Prof. Carter Findley Gives Bilkent Seminar on "Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity"
BY CÜNEYT YILMAZ (ECON/IV)
As a part of the Bilkent University Seminar Series on Policy, Society and the World, a seminar talk featuring Prof. Carter V. Findley of The Ohio State University was held last week on October 13. The title of the talk was "Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity," which is also the title of Prof. Findley's book, published by Yale University Press in 2010.
Prof. Findley started off by describing the three pillars of his book, Islam, nationalism and modernity, and proceeded to outline the relevant conundrums Turkey had to face in its earlier years "as time passed and [the country] progressed toward a modern future." He went on to discuss the more recent period, providing examples from the last decade and naming important figures who were influential in forming an understanding of Islam, nationalism and modernity during the last decade.
Throughout his talk, Prof. Findley also pointed out the differences that distinguished Turkish society from other societies. "Of all the people of World War I, only the Turks forced a renegotiation of the peace terms," stated Prof. Findley.
After Prof. Findley concluded his speech, he took questions from the audience. This led to perhaps the most humorous moment of the seminar, when someone from the audience brought up the inevitable question: "What do you think after all this research? Are we European or are we Asian?" Prof. Findley replied, "I don't know. Which one would you like?"
Carter V. Findley, who received his BA and PhD from Yale University and Harvard University respectively, is a Humanities Distinguished Professor in the History Department of The Ohio State University and currently teaches courses on the history of Islamic civilization. In addition to "Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity," Prof. Findley is the author of several other books about Turkey, including "The Turks in World History," which brought him the 2006 Al Mubarak Book Prize awarded by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies.