Teaching and Studying Turkish Politics through Literature

Students will attend 12 online sessions (of two teaching hours each). Each session/lecture will be conducted and discussed by one to three professors. The virtual component will additionally have 8 teaching hours devoted to tutorials/guiding by the professors and oral presentation of papers. Students will have access to supporting material and bibliography, in order to prepare their assignments for the physical part. Students will form groups of 3 persons (from different universities), communicate and collaborate, in order to prepare their longer assignment/paper. Each student will have to choose two out of the four novels attributed to the course and read them. The assignments will be related to the novels chosen. Students will have access to the CIVIS Moodle platform. The hours devoted to virtual tutorials and paper presentation will address topics related to politics, identities and literature in Turkey. Virtual sessions with dates and subjects: Day and time of virtual sessions: Monday, 17.00-19.00 (Rome/Madrid time) 12 February 2024: Introduction to the course, course aims and methodology / Brief outline of the modern and contemporary history of Turkey: 19th century – today. 19 February 2024: Literature and politics: What can literature offer to political studies and our political understanding? / Brief outline of Turkish Literature in the 20th and 21st century. 26 February 2024: The power of literature in Middle East politics. 4 March 2024: Love, Marriage and Family as Political Metaphors in Ottoman and Turkish Novels. 11 March 2024: Kemalism. 18 March 2024: Leftist identity in literature and politics in Turkey. 25 March 2024: Conservative identity in literature and politics in Turkey. 1 April 2024: Islam and politics: The dimensions of the Islamic movement in Turkey. 8 April 2023; In search for Democracy: Democratization and reforms in Turkey. 15 April 2024: Gender issues in contemporary Turkey. 22 April 2024: Ethnic Minorities and religious groups in Turkey; 29 April 2024: Turkey and Europe (EU-Turkey relations). Additionally: One tutoring session (2 hours) in March 2024 and a second one in April 2024. Final virtual session (up to 4 hours): late paper presentations and assessment of the course: 10 June 2024. Explore & understand the sociopolitical features of contemporary Turkey and become familiar with internationally-praised Turkish novelists and their work.

Application Deadline

Virtual Part starting date 2024-02-12

Virtual Part closing date 2024-06-10

Total student workload 168

Specific field of studies No

Pre-requisite for selection CV Motivation Letter Level of English (According to CEFR)

Academic pre-requisites for applicants Turkish studies, Middle East studies, Southeast European Studies, Social and political sciences, History, World literature, Comparative literature, Linguistics, Translation studies, Philosophy.

Physical Part starting date 2024-05-13

Physical Part Description The program of the physical part in Athens is scheduled to comprise 34 teaching hours (Monday: 6 hours, Tuesday-Friday: 7 hours per day); there will be morning, noon and afternoon sessions. The program will include: paper presentations by students, lectures and seminars by academic instructors/professors, and talks by invited speakers/experts. A welcome reception and a closing event will be part of the program. The Library of the Host Department will be available for study and bibliography search. The physical part program will address topics related to politics, identities, literature and intellectuals in Turkey. The professors will focus on how the assigned novels express and mirror the political, ideological and social realities in /of Turkey. The topics discussed during the virtual part will be further elaborated, and key themes and novels of significant authors of contemporary Turkey will be discussed. Additional to the assigned novels the program will discuss aspects of the literary work of authors such as Halide Edip Adıvar, Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Peyami Safa, Yaşar Kemal, related thematically to the course. During the program of the physical part, 8 hours will be devoted to workshops of paper presentations by students; Each student will have to choose and read two from the four novels listed below. The topics of the assigned essays/papers will be relevant to these novels as well as to the lectures. Novels for reading (authors in alphabetical order): Emine Sevgi Özdamar, The Bridge of the Golden Horn. Orhan Pamuk, Snow. Elif Şafak, The Bastard of Istanbul. Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, The Time Regulation Institute.

Physical Part closing date 2024-05-17

Language level required B2

Field of studies related to the course Social Science and Humanities

Course location Athens, Greece

Course language English