Enno Maessen on nostalgia and cosmopolitanism in Istanbul’s Beyoglu
November 22, 2022
Turkey Book Talk #181 – Enno Maessen, lecturer in political history at Utrecht University, on “Representing Modern Istanbul: Urban History and International Institutions in Twentieth Century Beyoglu” (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury).
The book examines convulsive changes in Istanbul’s historical Beyoglu district over the past century.
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Elise Massicard on muhtars, the state and society in Turkey
October 25, 2022
Turkey Book Talk #179 – Elise Massicard, senior researcher at the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po, on “Street-Level Governing: Negotiating the State in Urban Turkey” (Stanford University Press).
The book takes a deep dive into the world of the muhtar, the lowest rung of the administrative ladder in Turkey, looking first-hand at how they operate and chart a course between local residents and higher authorities in the country.
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Become a member on Patreon to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archive, links to related content upon publication of each episode, and over 200 book reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.
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Turkey Book Talk episode 167 – Sarah-Neel Smith, assistant professor in the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the Maryland Institute College of Art, on “Metrics of Modernity: Art and Development in Postwar Turkey” (University of California Press).
The book paints a vivid portrait of Turkey’s art world in the 1950s and how it reflected early Cold War ideas of national development, individual enterprise and global integration.
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Become a member on Patreon to support Turkey Book Talk. Members get a 35% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman History books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, transcripts of every interview, transcripts of the whole archive, links to related content upon publication of each episode, and over 200 book reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history and politics.
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Turkey Book Talk episode #146 – Buke Uras on “The Balyans: Ottoman Architecture and the Balyan Archive” (Korpus).
The Balyan family served as Ottoman imperial architects for three generations in the 19th century and are responsible for some of Istanbul’s most iconic monuments, including Dolmabahce Palace and Ortakoy Mosque.
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Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Members get extras including exclusive access to a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #144 – Dimitris Kamouzis, researcher at the Centre for Asia Minor Studies in Athens, on “Greeks in Turkey: Elite Nationalism and Minority Politics in Late Ottoman and Early Republican Istanbul” (Routledge).
The book explores the spread of nationalism and ideas of unity with the Kingdom of Greece among Istanbul’s Greek Orthodox community from the 19th century to the declaration of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and beyond.
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Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Members get extras including exclusive access to a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #142 – Malte Fuhrmann, research fellow at the Liebniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, on “Port Cities of the East Mediterranean: Urban Culture in the Late Ottoman Empire” (Cambridge University Press).
The book paints a panorama of cultural and social life in the diverse port cities of Salonica, Istanbul and Izmir in the late Ottoman era, when European cultural traits and economic developments had a profound impact on the daily experiences of locals across confessional boundaries.
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Support Turkey Book Talk by becoming a member. Members get extras including exclusive access to a 30% discount on all Turkey/Ottoman history books published by IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Umut Azak on Hagia Sophia and the future of Turkey’s religious nationalist status quo
October 13, 2020
Turkey Book Talk #126 – Umut Azak of Okan University on this summer’s conversion of the Hagia Sophia from museum to mosque, the history of calls on Turkey’s religious right to take that step, and the future of the country’s religious nationalist status quo under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
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Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #116 – Ünver Rüstem, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, on “Ottoman Baroque: The Architectural Refashioning of Eighteenth-Century Istanbul” (Princeton University Press).
The book examines the adoption of Baroque and rococo styles in Istanbul mosques between 1740 and 1800, looking at how this fits into – or perhaps questions – popular ideas of Ottoman decline and Western influence.
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Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #115 – Michael Wuthrich, assistant professor of political science at the University of Kansas, on “The Pushback Against Populism: Running on ‘Radical Love’ in Turkey”, co-authored with Melvyn Ingleby and published in the April 2020 edition of the Journal of Democracy.
The article examines the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) successful local election campaigns in major Turkish cities in 2019, when it applied sophisticated methods crafted by strategist Ateş İlyas Başsoy to counter the government’s populism.
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Here’s a link to the article.
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Check out Raziye Akkoç and Diego Cupolo’s excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter
Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #114 – Curators Şeyda Çetin and Ebru Esra Satıcı discuss Istanbul art gallery Meşher’s exhibition on the works of little-known Ukrainian painter Alexis Gritchenko (1883-1977).
Gritchenko produced over 600 works – watercolours, oil paintings and sketches – during a two-year stay from 1919 to 1921 in occupied Istanbul, to which thousands of White Russians fled after the First World War and the Russian Revolution.
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The exhibition opened in February but has been suspended due to Covid-19. However, many of the works – as well as audio and text material – can be viewed at Meşher’s website and its Instagram and Facebook accounts.
There is also a video discussing/touring the exhibition (in Turkish)
Listen to Turkey Book Talk : iTunes / PodBean / Stitcher / Acast / Spotify / RSS
Follow Turkey Book Talk on Facebook or Twitter
Check out Raziye Akkoç and Diego Cupolo’s excellent Turkey Recap weekly newsletter
Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get loads of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 100 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Turkey Book Talk episode #103 – Jonathan Rugman, foreign affairs correspondent at Channel 4 News, on “The Killing in the Consulate: Investigating the Life and Death of Jamal Khashoggi” (Simon & Schuster).
The book examines the run-up and aftermath of the gruesome killing of Saudi journalist Khashoggi by a 15-man hit squad in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul Consulate on 2 October 2018. It also delves into Khashoggi’s complicated professional and personal life, as well as the bitter diplomatic rivalry between Ankara and Riyadh that the killing shone a light on.
Download the episode or listen below.
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Become a member to support Turkey Book Talk and get a load of extras: A 35% discount on any of over 400 books in IB Tauris/Bloomsbury’s excellent Turkey/Ottoman history category, English and Turkish transcripts of every interview upon publication, transcripts of the entire archive of episodes, and an archive of 231 reviews written by myself covering Turkish and international fiction, history, journalism and politics.
Sign up as a member to support Turkey Book Talk via Patreon.