Imagination, as an analytical angle, deserves our attention as a political and social force that informs and connects masses, crosses borders, and manifests new socialities. This podcast series hosts influential scholars, intellectuals, and artists who study and shape the imagination of Turkey on a global scale from various critical directions.
Topics include discussions on democracy in Turkey, the politics of religious differences at the border, and the limits of ethnographic research methods.
‘Imagining Turkey’ is co-hosted by Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu (Principal Investigator of the Takhayyul project at UCL Institute for Global Prosperity), M. Zișan Köker (Loyola University Chicago), and Hazal Aydın (Boston University). This series is sponsored by the European Research Council, and hosted in collaboration with the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity and the Middle East Centre.
Introductory episode
In this very first introductory episode, we are briefly talking about the scholarly intentions of the ERC funded Takhayyul Project.
Cemil Aydin - The idea of the Muslim world: a global intellectual history
Join us in our inaugural episode as we delve into the rich tapestry of Turkey's history, its current dynamics, and the prospects for its future with the esteemed Professor Cemil Aydin.
Imagining Turkey from the Balkans: a conversation with Prof Maria Todorova
We host Professor Maria Todorova from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to revisit her illuminating book 'Imagining The Balkans.'
Thinking differently about the World: before the West with Prof. Ayse Zarakol
In this episode, we host Prof Ayse Zarakol from University of Cambridge and talk about her fascinating book "Before The West".
Imagining Turkey through cartoons: Özge Samanci and graphic novels
We host Dr. Özge Samanci from Northwestern University - School of Communication to talk about her latest work "Evil Eyes Sea".
Turkey at the "Genetic Crossroads" with Dr Elise Burton
In this episode, we host Dr Elise Burton to discuss some of her findings from her recent book, “Genetic Crossroads: The Middle East and the Science of Human Heredity”.
Imagining Turkey Through Romeyka: A Conversation with Prof Ioanna Sitaridou
In this episode we host Professor Ioanna Sitaridou renowned for her work on language preservation and the Romeyka Project, documenting the endangered Greek dialect of Northern Anatolia.
Imagining Turkey with Gündüz Vassaf
We speak with writer and psychologist Gündüz Vassaf, author of Prisoners of Ourselves, about identity, community, and Turkey amid global warming, AI, and an increasingly polarised political landscape.
Imagining Wastelands: Turkey's Waste and Recycling Policy at the Periphery with Adnan Khan
We welcome writer and visual storyteller Adnan Khan, speaking about how the global plastic‑waste trade exploits vulnerable communities in Istanbul, and why empathy is vital in telling these stories.
Transcripts
Throughout this podcast series, we will discuss various topics at the intersections of populist, nationalist and religious movements, formations of various forms of political imaginations in, and around, and about Turkey. We will be hosting renowned scholars, artists, public intellectuals, and activists. In this very first introductory episode, We are briefly talking about the scholarly intentions of the ERC funded Takhayyul Project, why we think it is necessary to have a closer look at imagination as an analytical tool, and finally, why we want to focus on Turkey and imagination at the intersection of these two in particular.
Prof. Cemil Aydin from the University of North Carolina joins us as we delve into the rich tapestry of Turkey's history, its current dynamics, and the prospects for its future.
In this engaging conversation, we centre our discussion around Prof. Aydin's illuminating book, "The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History." "The Idea of the Muslim World" serves as a guiding thread throughout our conversation, unraveling the intricate intellectual history that has influenced Turkey's perceptions and interactions with the broader Muslim world. Prof. Aydin takes us on a captivating journey through Turkey's past, offering insights into the diverse cultural, intellectual, and historical dimensions that have shaped the nation. This episode promises a thought-provoking exploration guided by one of the foremost scholars in the field. Tune in as we uncover the layers of Turkey's past, assess its present, and contemplate the potential trajectories that may shape its future.
In this episode, we host Professor Maria Todorova from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to revisit her illuminating book 'Imagining The Balkans.' Professor Todorova specializes in Eastern Europe, particularly the Balkans in the modern period, focusing on historical demography, nationalism, socialism, and post-communism. Her work has had a major influence on the study of the Balkans and Orientalism as interconnected subjects and project.
In this episode, we host Prof Ayse Zarakol from University of Cambridge and talk about her fascinating book "Before The West".
In this episode, we host Dr. Özge Samanci from Northwestern University - School of Communication. We talk about her latest work "Evil Eyes Sea", as well as how she started her career and what her future projects are.
In this episode, we host Dr Elise Burton, an historian of science, race and nationalism in the modern Middle East and an Assistant Professor at the Institute of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto. As part of a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss some of Dr Burton's findings from her recent book, “Genetic Crossroads: The Middle East and the Science of Human Heredity”, within which she draws on archival research across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States using sources in Turkish, Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew, to explore how Middle Eastern peoples—both as scientific actors and research subjects—have played an important role in the history of human genetics.
In this episode, we are hosting Professor Ioanna Sitaridou, Professor of Spanish and Historical Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and co director of the Cambridge Centre for Greek Studies. Professor Sitaridou is widely known for her pioneering work in the study and preservation of languages, including her ongoing with the Romeyka Project, which aims to document and spread awareness of the now-endangered Greek dialect, spoken in Northern Anatolia.
In this episode, we welcome acclaimed writer, psychologist, and intellectual Gündüz Vassaf, whose work spans 17 published books blending literature, philosophy, and psychology. Author of the bestselling "Prisoners of Ourselves: Totalitarianism in Everyday Life" and his more recent novel "The Painter's Rebellion," Vassaf explores with us what it means to imagine Turkey, to be ‘Turkish’ and to be part of a community in the context of some of the world’s greatest challenges, such as global warming, Artificial Intelligence and an increasingly polarised political landscape.
In this episode, the Takhayyul Project welcomes Adnan Khan, an acclaimed Canadian writer, editor, photographer, and visual storyteller. We discuss Adnan's recent work chronicling how the global trade in plastic waste has exploited some of the most vulnerable communities, such as refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Istanbul, and of the importance in bringing empathy and depth to similar stories that often go untold.
About the project
TAKHAYYUL is a collaborative research project that will ethnographically excavate the imaginative forces in the formation of populist religious aspirations in the interconnected geographies recently coined as the Balkan-to-Bengal complex - namely the Balkans, the Middle East, and South Asia.
Such political aspirations provide its followers with a wide range of historical references, religious cosmologies, nationalist feelings and other affective and imaginative registers; this is best represented by the concept of takhayyul (a theory of imagination).
The Institute for Global Prosperity’s ERC-funded TAKHAYYUL project will develop an extensive and comparative formulation of the concept to set the basis for an anthropology of imagination and expand anthropological knowledge on religious politics by exploring the historical, ethical and aesthetic aspects. This project seeks to contribute to global prosperity by offering a fresh perspective that does not reproduce the tropes on irrationality. Instead, it is designed to provide a sound theoretical ground upon which to delineate the ways populist forms of religious politics forge imaginative landscapes beyond the borders of nation-states.
Project website: www.takhayyulproject.com
Project lead: Dr Sertaç Sehlikoglu