Two KHAS Projects Supported by TÜBİTAK 3501 National Young Researchers Career Development Program

We’re pleased to announce two projects coordinated by Dr. Müge Özbek and Asst. Prof. Doğu Durgun from the Department of Core Academics has been funded by TÜBİTAK 3501 Program.

Dr. Özbek’s project titled “‘Everday Mobility’ in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Istanbul” aims to make three main contributions to the field of Ottoman studies by focusing on everyday mobility in late Ottoman Istanbul: (1) To increase and diversify empirical knowledge of everyday mobility in late Ottoman Istanbul; (2) To draw attention to the social importance of the movement by examining and analyzing the narratives and discourses scanned during the research with the predictions and approaches of the “mobility paradigm” and to understand the physical, infrastructural and social transformations that Istanbul went through in the 19th century, the tensions and opportunities of these transformations with a new perspective, and evaluate; (3) Contributing to the conceptualization of mobility as a historical analytical category in Late Ottoman studies and the development of relations between Ottoman studies and European and world historiography in the context of mobility studies.

Dr. Durgun’s project titled “The Role of Social Interaction in the Desecuritization of Syrians in Turkey” aims to reveal how local people and Syrians in Turkey perceive security, what forms of desecuritization they perform, and what consequences these perpetrations have. For this, it will be investigated to what extent the objective, constructivist, and deconstructive strategies put forward by the theories shape the discourse and practices of the actors. In the interviews, case examples of positive and negative situations in which local people and Syrians interact in daily spaces and scales will be presented, and participants’ perceptions and thoughts on the actors, behaviors, expectations, events, and results in these examples will be determined. The project aims to reveal the links between the social and political spheres.  

We congratulate our faculty members and wish them success.