The objective of this course is to examine studies, discussions and key concepts related to research on culture in Turkey with a specific focus on recent research conducted in social sciences. Although the definition of culture varies within the multiple contexts of social sciences, the course aims to bring together as many aspects of crucial discussions in the realm of cultural studies as possible. The course includes political, aesthetic and semantic discussions occurred during the construction of modern Turkey and during the recent socio-cultural and political discussions including the aspects of cultural artifacts, public visibility, development of central and peripheral politics, monumentality and memory and the agency of nature.
Please note that all required readings are original texts. You are therefore expected to read them, and your performance will be assessed accordingly.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to;
demonstrate an understanding of the recent discussions and researches in the field;
gain a general overview of the current discussions on culture;
develop a good knowledge of how different aspects of culture is studied in Turkey;
develop a good knowledge of the relation between the earlier and contemporary discussions on the realm of culture.
conduct research on the relevant subjects
Face to Face
Please check the weekly readings listed in the syllabus.
Report Preparation and/or Presentation, Project
Yes
Requires consent of instructor for undergraduate students
1- Attendance:Regular attendance is crucial. More than three unexcused absences will result in a reduction of the final grade. Students are expected to notify the instructor in advance of any absences and make arrangements to catch up on missed material.
2-Preparation for Class Discussions & Participation: Students are expected to complete the weekly readings before each class and be prepared to participate actively in class discussions bring insights from the readings.
3- Timely Submission of Assignments: Students are expected to submit their response paper and analysis of selected cases on time (Midterm and Final papers).
4- Academic Integrity: Students must adhere to the highest standards of academic integrity. Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated and will result in severe consequences, including potential failure of the course.
5 -Respectful Conduct: A respectful and open-minded attitude is expected during all class discussions. Disparaging comments, interruptions, and disrespectful behavior towards peers will not be tolerated.
Course Content
• 1.Week: Introduction
2.Week: Roots and the Beginning
Feroz Ahmad (2002) "Introduction: Turkey, a Military Society?; The Ottoman Legacy; From Empire to Nation 1908–1923 ", The Making of Modern Turkey, London: Routledge, 1-52.
3.Week: Transformation and Language
Jale Parla (Jan., 2008) The Wounded Tongue: Turkey's Language Reform and the Canonicity of the Novel, PMLA (123:1), 27-40.
İrvin Cemil Schick (2010) “The Harem as Gendered Space and the Spatial Reproduction”, Harem Histories: Envisioning Places and Living Spaces, London: Duke, 69-85
Gizem Tongo and ·Irvin Cemil Schick (2023), “Islamic art and visualities of war from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic”, New Perspectives on Turkey, 1–29
• 4.Week: Family and, Public and Private Space
• Ferhunde Özbay (2020) Turkish Female Child Labor in Domestic Work: Past and Present (Istanbul: Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, 1999), pp.17–28; Yahya Araz and İrfan Kokdaş, ‘In Between Market and Charity: Child Domestic Work and Changing Labor Relations in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Istanbul’, International Labor and Working-Class History, Vol.97, pp.81–108.
• Ferhunde Özbay (1999) Gendered Space: A New Look at Turkish Modernisation, Gender & History, 11(3): 555-568.
• Batuman, Bülent (2015). “The Politics of Public Space , Journal of Urban History, 41(5), 881-907. https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144214566966
• 5.Week: Center and Periphery
• Pérouse, Jean-François. “The tremendous making and unmaking of the peripheries in current Istanbul.” In André Chappatte, Ulrike Freitag & Nora Lafi (ed.), Understanding the City through its Margins: Pluridisciplinary Perspectives from Case Studies in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Routledge, 2017, pp. 33-44.
• Yonucu, Deniz (2008) A Story of a Squatter Neighborhood: From the place of the "dangerous classes" to the "place of danger" , Berkeley Journal of Sociology Vol. 52, 50-72.
• Zengin, Aslı (2022) The Cemetery for the Kimsesiz: Unclaimed and Anonymous Death in Turkey. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 1 May 2022; 42 (1): 163–181.
• 6.Week: Memory
• Leyla Neyzi (2002) “Remembering to forget: Sabbateanism, national identity, and subjectivity in Turkey” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 44 (1). pp. 137-158.
• Leyla Neyzi (October 2008) “Remembering Smyrna/Izmir: Shared History, Shared Trauma”, History & Memory 20(2):106-127 20(2):106-127
• 7. Week: Monumentality
• Bülent Batuman (2005). Identity, Monumentality, Security: Building a Monument in Early Republican Ankara. Journal of Architectural Education, 59(1), 34–45.
• Christopher Wilson (2009/6) Representing National Identity and Memory in the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 68(2), 224-253
• Meltem Ahıska (2011) “Monsters that remember: Tracing the story of the Workers’ Monument in Tophane, İstanbul”, New Perspectives on Turkey.45:9-47.
• 8. Week: Discussions on the Take Home Essay
• 9.Week: Cultural Artifacts I
• Nevin Şahin (2018) Dervish on the Eurovision Stage Popular Music and the Heterogeneity of Power Interests in Contemporary Turkey in Popular Music and Public Diplomacy, 69-92.
• Leyla Neyzi (2002) Embodied elders: space and subjectivity in the music of Metin-Kemal Kahraman. Middle Eastern studies, 38 (1) 89-109.
• 10.Week: Cultural Artifacts 2
• Deniz Gündoğan İbrişim (2020) “Rethinking subalternity through posthuman and feminist entanglements: violence, displacement, exile and the woman subject in contemporary Turkish literature”, Subaltern Women’s Narratives, London: Routledge, 122-135.
• Öykü Potuoğlu Cook (November 2006) “Beyond the Glitter: Belly Dance and Neoliberal Gentrification in Istanbul”, Cultural Anthropology 21(4):633 – 660.
• 11.Week: Nature
• Nihan Bozok (2020) “Women and forests in solidarity: a multispecies companionship case from the Aegean forests of Turkey”, Gender & Society, Vol XX No. X, Month, 1–23.
• Ayten Alkan (July 2016) “Deportation as an Urban Stray Dogs Management Policy: Forest Dogs of Istanbul Article”, Lex Localis , Vol. 14, No. 3, 613-635.
• Elif Tuğçe Alnıaçık Özyer, Rumeysa Çavuş Peksöz, (2024)” Semiocide and Wasteocene in the Making: The Case of Adana Landfill”. Biosemiotics 17, 49–65.
Any test, assignment, paper, or report submitted by you and that has your name on it is presumed to be your own original work that has not previously been submitted for credit in another course or has not been written partially or completely by another person. In all of your assignments, you may use words or ideas written by other individuals in publications, web sites, or other sources, but only with proper attribution as explained in your course. If you are not clear about the expectations for completing an assignment or taking a test or examination, be sure to seek clarification from your instructor. Finally, you should keep in mind that as a member of the campus community, you are expected to demonstrate integrity in all of your academic endeavors and will be evaluated on your own merits.. The consequences of cheating and academic dishonesty is a formal discipline punishment as regulated by the Turkish Higher Educational Council.
Educational Support for Disabled Students
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Bilgi Accessible Education Unit as early as possible in the term. Bilgi Accessible Education Unit will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course. For more information, visit http://step.bilgi.edu.tr/en/ogrenci-destek-merkezi/bilgi-accessible-education-unit/
