Oya Topçuoğlu
Dr. Topçuoğlu teaches on a range of subjects, including modern Turkish language and culture, and the history and archaeology of the Middle East. Her first-year seminar, We Are What We Eat: Turkish Food Culture and Cuisine, explores Turkish identity, politics, and history through the lens of food from the Middle Ages to today. Taking advantage of the unique resources of the university and of the city of Chicago, the seminar introduces students to global issues such as identity, immigration, international relations, and religion. In 2019-2020, Dr.Topçuoğlu was selected to the Associated Student Government Faculty & Administrator Honor Roll for her Freshmen Seminar. Dr. Topçuoğlu also teaches an upper-level undergraduate seminar on the relationship of archaeology and politics in the modern Middle East, touching upon issues of nation-building, nationalism, identity-formation, colonialism, and education.
Dr. Topçuoğlu is an archaeologist by training, who specializes in the art, archaeology, and history of ancient Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Her research addresses issues of social identity and cultural exchange, and the effects of political change and ideology on the material record of the ancient Middle East. In addition to her work on iconography and symbolism, Oya studies the looting and illegal trafficking of antiquities from Iraq and Syria, the political uses of the ancient past, and its role in the formation of national identities in the modern Middle East. She is particularly interested in the history of archaeology and museums, and cultural heritage preservation in her native Turkey.