Wednesday, December 1, 2010 

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks in the Bordlerands. The week before last, of course, MSU held its Turkey Extravaganza, hosting several days of talks, discussion, fun, food, and frolicry.

One of the highlights of Turkey Week was Stephen Kinzer's talk to open the festivities. Kinzer was challenged by a number of the Turkish students at MSU, which led to several interesting exchanges. The main critique of the Turkish students (who are here as part of joint-degree programs that MSU has with Istanbul Technical University and Selcuk University in Konya) was that Kinzer was too hard on Ataturk and too easy on Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP. I thought the critique was a fair one, but Kinzer did a good job of responding to this critique with more nuance than I think he was given credit for.

On Wednesday I gave a talk about contemporary Turkey, but unlike Kinzer I focused less on politics and more about society. Since MSU's Turkey Week came in the context of International Education Week and a desire to encourage—particularly among young people—a more general interest in the world beyond the United States, I also talked a fair bit about my personal history in the country and the many cultural blinders I continued to discover within myself even after spending years in the country. The talk seemed to be pretty well received, and there was a good turnout from both the university and the community. It was especially nice to meet a class of 10th graders from Bozeman's Heritage Christian High School, whose teacher had brought them to the talk.

Veda

On Wednesday evening, the Turkish students at MSU put on Veda ("Farewell"), recent movie about the life of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. I'd looked a bit into this film, and therefore didn't have very high expectations. Indeed, the movie appears to be a response to Can Dundar's "Mustafa," a film that was criticized by a number of self-styled Kemalists for being unfair and/or critical of Kemal (here is my review of "Mustafa"). 

To be honest, I thought "Veda" was a wretched film. As far as I can tell, it is exactly like virtually every other movie about Ataturk that was made in Turkey prior to "Mustafa"—hagiographical and completely uncritical. "Mustafa" isn't a perfect movie, but there was a genuine effort by Dundar to present Kemal as a human being, rather than as an icon. In response to this, all Veda's Zulfu Livaneli can do is repeat the same old anecdotes about the man.


Can Dundar had tried to do something different with "Mustafa," so Zulfu Livaneli responded with a double-dose of hagiography
 
In many ways I think "Veda is" an apt expression of the total sterility of the secularist argument in Turkey today. There are great arguments to be made for secularism, but the CHP doesn't know how to make them. 

Faced with political adversaries who seem determined to expand the place of religious piety in the public sphere but who couch their arguments in terms of freedom of religious expression, all the secularist opposition to the AKP can do is repeat the same old tired arguments they have always made, pretending that the last twenty-five years haven't taken place.

In a similar way, Livaneli pretends "Mustafa" was never made. His "answer" to Dundar's heresy is to just restate the same old stuff that secularists have been saying about Turkey for the past several decades. And that's the secularist strategy more generally: pretend that the AKP hasn't won three straight mandates, and keep insisting that Turkey hasn't changed. When in doubt, invoke authority in the form of Ataturk. End of argument.

Well guess what? Nobody's buying it outside of the echo-chamber of the CHP's die-hard supporters. Secularists are going to have to do more than just repeat themselves and invoke Ataturk's authority if they want to win a political argument with the AKP over the place of religious piety in Turkey's public sphere.

After the movie, Tom Goltz and I, along with a group of American MSU students and Turkish MSU students had a long rap session about the movie and Kinzer. Tom and I were honest about our (similar) opinions about the film, but in the end I found the conversation—which lasted close to an hour—really enjoyable and educational. It was fascinating watching American and Turkish MSU students talk about these things, and Tom and I had a nice dialogue with the Turkish students about the movie and recent political developments in Turkey.

All in all, I thought the event was really great, and I appreciated the chance to see "Veda" no matter what I thought of the film itself. Indeed, seeing this film and talking about it afterward was my favorite part of Turkey week. I thought it was a great example of cross-cultural contact and discussion that International Education Week is presumably designed to encourage.

On the road, Neon-Deion style

I missed the end of Turkey Week because early Friday morning I had to fly to LA to kick off my Neon-Deionesque double conference run to MESA and ASEEES. It was a really good trip, but a tiring one. After getting into LA on Friday morning, I drove to the conference hotel downtown—the run-down Westin Bonaventure, which kind of looks like a smaller and golder version of Detroit's Renaissance Center. I met with a couple of publishing industry folks (very preliminary meetings), then went out with some friends to a really lousy dinner. The highlight of the evening was a great late-night rap session I had with three friend/colleagues over vodka back at the Borderland Compound on the 11th floor. Many apologies to my neighbors, who probably weren't as excited about the state of late imperial studies, or who at any rate might not have been as into our full-throated vodka-soaked discussion as we were.


The golden towers of the Westin Bonaventure...


...reminded me a bit of Detroit's Renaissance Center

Early Saturday morning I shaved my tongue and had another publisher speed-date, then jumped into the car and drove down to San Diego. Unfortunately I have no pictures to share from the trip because I managed to ruin my camera right before leaving Bozeman. Most of the ride was pretty unphotogenic anyway, since I was taking the interstate in what was often white-knuckled driving through heavy rains and traffic. [Thank goodness for the GPS. If only I could get a similar device to instruct me on what to do for other aspects of my life].

I pulled off the interstate at Oceanside, then drove the last forty miles or so to San Diego alongside the coast. I stopped and ate a vegetarian Burrito, remembering the last time I was in the area at age 19 during a visit to my grandparents. I was tempted to have a margarita, but had to chair a panel at MESA at five in the afternoon, so I packed up the rest of the burrito and got back in the car.

MESA was good fun. The hotel was good and was close to the Gaslight District, which was cool. I was taken out to dinner with a bunch of other people in Turkish studies, which I really enjoyed, and where I met up with a bunch of DC-based scholars working on Turkey and the Ottoman Empire (this matters to me because I'll be in DC next semester). After dinner I went to a couple of bars in the Gaslight district with some grad student friends, then returned to HQ for a few hours of sleep before getting up at six the next morning to return to LA.

I had to leave San Diego early Sunday morning because I was chairing a panel at ASEEES at noon. I made it back in time, but not before driving through some more dreadful weather, with raining pouring down and visibility at about 15 feet. Fortunately I had ex-MTV VJ Nina Blackhead to keep me company for the drive up, spinning all the latest hits from Love & Rockets, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Depeche Mode.


It's been a while since Nina and the gang have ruled the airwaves...
 


...but that doesn't mean Echo & friends have nothing left to teach us

Onward to Michigan

After finishing my business in southern California, I flew back to Michigan to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. One of the highlights of this trip was the visit my Dad and I took to Ford Field to see the Lions take on the New England Patriots in NFL Turkey Day action.


Never underestimate this pride of Lions!
 

Unfortunately for Motown, Tom Brady and his powerful arm proved too tough for Shaun (over the) Hill and the Detroit Lions


Once again, Lion fans left Ford Field feeling a little fingered

And now? Back in the Bozone where the snow is on the ground! Bridger and Big Sky have opened, a new camera is coming in the mail, and I should be hitting the slopes by the end of the week. 

Maybe I'll have some photos up from that soon.
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