Գիտաժողով՝ “Turkish Studies from an Interdisciplinary Perspective”
Անցկացման ամսաթիվը՝ Մայիսի 7, 2014
Վայրը՝ Georgetown University Washington, DC
Դիմելու վերջնաժամկետ՝ Նոյեմբերի 15, 2013
Ջորջթաունի համալսարանում գործող «Թուրքագիտության ինստիտուտի կողմից կազմակերպված այս գիտաժողովը կոչված է քննարկելու և հասկանալու ժամանակակից թուրքագիտության/օսմանագիտության հիմնական ձեռքբերումները, հիմնական միտումներն ու միջգիտաճյուղային (Interdisciplinary) հեռանկարները: Գիտաժողողին ներակայցված հաջող զեկույցները կհրատարակվեն: Կազմակերպիչները նաև կհոգան նաև մասնակիցների ճանապարհածախսը:
Call for Applications (CfP)
Eligibility and required documents
The Institute of Turkish Studies (ITS) , based at
Georgetown University and the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University (SUITS) invite Ph.D. students whose research on Turkey and/or Ottoman Empire have an interdisciplinary focus to submit abstracts that are no longer than 150 words. Individuals whose abstracts are accepted by a review committee will be invited to present an extended paper at a one day conference that will be held at Georgetown University on May 7, 2014. Participating students will be placed within a designated panel, which will be chaired by an established scholar already working within the field of Turkish Studies.
Students from all disciplines in the social sciences and humanities are encouraged to submit applications. Applicants must have successfully completed all their coursework requirements and be classified as ‘ABD’ status by their institutions. For the scope and framework of the conference, please see below. All applicants are required to submit the following materials:
- Title and abstract (no longer than 150 words)
- Full name, address and email of applicant
- University affiliation
- Current resume
All applications and questions must be emailed to
itsdirector@turkishstudies.org by no later than
November 15 (5pm EST). Late or incomplete applications will not be taken into consideration. All individuals will be notified of the result of their application via email no later than
December 1, 2013.
Funding
Successful applicants will be eligible to receive a round-trip airfare to and from Washington DC and in addition a $250 honorarium for conference expenses incurred.
Publication Potential
Selected student papers from the conference proceedings may be published. Full details regarding this potential will be released in due course.
Conference theme and Framework
Interest in Turkish Studies has increased significantly over the last several decades. A field which was mainly dominated by studies in Ottoman history is now increasingly represented by most of the major disciplines in the social sciences and humanities: Political Science, International Relations, Anthropology, Literature, Cultural Studies, and Archeology. In October 2002, a number of established scholars whose research focused on different academic disciplines related to Turkey convened a one-day conference at Georgetown University, the proceedings of which appeared in the form of a book titled Turkish Studies in the United States. The focus of the conference, and ultimately the book was to answer several important questions:
“What have been the main trends in Turkish Studies during the past two decades? What particular and substantive issues have scholars working in various disciplines addressed? Have the books and articles published in recent years on the Ottoman Empire and contemporary Turkey made a significant contribution to the mainstream scholarly literature?” and finally “What are the likely areas of new research and conceptual development in the near future?” (Quataert & Sayari 2003)
A full decade after the publication of this volume, the Institute of Turkish Studies at Georgetown University (ITS), and the Institute for Turkish Studies at Stockholm University (SUITS) have decided to come together and take this debate two steps further. The Quataert & Sayari volume surveyed the state of the field and the different chapters assessed the contributions from research in Turkish studies to their respective disciplines in American academia. The current project, however, expands the geographic scope to include European scholarship as well. Moreover, rather than survey the field of Turkish studies and assess its contributions to broader scholarship, it asks contributing authors to demonstrate the vitality and relevance of the field through original empirical research.
Studies on Turkey from an Interdisciplinary US and European perspective
As directors of the two institutions mentioned above, we are interested in achieving two important goals: To facilitate a process which will allow both established and emerging scholars, whose research is focused on Turkey,
1. To emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the research they conduct, and
2. To demonstrate its relevance to disciplinary debates of interest to colleagues outside the field of Turkish studies as well.
One of the frequent criticisms made against the field of Turkish Studies is to highlight the idea that it is not a field, and that its practitioners are too narrowly focused on Turkey as a singular country. Consequently, criticisms declare that the nature of research that appears is too narrow, with little to no generalizable conclusions being generated in published material, relating to the particular discipline in question. Whilst such criticisms are valid to a point, both Ciddi and Levin contend that Turkish Studies is a field – having its own journals, academic programs, and institutions – and indeed a field that is thriving and growing, as evidenced by the recent establishment of the younger of the two institutes behind this initiative. Moreover, the “cross-sectional” nature of an area studies field such as ours encourages interdisciplinary scholarship and cross-pollination and as such holds great potential for theoretical innovation. Hence, it is unsurprising that in the last decade since the publication of Turkish Studies in the United States, a considerable amount of interdisciplinary research has begun to flourish that is focused on Turkey but which also speaks to a wider audience and asks broader questions.
In our capacity as Turkish Studies center directors and guest editors of a special December 2014 edition of Turkish Studies journal, we have invited leading scholars from the major disciplines in the social sciences and humanities to contribute newly authored articles that not only focus on furthering our knowledge on Turkey itself, but articles which derive conclusions that add to existing knowledge about a particular aspect of one or several disciplines.
In addition, we are now inviting Ph.D. students, whose research is at an advanced stage (ABD), and focused on Turkey to submit articles for presentation at Georgetown University alongside their senior peers. Whilst the articles of established scholars will be published in Turkish Studies journal in December 2014, students will be given a valuable opportunity to present their work before their experienced peers, receive feedback and have the possibility of getting their work published at a later date.
The common themes intended to draw all articles together in the volume and the conference is the interdisciplinary nature of the research presented by each author/authors, and the self-conscious demonstration of and reflection on how it advances not only our understanding of Turkey but also scholarship beyond the field of Turkish studies. Authors are free to utilize a variety of research methods (data analysis, in-depth interviews, comparative or single-case studies to name a few) to answer their chosen research question, but the organizers would like stress the importance of the interdisciplinary appeal of both the content and findings of their research.