[Bilimsel Haber] Third Istanbul Workshop on New Directions in Middle Eastern History, 28-31 May 2007, Istanbul

[Onur Inal]

Announcement of the Third Istanbul Workshop on New Directions in Middle
Eastern History

Absent Spheres, Silent Voices: Recovering Untold Histories Workshop
Schedule, 28-31 May 2007, Minerva Han (Sabanci University, Karakoy)
Istanbul

Like all history writing, Middle East history has consciously and
unconsciously ignored particular peoples, institutions, places, events,
and sources. Additionally, it has glossed over specific discourses,
narratives, and practices. While scholarly investigation generally
concentrates on topics previously unexplored, that after all, is the
point of research, projects are often offshoots of well-rehearsed
subjects or attempts to apply existing methodologies to new materials.
Leaps into the great unknown are rarer, the motivations for them less
obvious. It should be emphasized that this framework is not an attempt
to reproduce the shifts in historical research of the late twentieth
century to find silences and absences within the lower strata of
societies and cultures. Without underestimating the importance of
recovering subaltern voices, popular themes, and the histories of
dissenters and the oppressed, absences and silences can also be found in
other strata and other places in society, culture, and politics. Thus,
the intention of this workshop is to recover voices and stories at all
levels of culture and society. Papers cover topics ranging
geographically across the Middle East, chronologically from the late
nineteenth century, and topically to include intellectual, social,
political, military, gender, memory, literature, and health.

Organizers: Y. Hakan Erdem (Sabanci University), Israel Gershoni (Tel
Aviv University), Christoph K. Neumann (Istanbul Bilgi University), Amy
Singer (Tel Aviv University), S. Aksin Somel (Sabanci University)

For details about the papers and the schedule, please contact: 

Y. Hakan Erdem <erdemy at sabanciuniv.edu> 
S. Aksin Somel <somel at sabanciuniv.edu> 
Christoph K. Neumann <neumann at bilgi.edu.tr>

Amy Singer