Cultural historians People from Haarlem State Secretaries for Education of the Netherlands University of Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam