Imagining Turkey

About Imagining Turkey

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. The podcast series will host influential scholars, intellectuals, and artists who study and shape the imagination of Turkey on a global scale from various critical directions. The topics in the following months will 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 the project PI Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu (UCL), M. Zișan Köker (LUC), and Hazal Aydın (BU). This series is sponsored by the European Research Council, and hosted in collaboration with the UCL’s Institute for Global Prosperity and the Middle East Centre.

Publisher

UCL Institute for Global Prosperity

Category

education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 Oct 2023

Latest episode

16 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

11 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Jul 2026

   Imagining Turkey with Maureen Freely

   In this episode, hosts Sertaç Sehlikoglu and Meryem Zişan Köker are joined by Maureen Freely, the novelist, journalist, and translator who has brought Orhan Pamuk, Sabahattin Ali, and many other Turkish writers to English-speaking readers. Freely reflects on growing up in 1960s Istanbul, where she first learned Turkish by listening rather than studying, and on how translation has entered in to her life. The conversation moves between fiction and ethnography, the histories that are erased or told differently in Turkish, Greek, and Armenian accounts, and the difficulty of carrying Turkish emotion, sound, and rhythm into English. She also speaks about the women writers she has recently translated, including Sevgi Soysal, Tezer Özlü, and Suat Derviş, the unexpected success of her translation of Madonna in a Fur Coat, and why she still finds reason for optimism in the work of Turkey's intellectual diaspora. Date of episode recording: 2026-01-14 Language of episode: English Presenter:Sertaç Sehlikoglu; Meryem Zisan Koker Guests: Maureen Freely Producer: Hazal Aydin, Sertaç Sehlikoglu, Meryem Zisan Koker

2. 

   25 Mar 2026

   Imagining the End of Empire with Eugene Rogan

   In this episode, we welcome Eugene Rogan, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Oxford, Director of the Middle East Centre at St. Anthony's College, and a Fellow of the British Academy. Author of internationally bestselling books including The Arabs: A History, The Fall of the Ottomans, and most recently The Damascus Events, Rogan has spent over three decades recovering Ottoman and Arab perspectives long marginalised by European historiography. We discuss how Turkey and the Arab remember the Ottoman imperial past in divergent ways, whether the Empire's collapse was inevitable or a consequence of fateful choices, and what the Ottoman reconstruction of Damascus after the violence of 1860 might teach us about imagining political futures in the region today.

3. 

   7 Jan 2026

   Imagining Wastelands: Turkey's Waste and Recycling Policy at the Periphery with Adnan Khan

   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. Date of episode recording: 2025-11-09 Language of episode: English Presenters: Meryem Zișan Köker; Hazal Aydın. Guests: Adnan Khan Producer: Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu; Meryem Zișan Köker; Hazal Aydın; edited by Alexander Pymm

4. 

   20 Jun 2025

   Imagining Turkey with Gündüz Vassaf

   Writer and psychologist Gündüz Vassaf discusses imagining Turkey and Turkish identity amidst global challenges like climate change and political polarization in an interview with Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu, Meryem Zișan Köker, and Hazal Aydın.

5. 

   3 Jun 2025

   Imagining Turkey Through Romeyka: A conversation with Professor Ionna Sitaradou

   Professor Ioanna Sitaridou discusses the Romeyka Project, which documents the endangered Greek dialect spoken in Northern Anatolia, in an interview with Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu, Meryem Zișan Köker, and Hazal Aydın.

6. 

   25 Apr 2025

   Turkey at the Genetic Crossroads with Dr Elise Burton

   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. Date of episode recording: 2025-01-29T00:00:00Z Duration: 00:35:26 Language of episode: English Presenter:Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu; Meryem Zișan Köker; Hazal Aydın Guests: Dr Elise Burton Producer: Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu; Meryem Zișan Köker; Hazal Aydın. Edited by Alexander Pymm.

7. 

   28 Oct 2024

   Imagining Turkey through cartoons: Ozge Samanci and her graphic novels

   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. Transcription link: https://web.descript.com/eba89e5c-6cc5-46b5-97fa-de5bb84c6c47/db319?editorVariant=default (https://web.descript.com/eba89e5c-6cc5-46b5-97fa-de5bb84c6c47/db319?editorVariant=default) Date of episode recording: 2024-06-28T00:00:00Z Duration: 00:34:05 Language of episode: English Presenter:Dr. Sertac Sehlikoglu; Meryem Zisan Koker; Hazal Aydin Guests: Dr. Ozge Samanci Producer: Meryem Zişan Köker, Hazal Aydin

8. 

   1 Jul 2024

   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". Date of episode recording: 2024-01-22T00:00:00Z Duration: 00:29:38 Language of episode: English Guests: Prof. Ayse Zarakol Producer: ERC, UCL, IGP, Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu, Meryem Zisan Koker, Hazal Aydin.

9. 

   18 Mar 2024

   Imagining Turkey from the Balkans: A Conversation with Prof Maria Todorova

   In this episode, we are hosting 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. Date of episode recording: 2023-07-18T00:00:00Z Duration: 00:42:25 Language of episode: English Presenter: Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu; Meryem Zișan Köker; Hazal Aydın. Guests: Professor Maria Todorova Producer: Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu; Meryem Zișan Köker; Hazal Aydın.

10. 

    1 Feb 2024

    Imagining Turkey: episode 1

    In this first episode, we are having Prof. Cemil Aydin from UNC. 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 from the University of North Carolina. In this engaging conversation, we center 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. Link to transcript: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/igp/podcasts/imagining-turkey-podcast Date of episode recording: 2023-05-09 Duration: 00:44:10 Language of episode: English TAGS: #Imagination, #Turkey, #Takhayyul, #IGP, #History, #Ottoman, #Muslim Presenters:  Dr. Sertac Sehlikoglu, Meryem Zișan Köker, Hazal Aydın Guests: Prof. Cemil Aydın Producer and Editor: Meryem Zișan Köker, Hazal Aydın 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. The podcast series will host influential scholars, intellectuals, and artists who study and shape the imagination of Turkey on a global scale from various critical directions. The topics in the following months will 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 the PI Dr. Sertaç Sehlikoglu (UCL), M. Zișan Köker (LUC), and Hazal Aydın (BU). This series is sponsored by the European Research Council, and hosted in collaboration with the UCL’s Institute for Global Prosperity and the Middle East Centre.

11. 

    25 Oct 2023

    Introductory Episode

    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.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 2 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

3

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

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Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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