The Bilkent History Graduate Symposium took place May 9–10, hosted by the Department of History and the Bilkent Historical Society. The two-day symposium brought together 37 graduate students from across Turkey.
The symposium opened with a welcoming speech by Department Chair Mehmet Kalpaklı and a keynote talk by Jorge Lopèz Quiroga (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid) entitled, “Getting to know better the people of the Middle Ages: New perspectives from Bioarchaeology, Archaeogenetics and Archaeothanatology.” Over 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 from the thirteenth to the twentieth century. On the second day, scholars discussed the role of cross-cultural encounters over politics and representation. Sessions were moderated by Bahar Gürsel of METU, Selim Tezcan of Ankara University, Natalia Figueiras Pimentel of Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 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 and further develop their own ideas.
