From its inception, this seminar adopted an interdisciplinary approach to Turkic studies, and its members represent many fields. At the same time, their interests span more than twelve centuries. In most years, the program covers a selection of topics reflecting current research of members. Special anniversaries such as the Atatürk centennial (1981–1982), the sixtieth anniversary of the Turkish Republic (1983–1984), and the traveling exhibition, The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (1987–1988), however, have provided themes around which all papers or a series of papers have been centered. Discussion on papers presented—no matter what their topic—has shown that dialogue between, for example, political scientist and art historian, medievalist and modernist, can be both stimulating and productive.
12/1/2016 Zeynep Celik, NJIT/Columbia University, on “About Antiquities: A Book and its Aftermath”
Zeynep Çelik is distinguished professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology/ Rutgers University and adjunct professor at Columbia University. Her publications include The Remaking of Istanbul (1986—winner of the Institute of Turkish Studies Book Award, 1987), Displaying the Orient (1992), Urban Forms and Colonial Confrontations: Algiers under French Rule (1997), Empire, Architecture, and the City: French-Ottoman Encounters, 1830-1914 (2008—winner of the Society of Architectural Historians Spiro Kostof Book Award, 2010), and About Antiquities: Politics of Archaeology in the Ottoman Empire (2016). Professor Çelik has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2004), American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (1992, 2004, and 2011) and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2012).
