Micallef Delivers 2018 Campagna-Kerven Lecture on Modern Turkey
Roberta Micallef, Associate Professor of the Practice in Middle Eastern Literatures and Head of Turkish Language Program at Boston University, delivered the 23rd annual Campagna-Kerven Lecture on Modern Turkey on April 10, 2018. The lecture was hosted by the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.
Micallef, whose area of expertise is 19th and 20th century Ottoman and Turkish literature, delivered a lecture entitled “Representing Herself: Turkish Women’s Narratives and Autobiographies.”
Boston University Professor of Anthropology Thomas Barfield introduced Micallef, and commended her extensive research on Turkish women’s first person narratives from the early days of the Republic of Turkey to the present.
Micallef’s presentation focused on what allowed Turkish women to first start publishing their own narratives, what they said once they did start publishing, how their narratives have changed over time, and specifically how the “gaze” of Turkish women is represented in their narrative and autobiographical writing.
“Many women did not sit down and write autobiographies. They did not feel that they had the authority, or perhaps they didn’t have the narcissism it takes to say ‘this is my life, I will tell you all about it and you will learn from me,’” Micallef said. “They wrote letters, they wrote memoirs, they wrote poems, they wrote travel narratives. All of them first person narratives from which we can learn something about their subjectivity.”
According to Micallef, Turkish women started publishing their own narratives in the late 19th century due to changes in the social fabric including the Ottoman Women’s Movement that took place from 1868-1908, increased opportunities in midwifery for girls and women from 1830-1860, increased opportunities to attend secondary school for girls, new land laws that allowed girls to inherit land from their fathers, and an increase in publications aimed at women.
The Campagna-Kerven Lecture series was launched by Madame Suzanne Campagna to provide a forum for informed discussion and debate about modern Turkey, and particularly to inspire students to learn about the country. The multidisciplinary series was inaugurated in 1996 and it features scholars, artists and public intellectuals. The annual lectures have addressed and will continue to address a rich variety of themes on modern Turkish society, economy, culture and politics. Campagna’s father, Mehmet Nahid Kerven, who died in 1974, was one of the famed “Young Turks.”