BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA: THE GEOPOLITICS OF FROM OCCUPATION TO GLOBALIZATION SES/TURKISH/AMES

Summer Term II, 2012 Prof. Erdağ Göknar T/Th, 11:00-2:00 plus excursions Turkish Studies Duke in , Boğaziçi University Office hrs. by appointment Aşiyan Salonu (BÜMED, S. Campus) [email protected]

This course, part of the Duke in Turkey program, analyzes Istanbul as a site of historical, political and cultural interaction between Europe and Turkey. Our approach is framed by two important geopolitical events separated by nearly a century. The first is the Allied occupation of Istanbul after WWI, which gave rise to the modern Middle East. The second is Turkey’s accession to the European Union, a contested transnational process that officially began in 2005. The first event represents Turkey’s separation from Europe as a “Muslim” country and the second, its potential reintegration as a functioning democracy.

Istanbul is the only city in the world located on two continents. In 1923, after sixteen centuries, it lost its status as an imperial capital city (of Roman, Byzantine, then Ottoman empires) and fell into disregard in an era of secular nationalism. However, in the last decade, Istanbul has reemerged from its peripherialization as a global, cosmopolitan city. As one indication of its changed status, Istanbul was selected as the European Capital of Culture in 2010. As an historical intersection of diverse peoples, ideas, and cultures, Istanbul is a particularly apt setting to explore tensions of identity, East/West relations, , Islam, nationalism, cosmopolitanism, and globalization. In other words, from ancient to modern, Istanbul’s many legacies allow the city to be read as a “palimpsest” – an overwritten, layered text of multiple, even contradictory, meanings.

Students will examine some of the major cultural forces that define Istanbul’s urban spaces. Places we will visit and topics we will analyze include the mahalle (or neighborhood), the old city, the Ottoman imperial mosque, museums, the street, the Bosphorus, the gecekondu (or shanty), the pazar (or street market), and the Anatolian (Asian) side of the city. Class-time will be spent interpreting Istanbul’s culture, traditions, its modernity and its trans-nationalism.

The course relies on a variety of source materials to examine Istanbul’s unique geopolitical position between Europe and Asia including policy papers, histories, literature, political theory, and your own personal observations and experiences in the city. Class-time will be spent in a combination of discussion and short lecture with the goal of enriching your experiences outside of class. By the end of the semester, students will have gained important insights into geopolitics and culture that inform Turkey’s relationship to Europe and the Middle East today.

(1) DUKE IN TURKEY/SUMMER 2012 This course counts toward the Duke Turkish minor and the Duke Islamic Studies Certificate as well as to majors and minors in International Comparative Studies (ICS), Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (AMES), and Slavic and Eurasian Studies (SES).

Conversational Turkish

Duke in Turkey students are enrolled in a conversational Turkish language/culture course designed to deepen your experience in Turkish cultural contexts. This informal course, taught by Prof. Ceyda Arslan, meets Mondays and Thursdays between 3:30-4:30 PM. The first session is Thurs., July 5 in the seminar room of the Turkish Language Department (Natuk Birkan building). (Students can continue with language or content courses at Duke or by participating in Duke in Istanbul during the fall or spring.)

Course Requirements and Grading:

*Students will have the use of iPad 2s for readings and assignments.

1. Regular attendance and participation in discussion; absences lower grades (10%) 2. Discussion/article outline: Terms and main points (5%) 3. Quizzes on readings (5%) 4. Weekly 2 page reading responses based on prompts (20%) 5. Weekly 1 page journal reflections based on field trips (15%) 6. Final 10-minute PowerPoint presentations on a topic of interest (in pairs, 20%) 7. 8 page final paper on (a) policy/current event, (b) literature/travelogue, or (c) cultural, religious, or political history, or (d) comparison of urban spaces (25%)

Reading Schedule (all readings available on Sakai):

Week 1/July 2 Occupied Istanbul The occupation of Istanbul (1918-23) by Allied powers after WWI was significant in bringing an end to the , the Islamic Caliphate, and in establishing the ethno-religious border between Europe and the modern Middle East. Cosmopolitanism became suspect in an era of nationalism and the Turkish capital was moved from Istanbul to Ankara during the secularizing cultural revolution (1922-1950).

Ahmad, “Empire to Nation 1908-1923” from The Making of Modern Turkey Criss, “Intro” from The Allied Occupation of Istanbul Smith, “Nation, Real or Imagined?” & Roberts, “Nat’l Self-Determination” Pamuk, “Hüzün” from Istanbul: Memories & the City De Certeau, “Walking in the City” from The Practice of Everyday Life Latham, “The Flâneur”

City Field Trip 1: “Women of Istanbul” (Fri., July 6) City Field Trip 2: “Topkapı Palace & Sultan Ahmet District” (Sun., July 8)

Assignments: [Reading Response 1, post by Sun. 7/8 by 9 AM]

(2) DUKE IN TURKEY/SUMMER 2012 [Journal 1, post by Mon. 7/10 at 9 PM]

Week 2/July 9 Cultural Revolution With the rise of nationalism, the city took a back seat to the social engineering projects of the Kemalist cultural revolution. Nonetheless, the legacy of the Ottoman imperial past became a growing dilemma as embodied in Turkish history, religion, culture, and people’s everyday practices. The city, particularly Istanbul, was an architectural embodiment of the denials of secularization: Turkey would one-day have to face the return of a repressed heritage.

Ahmad, “The New Turkey: 1923-1945” from The Making of Modern Turkey Gül, “The Neglected City 1923-33” from The Emergence of Modern Istanbul Yılmaz, “Learning to Read (Again): The 1928 Alphabet Reform” Davison & Parla, “Secularism and Laicite in Turkey” Derviş et. al. from Becoming Istanbul: An Encyclopedia

City Field Trip 3: “Markets of Istanbul” (Fri., July 13) Assignments: [Reading Response 2 due 7/15] [Journal 2 due 7/16]

Week 3/July 16 Istanbul Travelers had long been a stopping point on the Mediterranean Grand Tour. Female and male travelers from the 18th century to the present recorded various engagements with the “exotic East.” In travelogues, these participant-observers revealed the need to reassess their received knowledge about Istanbul, Turks, and Muslims (particularly women). Moments of insight, epiphany, and even cognitive dissonance occurred in their personal experiences with local people and places.

Said, Introduction from Orientalism Pierre Loti, Constantinople: The Way It Was Lewis & Micklewright, eds., “Middle Eastern & Western Women” from Gender, Modernity & Liberty Ashman & Gökmen, eds. from Tales from the Expat Harem Lewis & Micklewright, eds., “Photo Essay: Viewing Each Other” Kandiyoti, “Women and Nation” (optional reading)

City Field Trip 4: “Beyoğlu District” (Fri., July 20) Assignments: [Reading Response 3] [Journal 3]

Week 4/July 23 Istanbul in the National Imaginary *We will be traveling this week, but will have one class meeting in the field.* Local intellectuals and authors who lived through the transition from Empire to Republic were deeply invested in Istanbul even during a period of nationalism that saw a rise in anti-cosmopolitan sentiment. The tension between city and nation became a reflection of

(3) DUKE IN TURKEY/SUMMER 2012 larger conflicts in Turkish culture. Ideology conflicted with lived life in urban spaces from the mahalle to the mosque. [Week 4/July 23] *“Futures of Istanbul” Special Duke in Turkey Panel: Istanbul Studies Center, Kadir Has University* (Mon. 7/23) Halide Edib, The Clown and His Daughter (novel, 1935) Tanpınar, from A Mind at Peace (optional, novel excerpts, 1949) Pamuk, from The Black Book (optional, novel excerpts, 1990)

Central and Western Anatolia Trip: “Cappadocia – Konya – Ephesus – Bergama” (Wed. July 25-Mon. 30) Assignments: [Reading Response 4] [Journal 4]

Week 5/July 30 “Political Islam” and the European Union European sentiment against Turkey’s membership in the European Union has often been summarized by the phrase: “poor, populous, and Muslim.” This geopolitical under- standing reads Turkey either as a material and cultural burden or as a “Trojan horse” that threatens European stability and identity. However, another narrative has been emerging that increasingly emphasizes the symbiotic nature between Europe/Turkey and even describes Europe’s need for Turkey in terms of economy, labor, stability, security policy, and interfaith dialogue. Istanbul constitutes a major argument in this revised narrative.

Baran, “The Rise of Political Islam and the AKP” from Torn Country Bongiovanni, “EU-Turkey: Rationale for a Third Way,” Turkish Policy Quarterly Taşpınar, “Neo-Ottomanism and Kemalism” (Carnegie Papers) Ghosh, “Erdoğan’s Moment” from Time Ünver, “Turkey’s ‘Deep State’ and the Ergenekon Conundrum” (optional reading)

Assignments: [Reading Response 5] [Journal 5]

Week 6/August 6 Global Turkey Today During an era of globalization that began in the 1980s, the cosmopolitan and Ottoman legacy of Istanbul began to reassert itself. Since 2002, when the AK Party came to power, Istanbul has increasingly become a global city whose influence overshadows the nation itself. A great force in the changing image of Turkey abroad has been the rise of a new cosmopolitanism that is transnational and aspires to an ideal of pluralism.

Baran, “The AKP’s Foreign Policy” from Torn Country Ülgen, “Deconstructing the Turkish Model” (Carnegie) Taşpınar, “The Turkish Model and the Arab Spring” Aksoy, “Istanbul’s Choice: Openness” from Urban Age

Assignments: [PPT presentations Thurs. Aug. 9] [Final paper due by Fri. August 10 at 9 PM]

(4) DUKE IN TURKEY/SUMMER 2012

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