Promoting dialogue and scholarship to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of contemporary Turkey.
Each year, the Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program at Northwestern University’s Buffett Institute for Global Affairs brings together scholars from around the world to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing Turkey from a global perspective. This year’s conference with the theme “Freedom and Unfreedom in James Baldwin’s Istanbul,” will take place May 30- June 1, 2025, in Istanbul, co-hosted by Sabancı University.
We welcome research exploring transnational, national, and local dimensions, with a particular focus on state policies, municipal interventions, and oppositional initiatives. We especially encourage comparative scholars who examine Turkey alongside other cases where culture plays a central role in state-led autocratization, conservative pushbacks, ‘anti-woke’ discourses, and far-right politics—particularly those analyzing sites of resistance and opposition.
An important component of the Keyman Program is our events. Below you will find a curated selection of our upcoming and recent events.
Understanding contemporary Turkey in connection with global social processes, problems and conflicts.
Explore news stories, media mentions, and announcements covering events, awards, and accomplishments at Keyman.
Congratulations to MENA Languages professor and Keyman Faculty Board Member Dr. Oya Topçuoğlu for being one of the authors of the article “Language Learning Through Three Iconic Cities” included in the book Sharing Less Commonly Taught Languages in Higher Education.
View a recording from our most recent event.
Listen to the Keyman Modern Turkish Studies Program's most recent recording, How to Make a Wetland: Water and Moral Ecology in Turkey with Caterina Scaramelli and Keyman Modern Turkish Studies 2022- 2024 Postdoctoral Fellow Ekin Kurtiç.
The Turkish studies and language community at Northwestern is interdisciplinary, extending from the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs to the Block Museum of Art.
Learn about the many ways to engage with the the larger Turkish studies & language community at Northwestern.