CALL FOR CONTRIBUTION
Negotiation of Differences in the Common Urban Space
Thematic scope
City is a space where numerous national, family and personal stories, memories, visions and dreams meet. These diverse layers of a city are reflected in the everyday practices of the residents and visitors, as well as the development of the urban space, its architecture, literature, music, etc. Istanbul, Kars, Ani, Diyarbakir among others, are cities in Turkey where Armenians, Turks and other ethnic groups lived/live side by side. The cities have different meanings for each of them.
Different perspectives of the places, diverse sights to the cities, strive for right to it continuously feed negotiation of differences, endeavor to gain a space (be it physical, social, political or cultural) for own cultural identity, voice, memory, story, representation, and other aspects of identity. Negotiation of differences takes various forms – highlighting identities, struggles over space, conflicts, or mutual interest and learning, transformation of differences into common goals, etc. It takes place not only in real but also in fictional and artistic spaces. Literature (fiction) suggests a number of examples demonstrating the meeting of diverse views to the same sites, historical narratives, callings and agencies.
In the frame of the project “Negotiation of Differences in the Common Urban Space” we announce this call for contribution for a publication devoted to experiences of Armenians and Turks of sharing common urban space and their practices of negotiation of cultural, historical and political differences. We invite interested authors to send abstracts of proposed essays.
Proposed abstracts of essays may include and are not limited to the following themes:
- Exploring Istanbul, Ani, Kars, Van and other cities in Armenian (Eastern and Western) and Turkish literature: ground for comparison.
- Armenian touristic itineraries and practices in Turkish cities: expectations and realities
- Urban development perspectives in the Turkish cities: Armenian and Turkish perceptions and interpretations, confrontations and cooperation.
- Armenian immigrants in Istanbul: rethinking historical and political convictions through new social and cultural practices.
- Turkish cities as a platform of encounter of the Armenian and Turkish narratives.
- Tourism in the land of ancestors: several destinations, no arrival.
How it works
A Two-stage publication is intended in the frame of this project: online publication and a book. The essays of the selected contributors are to be published on on-line platforms. They are to be addressed to the wider public and instigate discussion. The collaborators will be expected to follow up the public reaction and feedback.
For the second stage, seven to eight essays will be selected for publication in the book. The selection will be based on the quality of the work. Publication of the essays instigating active debates would be of particular interest, nevertheless no well-written essay will be excluded from the book.
The essays published in the book are to have a three-part format: 1) the core text of the essay, 2) comments and feedbacks of the public (received during online publication) and 3) author’s summary and response to the feedback. We chose this format to allow the discussion over the article to appear in the publication together with the core text of the author.
Final essays will receive internal (by the project initiators and other contributors) and external (by other specialists of the particular topic) reviews.
The book is intended to be in English. We expect the authors to write in English. Nevertheless, we have a limited budget for translation of distinguished essays. The language of the proposed essay must be indicated in the abstract.
The suggested essays are expected to be written for and published exclusively in the frame of the project “Negotiation of Differences in the Common Urban Space”.
Who can apply
We are happy to cooperate with motivated specialists who are in the middle stage of their careers and, who are interested in the interdisciplinary and experimental collaboration. Researchers from the spheres of social and cultural anthropology, history, culture, architecture, art, literature and other related fields of social science and humanities, as well as artists and writers who are interested in writing non-fiction essays are encouraged to apply.
How to apply
The abstracts of the proposed essay and the CV must be sent to the e-mail address sharedurbanspace@gmail.com by 6th November, 2016. The abstract must be no more than 250 words and have information about the language of the proposed essay. The CV must contain contact information about the author. Both abstracts and CVs are expected to be in English. Nevertheless, in exceptional cases we will consider also abstracts written in Armenian and Turkish. Feel free to write to us in case of any questions.
Timeline of the project
Deadline for application: November 6, 2016
Announcement of the selected authors: November 12, 2016
Submission of the essays for on-line publication: January 15, 2017
Submission of the selected essays for book publication: March 30, 2017
Publication of the book: June 30, 2017
About the project and about the initiators
The project “Negotiation of Differences in the Common Urban Space” aims at instigating a dialogue between Armenians and Turks about the common urban space and practices of negotiation of cultural, historical and political differences.
This activity takes place within the framework of the Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process programme, funded by the European Union’’.
Support to the Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Process is a programme implemented by a Consortium of eight civil society organisations from both countries with the financial assistance of the European Union under the Instrument for Stability. The overall objective of the programme is to empower and engage civil societies of Turkey and Armenia to contribute to the enhanced regional peace and stability, democratic pluralism and social inclusion across and within their societies. This will be achieved through engaging new actors in economic, cultural, educational, and awareness-raising activities between Armenia and Turkey, and improving information flow, communication exchange and networking between media, expert communities and institutions.
The Consortium partners include Civilitas Foundation (CF), Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF), Public Journalism Club (PJC), Regional Studies Center (RSC) from Armenia; and Anadolu Kültür, the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (hCa), and Hrant Dink Foundation from Turkey.
The Initiators of the project “Negotiation of Differences in the Common Urban Space” are Dr. Vahram Danielyan and Dr. Alina Poghosyan. Dr. Vahram Danielyan received his Ph.D. from Yerevan State University in the field of Armenian Philology. He fulfilled his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 2016 he successfully completed the curriculum at the Institute for World Literature, Harvard. Now he is an Assistant Professor at Yerevan State University, Department of Modern Armenian Literature and also teaches at the American University of Armenia. Dr. Alina Poghosyan received her PhD in Social Anthropology at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Armenia. In 2015-2016 as a post-doctoral fellow she worked at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA teaching a course on migration and cultural changes. Currently she is a researcher in the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. Our partner in Turkey – Mr. Harout Marashlian - studied Armenian philology at Yerevan State University. He completed his Hrant Dink Foundation fellowship at Sehir University as a Western Armenian language instructor in 2014-2015. Now Mr. Marashlian is doing MA in Cultural Studies at Sabanci University, Istanbul.
