Columbia Global Centers Istanbul invites you to “Bridging Academia and Activism through Gender Studies" with Assoc. Prof. Ayşe Gül Altınay, Director of the Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence and Jean Howard, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University. This event is co-sponsored by The Sakıp Sabancı Center for Turkish Studies and The Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality; and Women Creating Change at The Center for the Study of Social Difference.
About the Talk
“Even in the darkest of times we have the right to expect some illumination, and that such illumination may come less from theories and concepts than from the uncertain, flickering, and often weak light that some men and women, in their lives and works, will kindle under almost all circumstances and shed over the time span that was given them on earth.” (Hannah Arendt)
In conversation with Hannah Arendt’s discussion of the “dark times,” this talk will present a critical reflection of the possibilities and challenges of doing feminism and gender studies in Turkey today. “The time span given us on earth” is shaped by deeply destructive forces, the consequences of which range from climate change to wars, from poverty and precarious living to racist and (hetero)sexist violence. Yet, it is also a time span in which we are witnessing major transformations, especially in relation to conventions on gender and sexuality. Contemporary Turkey marks a place where both the most destructive forces and the most transformative ones find strong expression. The talk will reflect on the challenges and possibilities of doing feminism and gender studies in Turkey today, with specific examples from the experiences of Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center, and ask some further questions: Where do we see the “illumination”? Why is it important, theoretically and politically, to “see” the illumination and expand on it? What are the possibilities offered by gender studies today to bridge academia and activism, and to enable a space of co-creation, co-resistance, solidarity and transformation?