Takhayyul Podcast Series & YouTube Channel
Take a seat and join us for a deep dive into some of the most pressing issues across the Balkans, Middle East, and South Asia as part of our podcast and live-stream series.
From the lived experiences of disaster in the wake of the recent earthquakes across Syria and Turkiye, to the imaginary forces fueling the rise of populist religious movements, listen as the Takhayyul team host some of the field’s leading scholars to discuss, dissect and debate these critical issues across the Balkans-to-Bengal Complex.
“Imagining Turkey” Podcast Series
Imagination, as an analytical angle, deserves our attention as a political and social force that informs and connects masses, crosses borders, and manifests new socialities.
This podcast series will host influential scholars, intellectuals, and artists who study and shape the imagination of Turkey on a global scale from various critical directions.
The first episode of our new podcast series, Imagining Turkey, is now available on Spotify and SoundCloud through UCL Minds.
Latest Episode
-
Join us in our inaugural episode as we delve into the rich tapestry of Turkey's history, its current dynamics, and the prospects for its future with the esteemed Professor Cemil Aydin from the University of North Carolina. Prof. Aydin takes us on a captivating journey through Turkey's past, offering insights into the diverse cultural, intellectual, and historical dimensions that have shaped the nation. Tune in as we uncover the layers of Turkey's past, assess its present, and contemplate the potential trajectories that may shape its future.
-
In this first episode, we are having Prof. Cemil Aydin from UNC. Join us in our inaugural episode as we delve into the rich tapestry of Turkey's history, its current dynamics, and the prospects for its future with the esteemed Professor Cemil Aydin from the University of North Carolina. In this engaging conversation, we center our discussion around Prof. Aydin's illuminating book, "The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History." "The Idea of the Muslim World" serves as a guiding thread throughout our conversation, unraveling the intricate intellectual history that has influenced Turkey's perceptions and interactions with the broader Muslim world. Prof. Aydin takes us on a captivating journey through Turkey's past, offering insights into the diverse cultural, intellectual, and historical dimensions that have shaped the nation. this episode promises a thought-provoking exploration guided by one of the foremost scholars in the field. Tune in as we uncover the layers of Turkey's past, assess its present, and contemplate the potential trajectories that may shape its future.
-
In this episode, we are hosting Professor Maria Todorova from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to revisit her illuminating book 'Imagining The Balkans.' Professor Todorova specializes in Eastern Europe, particularly the Balkans in the modern period, focusing on historical demography, nationalism, socialism, and post-communism. Her work has had a major influence on the study of the Balkans and Orientalism as interconnected subjects and project.
-
Thinking differently about the World: Before the West with Prof. Ayse Zarakol In this episode, we host Prof Ayse Zarakol from University of Cambridge and talk about her fascinating book "Before The West".
-
In this episode, we host Dr. Özge Samanci from Northwestern University - School of Communication. We talk about her latest work "Evil Eyes Sea", as well as how she started her career and what her future projects are.
-
In this episode, we host Dr Elise Burton, an historian of science, race and nationalism in the modern Middle East and an Assistant Professor at the Institute of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto. As part of a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss some of Dr Burton's findings from her recent book, “Genetic Crossroads: The Middle East and the Science of Human Heredity”, within which she draws on archival research across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States using sources in Turkish, Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew, to explore how Middle Eastern peoples—both as scientific actors and research subjects—have played an important role in the history of human genetics.
-
In this episode, we are hosting Professor Ioanna Sitaridou , Professor of Spanish and Historical Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and co director of the Cambridge Centre for Greek Studies. Professor Sitaridou is widely known for her pioneering work in the study and preservation of languages, including her ongoing with the Romeyka Project, which aims to document and spread awareness of the now-endangered Greek dialect, spoken in Northern Anatolia.
-
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Soundcloud
In this episode, we welcome acclaimed writer, psychologist, and intellectual Gündüz Vassaf, whose work spans 17 published books blending literature, philosophy, and psychology. Author of the bestselling "Prisoners of Ourselves: Totalitarianism in Everyday Life" and his more recent novel "The Painter's Rebellion," Vassaf explores with us what it means to imagine Turkey, to be ‘Turkish’ and to be part of a community in the context of some of the world’s greatest challenges, such as global warming, Artificial Intelligence and an increasingly polarised political landscape.
“Takhayyul Nativeness and Emergent Issues” Podcast Series
The need for this podcast series emerged due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the members of the Takhayyul Project Team are mostly native scholars who have expertise in the very geographies they have grown up in.
The project is carried out in 11 different countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia, often referred to as the Global South. That being said, those very contexts are more vulnerable to global changes and crises, as we have seen in the flood catastrophe in Pakistan, a result of global warming.
Thus, the members of this team have suggested creating a platform where we can address the emergent issues as they happen, with other scholars, intellectuals, and activists.
The rest of the Takhayyul Nativeness and Emergent Issues Podcast Series is available on Spotify and SoundCloud via UCL Minds.
Latest Episode
-
Our first episode is led by Dr Fatemeh Sadeghi, a research fellow of the UCL's and Institute for Global Prosperity's ERC Project Takhayyul. Fatemah is a political scientist who is an expert on Iran.
This episode discussed how the uprisings in Iran were received in different parts of the world, specifically in China, Pakistan, India, Bahrain, Turkey, and the UK. The guests were Dr Sumrin Kalia from Takhayyul, Dr Yuan He (IGP), Dr Alaa Shehabi, a UCL scholar and a former member of the IGP, Rumeysa Camdereli, a Muslim feminist intellectual and activist, and an anonymous scholar (pseudonym HS) and activist from India. The episode was chaired by the Primary Investigator of Takhayyul, Dr Sertaç Sehlikoglu (Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Global Prosperity, IGP) with technical support by Hazal Aydin, the research assistant of the project from Koc University, Turkey; and Meryem Zisan Koker, the assistant to Dr Sehlikoglu.
-
Climate change is leading to environmental crises and human calamity. In September this year, Pakistan was hit with extreme flooding due to rapidly melting glaciers. With 95,000 square meters of land submerged under water, and 33 million directly affected, the country is literally, and not only metaphorically ‘in deep waters’. The rescue and rehabilitation work post-floods is a mammoth task. In this podcast bring together grass roots civil society activists from the areas, most affected by the floods, to tell us about the impact of the floods and the challenges on the ground. Please join in to understand the impact of climate change related crisis and how they affect people’s lives.
-
On this episode, we are hosting three figures, Nazan Üstündağ; Özlem Göner and Sardar Saadi, about four Kurdish regions and the rising violence in them. Please join us to understand the current issues in the regions.
-
We discuss the aftermath of the Turkey/Syria Earthquakes and the politics of global precarities in catastrophes with Dr. Aslı Zengin, Dr. Omar Al-Gazzi and Dr. Sumrin Kalia. We talk about what has been done, and what should be done in response to catastrophic events such as the earthquakes that occurred in Turkey and Syria on February 6th, 2023.
To support the earthquake relief efforts in Turkey, you can follow @afeticinfeminst / @afeticinfeministdayanisma and you can direct your inquiries to the provided email address: afeticinfeministler@gmail.com to learn about specific forms of support you can provide. They are a grassroots feminist organization coordinating relief efforts.
Livestreams and More on the Takhayyul YouTube Channel
Join the Takhayyul Project and our guest speakers for livestreams and lively conversation over on our official YouTube channel.
We cover content from across our regular podcast series, as well as new and original content on a range of issues from across the Balkans-to-Bengal region.