Long-Term Advanced Research Fellowships at the American Research Institute in Turkey Overseas Research Centers

FAIN: RA-278159-21

American Research Institute in Turkey, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324)
C. Brian Rose (Project Director: August 2020 to May 2021)
C. Brian Rose (Project Director: May 2021 to present)

12 months of stipend support (2 - 3 fellowships) per year for one year and a contribution to defray costs associated with the selection of fellows.

The ARIT NEH fellowship program aims to support scholars who conduct long-term interdisciplinary research in the humanities in Turkey. Their fields of study include art, archaeology, literature, linguistics, musicology, religion, and all aspects of cultural, social, and political history. ARIT long term fellows interact with Turkish, U.S, and other scholars at the ARIT research centers in Istanbul and Ankara, where their intellectual exchange promotes a broad-based understanding of the ancient and modern Middle East. This scholarly interaction has enabled former ARIT-NEH fellows to produce groundbreaking publications that have been shared with the public through their teaching and community outreach programs. ARIT center directors in Istanbul and Ankara facilitate access to research resources and colleagues in the country. For its NEH FPIRI program, ARIT requests 12 months total fellowship funding per year. Research tenures may cover 4 to 12 months, supporting 1 to 3 fellows annually.

Media Coverage

To examine the US in the world, Perin Gürel puts diplomatic policy documents in conversation with cultural products (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jon Hendricks
Publication: Notre Dame University, College of Arts and Letters, News
Date: 9/13/2023
Abstract: Perin Gürel examines the United States’ perception of the world and, in return, the world’s perception of the United States, with a particular focus on U.S.-Middle East relations after World War I. To do so, the associate professor of American studies puts diplomatic policy documents in conversation with cultural products. In Gürel’s in-progress book, America's Wife, America's Concubine: Turkey, Iran, and the Politics of Comparison, she analyzes comparisons of Turkey and Iran by U.S. scholars and policymakers, as well as Turkish and Iranian leaders, from the Cold War to the War on Terror.
URL: https://al.nd.edu/news/latest-news/to-examine-the-us-in-the-world-perin-gurel-places-diplomatic-policy-documents-in-conversation-with-cultural-products/

Associated Products

Anatolian Rock,’ 60s Politics, and Youth Counterculture (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Anatolian Rock,’ 60s Politics, and Youth Counterculture
Abstract: Dr. Sharpe offers a cultural history of Anatolian Rock, a genre of popular music combining Turkish folk music with European and North American rock ’n’ roll. In the 1960s and 1970s, musicians like Cem Karaca and Selda Bağcan brought together traditional lyrics and melodies from the Anatolian countryside with modern instruments like electric guitars, bass, drum kit, and synthesizers. The presentation situates the music within the history of 1960s social movements in Turkey and the global youth countercultures of the period. It discusses the historical and social dynamics linking Anatolia to the cities and peasants to students, the influence of rural musical traditions on youth culture, the influence of the official ideology of peasantism in the creation of Anatolian Rock, and cold war-era dynamics of American cultural influence.
Author: Kenan Behzat Sharpe
Date: 11/29/2022
Location: Department of Political Science, Bilkent University, Ankara
Primary URL: https://pols.bilkent.edu.tr/index.php/pols-talks
Primary URL Description: event announcement

Anatolian Rock and 1960s Social Movements in Turkey: Between the Countryside and the World (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Anatolian Rock and 1960s Social Movements in Turkey: Between the Countryside and the World
Abstract: Dr. Sharpe offers a cultural history of Anatolian Rock, a genre of popular music combining Turkish folk music with European and North American rock ’n’ roll. In the 1960s and 1970s, musicians like Cem Karaca and Selda Bağcan brought together traditional lyrics and melodies from the Anatolian countryside with modern instruments like electric guitars, bass, drum kit, and synthesizers. The presentation situates the music within the history of 1960s social movements in Turkey and the global youth countercultures of the period. It discusses the historical and social dynamics linking Anatolia to the cities and peasants to students, the influence of rural musical traditions on youth culture, the influence of the official ideology of peasantism in the creation of Anatolian Rock, and cold war-era dynamics of American cultural influence. The talk discusses the historical roots, musical underpinnings, and political implications of Anadolu Rock, as well as the reasons for its ongoing appeal.
Author: Kenan Behzat Sharpe
Date: 12/12/2022
Location: ARIT Istanbul, online and in person
Primary URL: https://aritweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Sharpe-Anadolu-Rock.pdf
Primary URL Description: event announcement
Secondary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlQ7qRj13KM
Secondary URL Description: link to YouTube video, article, and playlist

Politics of Beauty: Modernization, Comparativism, and the Empress of Iran (Article)
Title: Politics of Beauty: Modernization, Comparativism, and the Empress of Iran
Author: Perin Gurel
Abstract: Using official and popular print sources in Persian, Turkish, German, and English, this essay examines how Iran’s last Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi came to represent both positive and negative aspects of Iranian modernization in the 1960s and 1970s. The Empress and Iran were judged through comparative methods according to standards dominated by the United States but contested the world over. The essay pays special attention to Turkish representations of Iran and the Empress, noting where they build upon, converge with, and diverge from U.S.-based and European narratives.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhac086
Primary URL Description: journal article access
Secondary URL: https://www.academia.edu/99807755/Politics_of_Beauty_Modernization_Comparativism_and_the_Empress_of_Iran
Secondary URL Description: Perin Gurel's citation of article
Access Model: online, paywall
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Diplomatic History
Publisher: Oxford Academic

Turkish Psychedelic Rock and the World 1960s (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Turkish Psychedelic Rock and the World 1960s
Abstract: In recent years, psychedelic rock music from Turkey has enjoyed a surprising revival around the world. Celebrities like Elijah Wood have declared themselves fans of this music while musicians like St. Vincent claim it as an influence and rappers such as Mos Def sample tracks from Turkish bands from the 1970s. Revivalists adapting the sound to the present day like the Dutch band Altın Gün have even been nominated for international awards like the GRAMMYs. Known in Turkey as “Anadolu Rock,” this genre of popular music combined Anatolian folk music with Euroamerican rock ’n’ roll. It began in the 1960s when musicians like Cem Karaca and Selda Bağcan brought together traditional lyrics and melodies from the countryside with instruments like electric guitars, drum kit, and synthesizers. This talk discusses the historical roots, musical underpinnings, and political implications of Anadolu Rock, as well as the reasons for its ongoing appeal today.
Author: Kenan Behzat Sharpe
Date: 02/28/2024
Location: Northwestern University, Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, Keyman Turkish Studies Program
Primary URL: https://keyman.buffett.northwestern.edu/events/event-schedule/turkish-psychedelic-rock-and-the-world-1960s.html
Primary URL Description: Event announcement
Secondary URL: https://planitpurple.northwestern.edu/event/609709
Secondary URL Description: Event schedule

Protest and Rock ‘n’ Roll in Turkey (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Protest and Rock ‘n’ Roll in Turkey
Abstract: This talk discusses a tradition of protest music in Turkey from the 1960s and 1970s. This was a period of widespread student protests, workers’ struggles, and peasant organizing. Amidst this turbulence, musicians like Fikret Kızılok, Selda Bağcan, and Cem Karaca combined the countercultural sounds coming from global psychedelic rock with lyrics commenting on political events in their country. Though the initial popularity of rock ‘n’ roll in Turkey was a product of American soft power and cultural influence, by the end of the 1970s Turkish rockers had turned this genre against itself, using guitars and synthesizers to protest what they saw as cultural imperialism. Looking at three key songs of the psychedelic protest rock genre, this talk explores the relationship between popular music and social movements, global circuits of cultural exchange, and Turkey’s place in the worldwide counterculture of the long 1960s.
Author: Kenan Behzat Sharpe
Date: 05/01/2024
Location: Northwestern University, Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, Keyman Turkish Studies Program
Primary URL: https://planitpurple.northwestern.edu/event/615318
Primary URL Description: Event announcement

The Shaky Ground of Turkish Psychedelic Rock w/ Dr. Kenan Behzat Sharpe (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: The Shaky Ground of Turkish Psychedelic Rock w/ Dr. Kenan Behzat Sharpe
Author: Kenan Behzat Sharpe
Abstract: Dr. Sharpe is currently writing his first book manuscript: Rockers and Radicals in Anatolia: Turkish Psychedelic Rock and the World 1960s. The project discusses an experimental genre of popular music that combined melodies, instruments, and lyrics from the Turkish countryside with world trends of surf, psychedelic, and progressive rock. It treats Anadolu Rock as a window into the politically turbulent and culturally rich period of the long Turkish 1960s, analyzing music’s central role in Turkish opposition movements and the influence of rural and minority musical traditions on urban youth culture.
Date Range: 2/8/2024
Location: University of Chicago, Middle East History and Theory Workshop
Primary URL: https://nelc.uchicago.edu/turkish-circle-shaky-ground-turkish-psychedelic-rock
Primary URL Description: Workshop announcement

Roman Medicine in Rhodiapolis: An Imperial-era Medical School (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Roman Medicine in Rhodiapolis: An Imperial-era Medical School
Author: Sarah Yeomans
Abstract: Dr. Yeomans discussed the evidence for physicians, their practices, and the evidence of a Roman medical school at Rhodiapolis / Antalya in Turkey.
Date: 01/06/2022
Primary URL: https://www.archaeological.org/programs/professionals/annual-meeting/past-programs/
Primary URL Description: The Archaeological Institute of America does not provide access to the program or event abstracts
Conference Name: Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting 2022

'Luke the ‘Beloved Physician': Doctors and Medicine in Asia Minor (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: 'Luke the ‘Beloved Physician': Doctors and Medicine in Asia Minor
Abstract: This presentation will discuss the evidence for physicians and their practices from Graeco-Roman sites such as nearby Rhodiapolis.
Author: Sarah Yeomans
Date: 02/24/2022
Location: Saint Paul’s Cultural Center, Antalya Turkey
Primary URL: https://www.facebook.com/spucantalya/posts/pfbid02qm86vLowLwtqajTPTTMKKCrgnJhUzm3Ly6An8HqsmuK9ZYhC8WCMbAG4oPuMtm7ul
Primary URL Description: Event announcement

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