Istanbul: Crossroads of Civilizations, Past and Present
HUM/HST/MES 300
Dr. Alex Medina (SU Madrid), Lead Faculty
Dr. Erika Wilkens-Sözen (SU Istanbul)
Led by Dr. Alex Medina, your program will begin by introducing you to one of the world’s most fascinating and beautiful cities, in its historical grandeur as the capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, as the cultural heart of the new Republic, and in its contemporary dynamism as one of the world’s most fascinating megacities.
During the seminar, you will intellectually and physically traverse the city’s nearly three-thousand-year, multi-layered and multi-ethnic history through lectures and visits to key archeological sites, historical monuments, palaces, and places of worship, as well as lesser-known architectural, artistic, and cultural treasures often hidden in the back streets. The seminar also includes classes in Survival Turkish with opportunities during the seminar to start practicing basic greeting and transactions in Turkish.
Your journey will take you outside of Istanbul, tracing its early Greek and Roman roots through the ancient sites of Ephesus or Cappadocia, while simultaneously providing opportunities to meet with locals and explore regionally diverse cultural practices.
Throughout the semester, emphasis will be given to the complex interplay between history and modern life, including a look at the changing circumstances and status of Turkey’s religious majority (Sunni Muslim) and her religious and ethnic minorities, including the Jewish, Christian, Alevi, and Kurdish.
The course also provides a pragmatic overview of Istanbul itself and the various ways to navigate and discover its many distinct neighborhoods (by subway, bus, taxi, and boat), as well as opportunities to better understand the complex blend of history and modernity in this vibrant metropolis and its citizens.