Proceedings Abstracts Book of the International Symposium on Turkish Modernization in the Light of Global Comparisons and Alternative Perspectives

Modernization is not merely a process of institutional, political, or technological transformation for understanding Turkey’s historical experience over the past two centuries. It is also a multilayered historical process that has profoundly shaped identity, conceptions of civilization, social change, state–society relations, religion, law, economy, education, culture, and everyday life. Extending from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, and from the Republic to contemporary Turkey, this process calls for renewed reflection through the lenses of continuity, rupture, tension, adaptation, and alternative trajectories.

Within this framework, the “International Symposium on Turkish Modernization in the Light of Global Comparisons and Alternative Perspectives” aims to examine Turkish modernization not only within the context of national historiography but also from a comparative perspective alongside global experiences of modernization. Rather than limiting the discussion to Western-centered approaches, one of the symposium’s principal academic objectives is to explore modernization in relation to the diverse historical and geographical experiences of countries and regions such as Russia, Japan, China, India, Africa, and the Islamic world.

The Proceedings Abstracts Book brings together the contributions of researchers participating in this scholarly gathering. The papers included in this volume provide significant academic insights across a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from the historical and theoretical dimensions of modernization to political culture; from bureaucracy and state–society relations to secularization and religious policies; from gender studies to urbanization and architecture; and from media and popular culture to law, economics, education, art, literature, and issues of identity.

PROCEEDINGS ABSTRACTS BOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON TURKISH MODERNIZATION IN THE LIGHT OF GLOBAL COMPARISONS AND ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES

ÜSKÜDAR UNIVERSITY PRESS – 125

Editor: Havva Kök Arslan
Cover and Graphic Design: Esra Ulutaş
ISBN: 978-625-91976-3-0
Publication Year: 2026