Anthropologists Discuss Europeanness
A common view that was reiterated in many talks was that "Europe" is not a fixed entity, neither geographically, nor in ideological content. Throughout history, the concept of "Europe" has been negotiated, often, so some argued, using Muslims or Turks as the "Other" to create more unity.
Today, as an example from Spain showed, Europe decides which migrants are desirable and which ones are to be sent back to where they came from. There is thus a distinct sense of "border" and power inequalities.
Anthropology is in a peculiar position in this debate, as Turkey has been studied by many European and "Western" researchers. The imbalance of "countries who study" and "countries who are studied" was felt acutely by several contributors, and the hope was expressed that the new generation of trained Turkish anthropologists would go on to research cultural phenomena in other parts of the world as well as Turkey.
However, as an academic discipline, anthropology still has some way to go in Turkey. There are only six universities that have anthropology departments all over Turkey, and as a result many anthropologists work in departments such as sociology, political science or psychology.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Education does not allow anthropology graduates to become teachers, and anthropologists are not taken note of in "culture"-related sectors either.
Nevertheless, the interest in the conference, as well as interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropology and other social sciences, show that anthropology has something important to contribute.
It was emphasized several times during the three days that ethnographic detail, that is, detailed descriptions (and then analyses) of people's everyday lives is crucial in understanding the workings of the world. It is exactly this detail which is the strength of anthropological research and makes it ever-relevant.
The conference, which was the first international anthropology congress in Turkey, was organised by the Turkish Anthropology Association, founded in 1992.
The speakers at the conference were: Ilber Ortayli (Galatasaray University, Topkapi Palace Museum), Bozkurt Güvenc (Yeditepe University), Nedret Kuran Burcoglu (Yeditepe University), Ulf Hannerz (Stockholm University), Michael Herzfeld (Harvard University), Barbro Klein (Stockholm University), Akile Gürsoy (Yeditepe University), Ubaldo Martinez Veiga (Distance-Learning University, Madrid), Jenny B. White (Boston University), David Shankland (Bristol University), Henry Rutz (Hamilton University), Levent Soysal (Kadir Has University), Ayse Durakbasa (Mugla University), Sibel Özbudun (Hacettepe University), Belkis Kümbetoglu (Marmara University), Inci User (Marmara University), Erdogan Gedik (Goethe Universitaet Frankfurt) Hürriyet Konyar (Kocaeli University), Suavi Aydin (Hacettepe University), Hande Birkalan-Gedik (Yeditepe University), Ayfer Bartu Candan (Bosphorus University), Merve Cagsirli (Middle East Technical University), Sandra Finger (Sabanci University), Nicolas Kosmatopoulos (Zürich University), Manuela Pellegrino (UCL). (AG/EÜ)