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Turkey: Muslim and Modern Fall 2015 Tuesday-Thursday 1:25-2:40 SES 179s, TURKISH 179s, HIS 239s |
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Is Islam compatible
with modernity? Can a Muslim nation be an integrated and positively
contributing member of the global community? The Turkish experience provided
one of the most promising responses to these questions until recently.
Turkey maintained the image of a robustly growing economy and model
democracy for other majority-Muslim countries, especially in the Middle
East. However, rapid and dramatic events both in Turkey and in countries
surrounding it changed this situation in the past four years or so. Reading
the news is more difficult for Turkish citizens today than it was a few
years ago. In "Turkey: Muslim and Modern," we will follow the news in order
to capture the chaotic and blurry situation that emerges from Turkey's
current chaotic transformation, and we will try to make sense of that chaos
by studying Turkey's historical and cultural foundations. We will look into
how the multiethnic and multiconfessional but Muslim-ruled Ottoman empire
gave birth to a secular and Europeanized but still Muslim democracy. We will
examine the complexities of the ideal of merging Islam and modernity. The
course should help students in developing an understanding of Turkey's
history, politics, and culture and also in starting to think about Islam's
encounter with the West in an informed way. No former knowledge of Turkey or
the Turkish language is required.
Take the weekly subjects as a loose guideline. Part of the learning exercise in this
class will be for you to follow Turkey's current affairs. We will follow the
syllabus but will also be ready to divert from it to discuss current issues
or subjects that you bring up in class.
2015/10/18 German Chancellor Merkel Negotiating Refugees and Turkey's Accession to EU in Turkey
2015/10/19 Bombings in Ankara - continued
2015/10/10 Bombings in Ankara
2015/09/29 Kalev Laaetaru on Forbes rejects the possibility of Civil War in Turkey based on data analysis.
2015/09/28 Turkish-Russian rapprochement: Can Putin and Erdogan agree on Syria?
2015/09/28 On Syrian Refugees in Turkey and Why They Leave
2015/09/27 Syrian Refugee Crisis Map and Explanation
2015/09/15 News Magazine Critical of President Raided
2015/09/15 Turkey's Place on 2015 World Press Freedom Index
2015/09/15 International Press Institute on Pro-Erdogan Mob Attacks on Hurriyet
2015/09/15 On Syrian Refugees in Turkey
2015/09/14 Turkish Lira Hits Record Low
2015/09/08 On escalating tensions in the Southeast and the November 1st election
2015/09/07 BBC on PKK Attack on Turkish Soldiers and Mob Attack on Non-Pro-Government Newspaper
2015/09/02 BBC on Rising Tensions in Turkey / PKK / Upcoming Elections
2015/09/03 Turkish President Erdogan Calls on Europe to be More Sensitive about Migrants
2015/09/03 UK Journalists Released, Fixer Remains in Custody
2015/09/01 UK Journalists arrested in Southeast Turkey for "Terror Offences"
2015/09/01 Police raids media group following reports on aid to "ISIL"
2015/08/27 Former US Ambassador to Turkey on Turkish-American Relations in the Context of Middle East Politics
2015/08/26 Huffington Post on election polls leading to renewed elections in November
2015/08/12 BBC on the entangled fight between Turkey, PKK, IS, etc.