54.4 Narratives of Turkey: Making Histories and Memories
Department of History
Brooklyn College
Louis Fishman
Whitehead Hall 520
lfishman@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Tel: 718-951-5000 ext 1165
Office hours: Tuesday 1100-1230 (or by appointment)
4 hours; 4 Credits
Four week summer study abroad in Turkey. Topics include nationalism, nation building, historical memory and narratives, imperialism, government, correlation between arts and nationalism.
Prerequisite: Sophomore status; and either Core 2.2, English 2, or permission of the chairperson.
Frequency of offering: Each Summer
Projected enrollment: 10-20 students
Rationale: Brooklyn College students attend one of the most diverse campuses in the nation. Despite this diversity, most Brooklyn College students have little opportunity to spend time abroad and to learn about the past through on-site experiences. The opportunity to experience another country in an academic setting, to “witness” the unfolding drama of another place’s history, culture, and society can emerge as an important and transformative academic experience.
This class seeks to introduce students to the history of Turkey--a nation-state that transformed itself from an empire, as well as to provide critical historical tools to analyze the emergence of nation-states and the historical narratives a people create and revise to explain their past, present, and hoped-for future. Located at the nexus of “East” and “West,” Turkey provides an ideal setting for students to explore the comparative histories and memories of European, Russian, Middle Eastern, and Asian societies. Indeed, in studying Turkey “up close,” this study abroad will enhance the history department’s mission to offer classes that promote reflection on transnational and comparative histories, thereby providing our students with the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills they will require as life-long learners, no matter the professional choices they make upon graduation. In addition, study abroad in Turkey will strengthen their abilities to see the historical connections between ideologies, economic transformations, social structures, religious practice, art production, statecraft, and community-development over time. Importantly, because most other liberal arts colleges provide study-abroad programs as an essential part of their students academic experience, this course also promises to make our students more competitive with their after-graduation cohort.
As the history department’s first study abroad course, “Narratives of Turkey” will also provide our faculty with an additional assessment tool, not only about the viability of such offerings as part of an on-going process of planning the history degree program’s future, but also for thinking more deeply about how to enhance the synergistic connections between our transnational offerings and the more traditional rubrics of “Europe,” “The United States,” and “Asia.” In fact, this course is designed to push the boundaries of the departmental members’ long-held belief that “no single methodology provides the ‘right’ answer in historical investigation,” and to demonstrate our commitment to providing course offerings in “political, social, and cultural history, including the history of ideas, religions, and gender.” By reviewing the students’ daily journals, about their impressions of the above, as well as about the economy, the arts (in both high and popular culture), and meanings of race and ethnicity, to name but a few of the additional contexts we will explore in Turkey, the department can both measure the successes and weaknesses of the study abroad experience as well reflect upon what students actually learn as they attempt to contextualize the multitude of narratives they will encounter “on the ground” throughout the course. Furthermore, this will allow us to improve student experiences in dealing with history “in situ,” as well as planning additional opportunities for study abroad ventures.
Course description:
Engaging in a four-week study abroad course in Istanbul, Turkey–the bridge between the East and West--students will explore the ways nation-states construct their pasts and delve into the creation of historical memories as narratives. By deconstructing the construction of historical memory, the course will force students to challenge their own preconceptions about modernity, religion, and what we mean by terms such as “Eastern” and “Western.” The class will be divided into two components: the first part will focus on Turkey’s Ottoman past, and will rethink issues related to Ottoman history, politics, and society. Students will also explore Turkish culture, including Turkey’s art and architecture. In addition to classroom meetings, important lectures and discussion sections will take place at different Ottoman palaces, mosques, churches, and synagogues.
The second part of the course will focus on the modern Turkish state, with particular emphasis on the construction of a “national memory,” one that systematically includes some and excludes other parts of the Ottoman past and Turkish society at large. In order to grasp the nuances of these phenomena, class participants will meet with a number of scholars from different universities in Turkey. Beyond the classroom and “lecture circuit,” students will enhance their skills as historical investigators by visiting museums and monuments in Istanbul and Ankara. They will also learn to think more deeply about history and memory by meeting with Turkish artists and musicians, both of whom contribute to the on-going development of Turkey’s historical narratives and ways of remembering.
During the final phase of the study abroad experience, students will look “beneath the surface,” where they will learn about the "other" Turkey through Turkey’s “others.” This exploration will involve both meeting with members of different communities, including representatives of Turkey’s Jewish, Armenian, and Kurdish enclaves as well as focusing in on issues such as human rights, NGOs, the role of the individual in Turkish society, and those who have played influential and active roles in promoting women’s issues. While in Turkey, students will spend their free time and weekends working on group research projects that will result in final presentations. This study-abroad offering promises to enhance the critical skills of history majors as well as others interested in the urban histories, cultures, and societies of Europe and the Middle East.
Learning Objectives: This class will enhance our students’ abilities to understand how “modernity” radically changed the lives of peoples living in the former Ottoman Empire, and how the transformation to the nation-state created new boundaries for different ethnic and religious communities throughout the region. Furthermore, this study abroad will sharpen their skills at making connections between historical events which occurred over a century ago and the current political, economic, and social state of contemporary Turkey by reviewing and analyzing primary, secondary, and literary sources, as well as music, film, and other forms of popular culture. Students will also improve their research skills by completing a project and presenting their findings on a topic aimed at testing their assumptions about historical “representations” encountered at museums and monuments, and in the everyday lives of the Turkish people
Outcome assessment: Students will receive grades based upon their class participation (20%), their daily journal entries recording their thoughts, impressions, and experiences (20%), a final research project and presentation (35%), and a final examination (25%).
Class Syllabus
Required Texts:
Nicole and Hugh Pope, Turkey Unveiled, A History of Modern Turkey, 2004.
Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul, 2005.
Books should be read before trip begins. We will be visiting sites which appear frequently in Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul, therefore each student will need to have a copy of their own with them during the trip.
WEEK One
The study abroad’s Week One will take place at Brooklyn College. Daily meetings will involve two three-hour classes, plus an informational meeting to discuss some of the cultural differences they will encounter and the etiquette required of visitors to Turkey. The first class will involve a lecture and discussion about the basics of Islamic history and the role of Islam in contemporary Turkey. As the foundation for their experience on “foreign” terrain, the introductory class will also focus on the early foundations of the Ottoman Empire and its transformation into one of the world’s most powerful empires. The second class will build on Day One by providing a framework for understanding the Ottoman state through the late 18th century. We will also spend some time contextualizing the Ottoman Empire by examining other “Empires,” and their own introductions and leaps into “modernity.” This will allow them to begin the abroad part of their study with some sense of the comparative context between what the Ottomans and Europeans confronted as empire builders. Students will end their preparatory week at Brooklyn College with a 2-hour session on traveling in Turkey—with an introduction to contemporary Turkish society and some of the differences and “culture shocks” they can expect to encounter while there.
WEEK Two
Day 1: Day spent in classroom: Lecture on connecting Modern turkey with Ottoman past. Discuss Turkey Unveiled book and the below article. Class will be in session from 10-12 and 1-5.
Cizre, Umit. Turkey 2002: Kemalism, Islamism, and Politics in the Light of the February 28 Process," in The South Atlantic Quarterly 102.2/3 (2003) 309-332.
Day 2: Visit historical sites, Aya Sophia, Sultan Ahmet Mosque in the morning 9-12. 2-6 continue lecture on Ottoman history. Break into groups to discuss primary source.
Day 3: Visit Topkapi Palace: 9-1. Following the on-site lesson students will break into groups entering the different quarters of the palace and will record their impressions. Guidelines will be passed out to help them with this project. 2-6 students will discuss excerpts from Edward Said’s Orientalism and analyze their notes within the context of Orientalism.
Reading: Said, Edward. Orientalism (excerpts).
Day 4: 9-2 Walking tour through Egyptian Market to Covered market, stopping by historical sites and accompanied by lecture. 3-5 Afternoon class will summarize first week and we will discuss our impressions. Homework will passed out:
Reading: Makdisi, Ussama. “Ottoman Orientalism.” American Historical Review 107, no. 3 (June 2002).
Day 5: Begin the section on 19th early 20th century history. 9-12 lecture. Afternoon guest lecture: Ottoman 19th Literature, speaker to be announced. The lecturer will bring samples from Ottoman Poetry and we will analyze it together.
Reading: Excerpts from: Namik Kemal (Ottoman politician and literary figure), Nazim Hikmet (early republican poet)
WEEK Three
Day 1: Begin the section on 19th early 20th century history. 9-12 lecture. Afternoon guest lecture: Ottoman 19th Literature, speaker to be announced. The lecturer will bring samples from Ottoman Poetry and we will analyze it together.
Reading: Excerpts from: Namik Kemal (Ottoman politician and literary figure), Nazim Hikmet (early republican poet)
Day 2: 9-1 We will visit the Museum of the Near East, the first “modern” museum founded in the late Ottoman period. Particularly, we will focus on issues such as how nations interpret their past through archaeology and historical artifacts.
Reading: Fishman, Louis. “The 1911 Haram al-Sharif Incident: The Palestinians versus the Ottoman Administration,” in Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 34, no. 3 (Spring 2005)
Day 3: 10-1 We will visit the Dolmabahce Palace. How does this palace in relation to the “classical” Topkapi palace. How can the change in the palaces reflect greater changes in the Ottoman system and their perceptions of the West? 2-5 Following this we will visit the Mosque of Ortakoy. How does this mosque built in the late 19th century reflect a change in Ottoman history. How does this differ from the mosques we experienced during the previous week? Evening study: Read an article on Armenian Literature during the late Ottoman period, which its author will speak with us the following day.
Readings: Document analysis: The Hatt-i Sherif of Gulhane, and Sultan Abdulmejid's Hatt-i Humayun.
Day 4: 9-12 Before the War: Lecture on the Armenian community before World War One and lecture by professor of Armenian literature. During the afternoon we will visit the Armenian newspaper Agos, home to the assassinated editor Hrant Dink. This section will be held as the beginning part of discovering “the other” Evening discussion: How can Turkey reconcile Republican history with the Armenians’ interpretations of the past.
Reading: Gocek, Fatma Muge. "Reconstructing the Turkish Historiography on the Armenian Massacres and Deaths of 1915," in Richard G. Hovannisian, Looking Backward, Moving Forward, 2003.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities (excerpts)
Day 5: 9-12 Morning class and lecture with Rifat Bali: The Jews of Turkey in the Republican period. Includes visit to Synagogue. 2-5 The afternoon will spent at the Ottoman-Sephardic Historical Foundation, where will learn about Sephardic culture, and the Ladino language and its literature. Read poems together. Evening class: student’s will need to prepare in groups a summary of this week’s events and their impressions.
Reading: Bali, Rifat. The Image of the Jew in Rhetoric of Political Islam in Turkey," in cahiers D'etudes Sur la Mediterranee Orientale et le Monde Turco-Iranien, Vol. 28.
WEEK Four
Day 1: 9-12 Guest lecturer on the Kurdish community. 2-4 Visit the Kurdish cultural center where we will speak with activists and learn about some of the issues which interest them. Listen to a musical exhibition of Kurdish music. During the late afternoon we will visit the Turkish Alevi community. In the evening visit a music exhibition of Anatolian folk Music.
Reading: Ergil, Dogu. "The Kurdish Question in Turkey." in Journal of Democracy 11.3 (2000) 122-135.
Day 2: 10-2 Walking tour of Pangalti-Sisli and visit a non-Muslim cemetery (Greek Orthodox or Jewish). Following the tour walking through modern urban areas populated my both non-Muslims and Muslims, we will continue crossing “invisible border” separating the modern neighborhoods with the shanty towns of this city. Prepare for trip to Ankara.
Reading: Aktar, Ayhan. "Homogenising the Nation, Turkifying the Economy: The Turkish Experience of Population Exchange Reconsidered.”
Day 3: Early trip to Ankara. Arrive in Ankara 11:00; visit Anitkabir (Ataturk’s grave). Lecture on the culture of Ataturk and the future of the Modern Turkish state.
Reading: Ozyurek, Esra. Miniaturizing Ataturk: Privatization of the State Imagery and Ideology in Turkey.' In American American Ethnologist, 31:3, 374- 391.
Day 4: Guest lecture and visit to Middle East Technical University. Free time to work on projects.
Day 5: Return to Istanbul in morning and work on projects, which will be presented on Sunday afternoon.
Day 6: Presentation of projects, and finish program
The Following reading material will accompany us for work on individual projects and will be assigned as is appropriate to lectures and discussions while in Turkey.
Adak, Hulya. "National Myths and Self-Na(rra)tions: Mustafa Kemal's Nutuk and Halide Edib's Memoirs and The Turkish Ordeal." in The South Atlantic Quarterly - Volume 102, Number 2/3, Spring/Summer 2003, pp. 509-527.
Ahmad, Feroz. "THe Development of Working-Class Consciousness in Turkey," in Z. Lockman (ed.) Workers and Working Classes in the Middle East, 1994.
Ahmad, Feroz. The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress, 1908-1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969.
Ahmad, Feroz. Turkey: A Quest for Identity. Oxford : Oneworld, 2003.
Akcam, Taner. A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Resonsibility. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2007.
Aktar, Ayhan. "Homogenising the Nation, Turkifying the Economy: The Turkish Experience of Population Exchange Reconsidered," in
Baer, Marc. "The Double Bind of Race and Religion: The Conversion of the Donme to Turkish Secular Nationalism," in Society for Comparative Study of Society and History, Oct 2004
Bali, Rifat. The "Varlik Vergisi" Affair: a Study of its Legacy: Selected Documents. Istanbul: Isis Press, 2005
Bali, Rifat. The Image of the Jew in Rhetoric of Political Islam in Turkey," in cahiers D'etudes Sur la Mediterranee Orientale et le Monde Turco-Iranien, Vol. 28.
Butrus Abu Manneh, "The Islamic Roots of the Gulhane Rescript" in Die Welt des Islams 34 (1994), 175-203.
Caglar, Ayse Neviye. "The Grey Wolves as a Metaphor," in Turkish State, Chapter 4.
Candar, Cengiz. "Redefining Turkey's Political Center,' in Journal of Democracy 10.4 (1999) 129-141.
Cizre, Umit. Turkey 2002: Kemalism, Islamism, and Politics in the Light of the February 28 Process," in The South Atlantic Quarterly 102.2/3 (2003) 309-332.
Davison, Andrew. "Turkey, a "Secular" State?: The Challenge of Description," The South Atlantic Quarterly - Volume 102, Number 2/3, Spring/Summer 2003, pp. 333-350.
Deringil, Selim. The Well Protected Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Ottoman Empire, 1876-1909. New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 1998.
Dodd, C.H. "Ataturk and Political Parties," in Metin Heper and Landau, Political Parties and Democracy in Turkey (Hereafter: Political Parties). Chapter 3.
Engin D. Akarli, "Abdulhamid II's Attemt to Integrate Arabs into the Ottoman System”
Ergil, Dogu. "The Kurdish Question in Turkey." in Journal of Democracy 11.3 (2000) 122-135.
Erguder Ustun. "The Motherland Party, 1983-89," in Political Parties., Chapter 10.
Feroz Ahmad "War and Society under the Young Turks," in the Review XI, 2, Spring 1988, pp. 265-288.
Gocek, Fatma Muge. "Reconstructing the Turkish Historiography on the Armenian Massacres and Deaths of 1915," in Richard G. Hovannisian, Looking Backward, Moving Forward, 2003.
Gul, Abdullah. "Turkey's Role in a Changing Middle East Environment, " Mediterranean Quarterly - Volume 15, Number 1, Winter 2004, pp. 1-7.
Hale, William. "The Turkish Army in Politics," in Andrew Finkel and Sirman, Nuket, Turkish State, Turkish Society (hereafter: Turkish State), Chapter 3.
Hanioglu, M. Sukru. Preparation for Revolution: 1902-1908. New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.
Hanioglu, M. Sukru. The Young Turks in Opposition. New York. 1995.
Hurevitz (Volume I), Document numbers: 21-The Treaty at Kuchuk Kaynardja, 48-The Hatt-i Sherif of Gulhane, and 65 Sultan Abdulmejid's Hatt-i Humayun.
Kayali, Hasan. Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabism, and Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1918. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
Kemal H. Karpat, "The Transformation of the Ottoman State, 1789-1908," in Middle East Studies 3 (1972), 243-281.
Kogacioglu, Dicle. "The Tradition Effect: Framing Honor Crimes in Turkey," Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 15.2 (2004) 119-151.
Kushner, David (ed.) Palestine in the Late Ottoman Period, Leiden, 1986, pp. 74-89. C. Ernest Dawn "From Ottomanism to Arabism: The Origin of an Ideology," in the Reader.
Levy, Avigdor, ed. The Jews if the Ottoman Empire. Princeton: Darwin Press, 1994.
Lewis, Bernard. The Emergence of Modern Turkey. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.
Mardin, Serif. "Religion and Secularism in Turkey," Kazancigil Ali, and Ergun Ozbudun (eds.), Ataturk: Founder of A Modern State (Hamden: Archon Books, 1981) (Read only first half; and the second half for the next topic).
Mardin, Sherif. The Genesis of Young Ottoman Thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962.
Navaro-Yashin, Yael. Faces of the State: Secularism and Public Life in Turkey. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.
Justice Party, 1961-1980," in Political Parties.
Ozel, Soli. "After the Tsunami," in Journal of Democracy 14.2 (2003) 80-94.
Ozyurek, Esra. Miniaturizing Ataturk: Privatization of the State Imagery and Ideology in Turkey.' In American American Ethnologist, 31:3, 374- 391.
Paul Dumont "Said Bey-The Everyday Life of and Istanbul Townsman at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century," in the Reader.
Shaw J. Stanford, and Ezel Kural Shaw. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Vol. II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Uriel Heyd "The Ottoman `Ulema and Westernization in the Time of Selim III and Mahmud II" in the Reader.
White, Jenny, B. "State Feminism, Modernization, and the Turkish Republican Woman," in NWSA Journal 15.3 (2003) 145-159.
Yavuz, Hakan, M. "Search for a New Social Contract in Turkey: Fethullah Gulen, the Virtue Party and the Kurds" in SAIS Review, Vol. 19.1 (1999), pp. 114-143.
Zurcher, Erik. Turkey: A Modern History. New York: I.B. Taurus & Co LTD, 1993.