Erdag Göknar
Associate Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Erdağ Göknar is Associate Professor of Turkish in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University and former director of the Duke Middle East Studies Center. He is a scholar of literary and cultural studies and an award-winning translator whose research and publications focus on intersections of literature and politics in Turkey and the Middle East; specifically, on late Ottoman legacies in contemporary Turkish fiction, historiography, and popular culture.
He is the recipient of two NEA literature fellowships (translation), two Fulbright awards, and residential fellowships at the National Humanities Center and the Stanford Humanities Center.
His books include a monograph entitled Orhan Pamuk, Secularism and Blasphemy: The Politics of the Turkish Novel (Routledge, 2013); a co-edited volume, Mediterranean Passages: Readings from Dido to Derrida (UNC Press, 2008); and English-language translations of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s A Mind at Peace (Archipelago Books, 2011); Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red (Knopf, 2010; 2001) and Atiq Rahimi’s Earth and Ashes (Harcourt, 2002). His current project focuses on cosmopolitanism, political violence and the Allied occupation of Istanbul after WWI.
He is the recipient of two NEA literature fellowships (translation), two Fulbright awards, and residential fellowships at the National Humanities Center and the Stanford Humanities Center.
His books include a monograph entitled Orhan Pamuk, Secularism and Blasphemy: The Politics of the Turkish Novel (Routledge, 2013); a co-edited volume, Mediterranean Passages: Readings from Dido to Derrida (UNC Press, 2008); and English-language translations of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s A Mind at Peace (Archipelago Books, 2011); Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red (Knopf, 2010; 2001) and Atiq Rahimi’s Earth and Ashes (Harcourt, 2002). His current project focuses on cosmopolitanism, political violence and the Allied occupation of Istanbul after WWI.
Office Hours
Fridays, 1-3 PM
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Associate Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2015
Contact Information
- 2204 Erwin Road, Rm. 234, Box 90414, Durham, NC 27708-0414
- 2235 Cranford Road, Durham, NC 27705
-
goknar@duke.edu
- Background
-
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., University of Washington 2004
- M.A., University of Washington 1998
- B.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1988
-
Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Assistant Professor in International Comparative Studies, International Comparative Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2013 - 2015
- Academic Director of the Duke in Istanbul Program, Global Education Office, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2014 - 2015
- Associate Professor in Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Slavic & Eurasian Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2014 - 2015
- Assistant Professor, Slavic & Eurasian Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2006 - 2014
- Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2010 - 2013
- Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor, Slavic & Eurasian Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2011 - 2012
- Recognition
-
In the News
-
MAR 10, 2022 Franklin Humanities Institute -
APR 8, 2021 -
NOV 8, 2018 -
OCT 23, 2018 Duke Global Affairs -
FEB 4, 2017 -
JUL 18, 2016 -
NOV 13, 2015 -
NOV 3, 2015 -
NOV 2, 2015 -
SEP 10, 2015 -
APR 20, 2015 -
JAN 6, 2015 -
MAY 2, 2014 -
DEC 2, 2013 Duke Magazine -
AUG 6, 2013 Duke Magazine
-
-
Awards & Honors
- Expertise
-
Global Scholarship
-
Expertise
-
Research
-
Teaching
-
- Research
-
Selected Grants
- Legal and Affective Archives of Atrocity Legal and Affective Archives of Atrocity: Allied Occupied Istanbul (1918-23) and the Armenian Genocide awarded by National Humanities Center 2022 - 2023
- Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill 2014 - 2019
- QFI Summer Workshop 2018 awarded by Qatar Foundation International 2018
- Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies Title VI for a Comprehensive National Resource Center (NRC)and Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS) awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill 2014 - 2018
- Publications & Artistic Works
-
Selected Publications
-
Books
-
Göknar, Erdag. Nomadologies, 2017.
-
Göknar, E. Orhan Pamuk, secularism and blasphemy: The politics of the Turkish novel, 2013. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203080108.Full Text
-
Tanpinar, Ahmet Hamdi. A Mind at Peace. Archipelago, 2011.
-
Rahimi, Atiq. Earth and Ashes. Other Press, LLC, 2010.
-
My Name Is Red. Everyman’s Library, 2010.
-
Cooke, Miriam, Erdağ M. Göknar, and Grant Richard Parker. Mediterranean passages readings from Dido to Derrida. The University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
-
-
Academic Articles
-
Göknar, E. “Reading Occupied Istanbul: Turkish Subject-Formation from Historical Trauma to Literary Trope.” Culture, Theory and Critique 55, no. 3 (September 2, 2014): 321–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735784.2014.882792.Full Text
-
Göknar, E. “Turkish-islamic feminism confronts national patriarchy: Halide Edib's divided self.” Journal of Middle East Women’S Studies 9, no. 2 (March 1, 2013): 32–57. https://doi.org/10.1353/jmw.2013.0020.Full Text
-
Göknar, E. “Secular blasphemies: Orhan Pamuk and the Turkish novel.” Novel 45, no. 2 (June 1, 2012): 301–26. https://doi.org/10.1215/00295132-1573985.Full Text
-
Goknar, E. “"The White Castle" and the Ottoman Legacy.” Edited by Talat Halman. Journal of Turkish Literature, January 2011.
-
Goknar, E. “"From Steppe to Sea: The Blue Anatolia Literary Movement".” Edited by Mehmet Kalpakli. Turkish Studies Journal Special Issue Festschrift for Walter Andrews, 2010.
-
Goknar, E. “"Orhan Pamuk and the ’Ottoman’ Theme".” World Literature Today 80 (November 2006).
-
Goknar, E. “"My Name is Re(a)d: Translating Authority, Authoring Translation".” Edited by Sidney Wade. Translation Review, 2005.
-
Göknar, E. “Ottoman past and Turkish future: Ambivalence in A. H.Tanpinar's those outside the scene.” South Atlantic Quarterly 102, no. 2–3 (January 1, 2003): 647–61. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-102-2-3-647.Full Text
-
-
Book Sections
-
Göknar, Erdag. “"Mapping Pamuk onto the World Literature Syllabus".” In Approaches to Teaching the Works of Orhan Pamuk, edited by Sevinç Türkkan and David Damrosch. MLA, 2017.
-
Goknar, E. “"The Turkish Novel: Modernity, Modernism, and Postmodernism".” In Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Novel, 2013.
-
Göknar, E. “"Occulted Texts: Pamuk’s Untranslated Novels".” In Global Perspectives on Orhan Pamuk: Existentialism and Politics, edited by E. Afridi and E. Buyze. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
-
Göknar, Erdag. “The AKP's Rhetoric of Rule in Turkey: Political Melodramas of Conspiracy from "Ergenekon" to "Mastermind".” edited by Güneş Murat Tezcür, n.d.Open Access Copy Link to Item
-
Kasaba, Resat, ed. “"The Novel in Turkish: From Narrative Tradition to Nobel Prize".” In Cambridge History of Turkey: Turkey in the Modern World, IV:35–35. Cambridge University Press, n.d.
-
“"Türkçe’de Roman: Anlati Geleneginden Nobel Ödülu’ne".” In Turkish Translation of Cambridge History of Turkey, Vol IV, n.d.
-
-
Other Articles
-
Göknar, Erdağ. “"The Light of the Bosphorus: Photography in Orhan Pamuk's 'Balkon'".” Los Angeles Review of Books. Los Angeles Review of Books, May 19, 2019.Link to Item
-
Göknar, Erdag. “"A Turkish Woman in the Oedipus Complex: Orhan Pamuk's 'The Red-Haired Woman'",” August 22, 2017.Link to Item
-
Göknar, Erdag. “"A Nomad Between Worlds: Mohed Altrad's _Badawi_".” Los Angeles Review of Books, September 6, 2016.Link to Item
-
Goknar, E. “"The Novel in Turkish: From Narrative Tradition to Nobel Prize".” Edited by Resat Kasaba. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
-
-
Book Reviews
-
Goknar, Erdag. “Conspiracy Theory in Turkey: Politics and Protest in the Age of "Post-Truth".” Middle East Journal. MIDDLE EAST INST, June 1, 2019.Link to Item
-
-
Journal Issues
-
Göknar, Erdağ, and Kent Schull. “Yasak/Banned from Sultan Abdülhamid II to President Erdoğan.” Edited by Erdag Göknar and Kent Schull. Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association. Indiana University Press, 2018.
-
Göknar, Erdağ, and Kent Schull. “Yasak/Banned from Sultan Abdülhamid II to President Erdoğan.” Edited by Erdag Göknar and Kent Schull. Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association. Indiana University Press, 2018.
-
-
- Teaching & Mentoring
-
Recent Courses
- AMES 186: The Turks: From Ottoman Empire to European Union 2023
- AMES 408S: Geopolitics and Culture: Islamic States from the Ottomans to ISIS 2023
- AMES 503S: Asian & Middle Eastern Studies 2023
- HISTORY 212: The Turks: From Ottoman Empire to European Union 2023
- HISTORY 416S: Geopolitics and Culture: Islamic States from the Ottomans to ISIS 2023
- ICS 421S: Geopolitics and Culture: Islamic States from the Ottomans to ISIS 2023
- PUBPOL 413S: Geopolitics and Culture: Islamic States from the Ottomans to ISIS 2023
- RELIGION 228: The Turks: From Ottoman Empire to European Union 2023
- SES 287: The Turks: From Ottoman Empire to European Union 2023
- AMES 186: The Turks: From Ottoman Empire to European Union 2021
- AMES 283S: Istanbul: Religion, Politics and Cosmopolitanism 2021
- AMES 296S: Turkish History through the Novels of Orhan Pamuk 2021
- AMES 408S: Geopolitics and Culture: Islamic States from the Ottomans to ISIS 2021
- CULANTH 283S: Istanbul: Religion, Politics and Cosmopolitanism 2021
- HISTORY 212: The Turks: From Ottoman Empire to European Union 2021
- HISTORY 283S: Turkish History through the Novels of Orhan Pamuk 2021
- HISTORY 397S: Istanbul: Religion, Politics and Cosmopolitanism 2021
- HISTORY 416S: Geopolitics and Culture: Islamic States from the Ottomans to ISIS 2021
- ICS 249S: Istanbul: Religion, Politics and Cosmopolitanism 2021
- ICS 345S: Turkish History through the Novels of Orhan Pamuk 2021
- ICS 421S: Geopolitics and Culture: Islamic States from the Ottomans to ISIS 2021
- LIT 276S: Turkish History through the Novels of Orhan Pamuk 2021
- PUBPOL 413S: Geopolitics and Culture: Islamic States from the Ottomans to ISIS 2021
- RELIGION 228: The Turks: From Ottoman Empire to European Union 2021
- SES 287: The Turks: From Ottoman Empire to European Union 2021
- Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
-
Presentations & Appearances
- Reading Occupied Istanbul From Trauma to Trope. December 6, 2013 2013
- Istanbul's Cultural History. November 21, 2013 2013
- My Name is Red: Intersections of Image and Text. November 17, 2013 2013
- Literary Modernism, Pamuk and Tanpinar. May 2, 2013 2013
- New Translations of Hikmet. April 14, 2013 2013
- Book Talk: Orhan Pamuk, Secularism, and Blasphemy. April 10, 2013 2013
- Muslim Cosmopolitanism and the Secular Nation: The Case of Orhan Pamuk. December 15, 2012 2012
- Secular Blasphemies: Orhan Pamuk and Turkish Moderntiy. December 15, 2012 2012
- Orders of Time: Comparison, Modernism, and Istanbul. February 17, 2012 2012
- Turkey and the EU: History and Prospects. October 31, 2011 2011
- 'Secularism and Islam in Turkey'. September 27, 2010 2010
- Reimagining the Ottoman Legacy. May 18, 2010 2010
- Orhan Pamuk's Revision of Secular Modernity. April 27, 2010 2010
- Translated Turks. April 2, 2010 2010
- Transcultures of Literature in Turkey. September 17, 2009 2009
- Transcultures of Literature. September 17, 2009 2009
- Nazim Hikmet & the Poetics of Confinement. April 19, 2009 2009
- Turkish Literary Modernity & Modernization HIstory. March 20, 2009 2009
- Is Turkey European? Turks & Europe Today. February 6, 2009 2009
- Turning Turk & Other Betrayals of the Turkish Novel. February 5, 2009 2009
- Literary Translation: Tanpinar & Pamuk. November 23, 2008 2008
- A Reading from Tanpinar's A Mind at Peace. May 13, 2008 2008
- Translating Turkish: Word, Text, & Intertext. February 2, 2008 2008
-
Service to the Profession
- Participant. Faculty Success Program. National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). 2018 2018
- Journal of Turkish Literature. December 16, 2013 2013
- Religion & Literature. December 16, 2013 2013
- Comparative Literature. December 16, 2012 2012
- NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction. December 16, 2012 2012
Some information on this profile has been compiled automatically from Duke databases and external sources. (Our About page explains how this works.) If you see a problem with the information, please write to Scholars@Duke and let us know. We will reply promptly.