The last couple of decades have witnessed significant political and social changes that left scholars and policymakers in bewilderment. The rise of far-right politics and the increasing salience of polarizing political discourses as global phenomena have wiped away the optimistic prospects of the 1990s and early 2000s for widespread democratization. Simultaneously, there has been an upsurge in the movement of people across boundaries. According to the recent figures by the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), the growing number of migrants has now outpaced the growth rate of the world's population. Refugees and asylum seekers constitute approximately a quarter of global increases due to fast-growing rates of forced displacements.

These two processes – democratic de-consolidation and increasing migration – are indeed not isolated from one another. Far from that, migration has, for instance, become a keyword for far-right political actors to mobilize and polarize constituencies within and across boundaries. Against this background, this Lecture Series organized by Einstein Fellows Research Group explores these two processes, primarily, but not only, using Turkey. Through an inter- and multi-disciplinary approach, lectures by the Fellows invite students and scholars to think together about questions of i) regime change and authoritarianism, ii) diaspora politics and new migration(s), and last, but not least, iii) resistance and insurgency.

Besides Einstein Fellows, three renowned scholars - Christian Volk, Arjun Appadurai, and Philip Gorski - will also give lectures with empirical foci on cases beyond Turkey. These lectures are aimed to put the discussion on Turkey in a broader context and to pose questions about similarities and differences across cases. Through this comparative focus, the series aims to put in conversation theory and praxis. We invite all the interested students and scholars to contemplate together about these pressing issues of our times.


The lecture series will be conducted in English.

+++++Please register at einstein@hu-berlin.de +++++

PROGRAMME:

16.10. Christian Volk
What is Transformative Protest?

23.10. Ertuğ Tombuş
Populist Trajectory: From Representation to Incarnation

30.10. Zeynep Kıvılcım
Is Rule of Law Incompatible with Authoritarianism?

06.11. Ayşegül Kars Kaynar
The Last Decade of Civil-Military Relations in Turkey under the Shadow of Courts

13.11. Arjun Appadurai*
The Rise of the Post-democratic State:
The Perspective from India
@ Blickwechsel Final Conference

20.11. Sinem Adar
Rethinking Political Attitudes of Migrants from Turkey: Neither "Loyalty" nor "Democratic Culture"

27.11. Gülçin Balamir-Coşkun
Freedom of the Media in Turkey: Some Thoughts on Censorship and Self-Censorship

04.12. Tuba İnal-Çekiç
Neo-liberalization of Space through Authoritarian Urban Policy

11.12. Nil Mutluer
Friends and Foes: The Encounters of the Opposition from Turkey in German Diaspora

18.12. Özlem Savaş
New Migration from Turkey: Affective Mobilities, Affinities and Politics

08.01. Latife Akyüz
Gendered Border Politics

15.01. Serhat Karakayalı
Migration, Crisis and Solidarity: Challenging Territorial Enclosures through Civil Society Activisms

22.01. Begüm Başdaş
Queer Resistance and Spaces of Hope: Politics of Gender, Sexuality and beyond in Turkey

29.01. Zafer Yilmaz
Challenging Turkey's Regime Transformation Moments of Insurgent Citizenship from Gezi Uprising to June 24 Local Election

05.02. Özgür Çiçek
Filmmaking on the Move: Changing Narratives, Aesthetics, and Mediums in Turkey

12.02. Philip Gorski
tba



The Einstein Fellows Research Group at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, funded by the programme "Wissenschaftsfreiheit" by Einstein Foundation Berlin, includes eight scholars from Turkey with a background on critical thinking in academia. The research areas of the group are twofold: Rising Authoritarianism in Turkey and Forced Migration and Diasporas.

The scholars are affiliated with the Berlin Institute for Empirical Research on Migration and Integration (BIM) and the Institute of Social Sciences (ISW) and the Integrative Research Institute for Law and Society (IRI).