[Bilimsel Haber] History Master's Program at Bilgi University

[Onur İnal]

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Master's Program at Bilgi

The Social Sciences Institute at Istanbul Bilgi University announces the launching of its Master's Program in History for the academic year of 2006-2007. The Master's Program aims to provide students of diverse backgrounds a firm academic foundation geared towards conducting original research in the field of history with an emphasis on interdisciplinary methods and approaches. Application to the program is not limited to students with undergraduate degrees in history but is also open to those from related fields in the social sciences and humanities, whether it be on the undergraduate as well as graduate level. International students are likewise encouraged to apply. Teaching and coursework are conducted in English.

The two-year master's program focuses on the cultural and intellectual history of Turkey covering the medieval to contemporary periods. Since the field of cultural and intellectual history is particularly underrepresented in graduate programs in Turkish universities, the History Department at Bilgi offers a unique program both in terms of diverse and challenging coursework as well as research opportunities in the above field. With an emphasis on interaction with the teaching staff, the program encourages students to work in close collaboration with their advisors in both the classroom as well as on individual research projects.

Up to ten students will be accepted into the Master's program per year. Limited funding is available.


Contact Information

For further information please contact the director of the master's program, Associate Professor Dr. Christoph K. Neuman
neumann at bilgi.edu.tr
(##90-212) 311 6469

Timetable for Application and Registration
1 September 2006:                          preregistration deadline
4 September 2006:                          written exam
12 September 2006:                        interview
13-18 September 2006:                   university registration
19-23 September 2006:                   course registration

Application Requirements
* Graduation from an accredited university
* Transcript of university-level coursework
* Three reference letters, two of which must be written by members of one's department
* Academic Curriculam Vitae (cv)
* LES minimum score of 45 or GRE minimum score of 610
* English proficiency exam:  either TOEFL (min. 233/575 [TWE 4.5]); IELTS (min. 7); ÜDS (min. 85) or Istanbul Bilgi University Certificate of Proficiency in English
Note: For those students who know a language other than Turkish well but have only an intermediate command of English, deferment of admission for a year will be permissible contingent upon taking steps to acquire the necessary level of English during that year.
* Written exam
* Interview conducted by the teaching staff of the History Department

Coursework Schedule


1. term: HIST 501, HIST 511(required), HIST 521 or CULT 502 or CULT 511 (departmental elective), 1 general elective course
2. term: HIST 502, HIST 512 (required), HIST 532 or CULT 512 or CULT 519 (departmental elective), 1 general elective course
3. and 4. terms: thesis (required).

Required History Courses:
HIST 501        Sources of Turkish Cultural and Intellectual History 1
HIST 502        Sources of Turkish Cultural and Intellectual History 2
HIST 511        Ottoman Material Culture
HIST 512        Political Thought from the Ottoman to Republican Periods

Elective History Courses:
HIST 521        Culture and Social Class
HIST 532        The Practice of the Writing of History

Master's students may choose from a variety of elective courses upon departmental approval from the following Bilgi University graduate studies programs: Cultural Studies, International Relations, Architecture, and Comparative Literature. Students may also opt to take electives courses from the History Department on the undergraduate level when appropriate.

Content of History Courses
HIST 501 - Sources of Turkish Cultural and Intellectual History 1 This course introduces the student to the study of narrative sources ranging from pre-modern chronicles to newspapers through the application of various theoretical approaches including Structuralism, British Marxism, New Cultural History and Deconstructionism. The implications of print and publishing techniques in the production of sources will likewise be examined.

HIST 502 - Sources of Turkish Cultural and Intellectual History 2 This course focuses specifically on archival and visual sources using quantitative and statistical methods. The relation between sources and Ottoman and Turkish administrative and social structures, the contextualization of visual sources and documents, research methods as well as strategies of interpretation are among the topics to be explored.

HIST 511 - Ottoman Material Culture
Often assumed static and unchanging as implied by the notion of "traditional," Ottoman material culture is examined in this course by tracing material change within the framework of everyday life and social structure.

HIST 512 -Political Thought from the Ottoman to Republican Periods Emphasizing the relationship between thought and social development, this course entails the study of original texts dealing with Ottoman-Turkish political thought with the intention of problematizing the notion that Turkish political thought is based on a continuous tradition of state-centredness and primacy of rulership as formulated in the sixteenth century. The role intellectual developments played in the forefront of social struggle as well as their transformation through time and changing conditions will be the focus of this course.

HIST 521 -Culture and Social Class
This course critiques the notion of culture as it was first conceptualized as a manifestation of "the spirit of a nation" as seen in Romantic nationalistic historiography or as a phenomenon secondary to the economic superstructure as presented in conventional Marxism. It likewise traces how culture has been redefined following the linguistic turn as a primary historical phenomenon especially in cultural history. Approaches towards culture as employed in historical works produced in Turkey, as well as possibilities for future practice, will be examined in light of examples offered by world-renowned historians such as E.P. Thompson, Peter Burke, Michel Foucault, Alain Corbin, Raffaella Sarti, Simon Schama and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber.

HIST 532 -The Practice of Writing History
This course is an introduction into the ways in which history is practiced and produced. Students will be introduced to a variety of strategies for delineating research topics and identifying sources, for evaluating data and evidence, as well as understanding narrative conventions and style used in the compostion of historical works. In an attempt to combine theory with practice, close critical readings of important texts will be accompanied by discussion of theoretical debates, questions regarding narrative technique and practice as well as language use.

TEACHING STAFF
Prof. Dr. Mete Tunçay
Prof. Dr. Murat Belge
Prof. Dr. Jale Parla
Doç. Dr. Christoph Neumann
Doç. Dr. Levent Yilmaz
Yrd. Doç. Dr. Bülent Bilmez
Doç. Dr. Ferda Keskin



Christoph K. Neumann
Director, MA programme in History

Istanbul Bilgi University
Faculty of Science and Letters
Department of History

neumann at bilgi.edu.tr

phone ##90-212-3116469  (office), 3270531 (home)
fax ##90-212-2168477 (faculty), 3270531 (home)


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