Erdag Göknar | Scholars@Duke

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.

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
  
  Reading the Archives of a Tragic Period of Middle East History
- APR 8, 2021
  
  Celebrate National Poetry Month with Six Duke Faculty Poets
- NOV 8, 2018
  
  How the Trauma and Struggles of World War I Helped Shape the Modern World
- OCT 23, 2018 Duke Global Affairs
  
  In a Berlin Partnership, Duke Students Boost Online Education for Refugees
- FEB 4, 2017
  
  Reporting from Turkey: Journalism Under Attack, Politics Based on Fear
- JUL 18, 2016
  
  Erdağ Göknar: The Turkish Coup -- Real or Imagined?
- NOV 13, 2015
  
  Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk Talks Novels and Istanbul
- NOV 3, 2015
  
  Duke to Host Nobel Laureate in Literature Orhan Pamuk
- NOV 2, 2015
  
  News Tip: Turks Vote for Political Authority, Economic Stability, Expert Says
- SEP 10, 2015
  
  Duke, UNC Scholars to Hold Public Forum on Refugee Crisis Sept. 14
- APR 20, 2015
  
  How the Occupation of Istanbul Shaped the Modern Middle East
- JAN 6, 2015
  
  Duke Ceremony Thursday to Pay Tribute to Pioneering Turkish Studies Scholar
- MAY 2, 2014
  
  Trinity College Awards: Teaching Excellence Built Upon Risk-Taking
- DEC 2, 2013 Duke Magazine
  
  Political Unrest in Turkey Offers Platform for Learning for Duke Students
- AUG 6, 2013 Duke Magazine
  
  Erdag Goknar on the Art of Translating Literature
Awards & Honors
- External Faculty Fellowship. Stanford Humanities Center. 2009
- Fellow. National Humanities Center. 2007
Expertise
Global Scholarship
- Expertise
  - Turkey (Country)
- Research
  - Turkey (Country)
- Teaching
  - Turkey (Country)
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
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Presentations & Appearances
Service to the Profession

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Previous Appointments & Affiliations

In the News

Awards & Honors

Global Scholarship

Expertise

Research

Teaching

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Other Articles

Book Reviews

Journal Issues

Recent Courses

Presentations & Appearances

Service to the Profession