Bilkent History Graduate Symposium was hosted on May 4–5 by the Department of History. The two-day symposium brought together 28 graduate students from Turkey, the UK, the US and Austria.
The symposium opened with a welcoming speech by Department Chair Mehmet Kalpaklı and a keynote talk by Christoph K. Neumann (Director of Orient Institute-İstanbul) entitled “Turning a Language into a Provincial and Dead Tongue: Arabic in the Non-Arabophone Regions of the Ottoman Empire During the Long Nineteenth Century.” Over the two days, young historians presented their works on cross-cultural history, political change and social history. On the first day of the symposium, young scholars showcased political and social changes in the Ottoman Empire and Europe over the period between the 15th and the 19th centuries. On the second day, scholars discussed the role of cross-cultural encounters over politics and representation. Sessions were moderated by Ebru Boyar of METU, Özden Mercan of Hacettepe University and a number of Bilkent instructors.
The symposium provided an opportunity for young scholars to exchange ideas with each other to further develop their ideas.
