ACADEMIC POSITIONS
May 2019-
Boğaziçi University, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Istanbul TR
Assistant Professor
June 2014 – May 2019
Boğaziçi University, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, Istanbul TR
Part-time Instructor
February 2017 – June 2017
Boğaziçi University, Department of History, Istanbul TR
Part-time Instructor
December 2014 – December 2016
University of St. Andrews School of History, Fife, Scotland, UK
ERC project: The Islamisation of Anatolia, c. 1100-1500, Research Fellow
November 2013 – April 2014
University of St. Andrews School of History, UK
The Islamisation of Anatolia, c. 1100-1500, Research Consultant
October 2011 – June 2013
Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, TR
Research Assistant
EDUCATION
November 2010 – June 2017
Sorbonne University École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris, FR
PhD in Islamic Civilization
October 2006 -June 2010
Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, TR
MA in Turkish Language and Literature
Area: Classical Turkish Literature
September 2002 -June 2006
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA
BA in Comparative Literature (French and English Literatures)
September 1995 – June 2002
Robert College, Istanbul, TR
GRADUATE RESEARCH
November 2010 – June 2017
École Pratique des Hautes Études, PhD Dissertation
“The Perfect Man in Bektashism and Alevism”
June 2009 – June 2010
Boğaziçi University, Master’s Thesis
“Kaygusuz Abdâl’s Mesnevî-i Baba Kaygusuz: Critical Edition and Textual Analysis”
March 2005 – June 2006
Dartmouth College, Senior Thesis
“Cities of the Imagination: Texts as Photographs in Pierre Loti’s Aziyadé
and Fantôme d’Orient, Patrick Modiano’s Rue des Boutiques Obscures and Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy”
ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS
December 2021 –
Nafi Baba Sufism, History and Cultural Heritage Research Center
Vice Director
November 2020 – November 2023
Boğaziçi University Department of Turkish Language and Literature
Vice Chair
July 2020 –
Boğaziçi University Department of Turkish Language and Literature
Erasmus Coordinator
December 2019 – December 2021
Nafi Baba Sufism, History and Cultural Heritage Research Center
Executive Board Member (deputy)
May 2021 –
Nazım Hikmet Culture and Art Research Center
Board Member
SCIENTIFIC BOARDS
Scientific Board Member, Institut français d’islamologie (since 2022)
Scientific Board Member for the journal Zemin Edebiyat, Dil ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi (since 2021)
Scientific Board Member, The Federation of Alevi Foundations (AVF), Research Prize in Alevi and Bektashi Studies (2022)
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Kaygusuz Abdal and Dervish Poetry (with a translation of the Book of Prattle). Brill, forthcoming.
Tasavvuf ve Alevilik Yazıları, Alfa Kitap, forthcoming.
Mesnevî-i Baba Kaygusuz. Massachusetts: Harvard University Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, 2013. 320 pp.
Peer-reviewed articles & book chapters
With Alp Eren Topal, “The Forgotten Episteme: Ottoman Sufism Between Embodiment, Subjectivity and Politics,” in “Alevi Pasts Contested,” ed. Markus Dressler ve Hege Markussen, New Perspectives on Turkey, in prep.
With Ulaş Özdemir, “Deyiş in Transmission: Alevi Music and Poetry as Religious Tradition.” In “Religion and its History in Turkey,” ed. Gökçen Beyinli and Mark Soileau, New Perspectives on Turkey, under review.
“Sufi Metaphysics as Literary Theory: Şeyh Galib’s Beauty and Love.” In Pre-modern Comparative Literary Practice in the Multilingual Islamic World, ed. Huda Fakhreddine, Hany Rashwan and David Larsen. Oxford University Press, under review.
“Selfhood and Mystical Meaning in the Poetry of Yunus Emre.” In Handbook of Turkish Literature, ed. Didem Havlioğlu and Zeynep Uysal. Oxon: Routledge, 2023, 40-55.
“Alevism as Islam: Rethinking Shahab Ahmed’s Conceptualization of Islam through Alevi Poetry.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 49 No 2 (2022): 305-326.
“Historicizing Alevism: The Evolution of Abdal and Bektashi Doctrine.” Journal of Shi’a Islamic Studies Vol. 13 No 3-4 (2020): 425-456.
“Alevi-Bektashi Literature as a Discursive Tradition: Interpretive Strategies, Orality, Charisma Loyalty,” In “Entangled Literatures and Histories in the Premodern Ottoman World,” ed. N. İpek Hüner Cora and Michael Pifer, special issue, Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association Vol 7. No 2 (2020): 33-53.
“The şaṭḥiyye of Yūnus Emre and Ḳayġusuz Abdāl: The Creation of a Vernacular Islamic Tradition in Turkish.” Turcica 50 (2019): 9-52.
Other articles and book chapters
“The Masnavi Form and the Beginnings of Islamic Literary Culture in Anatolia.” In Jalal al-Din Rumi and his Legacy: Religion, Literature and Culture Between Medieval Anatolia and the Persianate World, 13th-14th Centuries.” ed. Andrew Peacock, Scott Redford and Richard McClary. Gingko Library, in prep.
“The Speaking Qur’an in Alevism: Poetry and the Word of God.” In Esotericism and the Qur’an / L’ésotérisme et le Coran, ed. Wissam Halawi and Bruce Fudge, forthcoming.
“Ottoman Dervish Poetry in the Sixteenth Century: The Religious and Poetic Discourse of Muḥyiddīn Abdāl.” In Festschrift to Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, ed. Mathieu Terrier and Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, Brepols, forthcoming.
“Bir Bilim Sahasının Doğuşu: Alevilik Çalışmalarının Metodolojisi Ne Olmalı?” In Sosyal Bilimler Perspektifinden Aleviler ve Alevilik 1, ed. Şükrü Aslan, Çiğdem Boz, Cemal Salman. Ankara: Ütopya Yayınevi, 2023.
“Alevilik Bize Güncel İslam Tartışmaları Hakkında Ne Söyler?” In “Dinin Geleceği,” ed. Ayşe Çavdar and Volkan Ertit, special issue, Pasajlar Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi Vol. 8 (2021): 53-78.
“Erken Dönem Bektaşi ve Abdal Şiirinde Farsçanın Rolü: Kaygusuz Abdal Örneği.” Festschrift in Honor of Zehra Toska, ed. Fatma Büyükkarcı Yılmaz and Tülay Gençtürk Demircioğlu, Journal of Turkish Studies: Türklük Bilgisi Araştırmaları Vol 54 (2020): 251-264.
“Yunus Emre Şiirleri ve Kemal Ümmi’nin Kırk Armağan’ının 15. Yüzyıla Ait Bilinmeyen Bir Yazması Üzerine.” Journal of Turkish Studies: Türklük Bilgisi Araştırmaları 50 (2018): 389-398.
“Giriş: Aleviliğin ve Bektaşiliğin Kültürel ve Edebi Kaynaklarını Nasıl Anlarız?” Special Section on Alevi-Bektashi Literature, ed. Zeynep Oktay Uslu, Şerhh Şiir ve Eleştiri Dergisi 6 (2017): 112-117.
“Yunus Emre ve Kaygusuz Abdal’ın Türkçe Şathiyeleri: Yerel Bir Dindarlık Geleneği Nasıl Doğdu?” Special Section on Alevi-Bektashi Literature, ed. Zeynep Oktay Uslu, Şerhh Şiir ve Eleştiri Dergisi 6 (2017): 176-199.
“Layers of Mystical Meaning and Social Context in the Works of Kaygusuz Abdal.” In A.C.S. Peacock and Sara Nur Yıldız (eds). Literature and Intellectual Life in Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-century Anatolia. Würzburg: Ergon Verlag Würzburg in Kommission (Istanbuler Texte und Studien), 2016, 73-99.
“Hüseyin Ferhad İçin Üç Kör Nokta.” Yeniyazı 9 (2011): 50-61.
Preface. Berlinde Üç Gün. By Ahmet Mithat. Istanbul: Notos Kitap, 2009, pp.13-20
Translations
(Trans. Zeynep Oktay). Corbin, Henry. Bir’le Bir Olmak: İbn Arabî Tasavvufunda Yaratıcı Muhayyile. Istanbul: Pinhan Yayınevi, 2013.
(Ed. Zeynep Oktay). Ahmet Mithat Efendi. Berlinde Üç Gün. Istanbul: Notos Kitap, 2009.
Poetry Book
Birlerken. Istanbul: Epona Kitap, 2024
PRESENTATIONS
“Türkçe Edebiyatın Doğuşu ve Anadolu’nun İslamlaşması Bağlamında Mesnevi Nazım Şekli.” Doğuş University Department of Turkish Language and Literature, 26 March 2024.
“Sözlü ve Yazılı Geleneğin Kesişim Noktasında Alevi-Bektaşi Edebiyatı.” Mainz Türk Edebiyatı Günleri, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 26-27 January 2024.
“Alevi Literature Between Oral and Written Tradition.” Lecture Series Interdisciplinary Studies in Alevism. University of Vienna, 7 November 2023.
“Alevi Studies as an Emerging Field: A Methodological Discussion.” Alevi Pasts Contested: Workshop on Alevi Historiography. Leipzig University, 6 October 2023.
“The Masnavi Form Between Orality and Literacy in Fourteenth Century Anatolia.” Jalal al-Din Rumi and his Legacy: Religion, Literature and Culture between Medieval Anatolia and the Persianate World, 13th-14th Centuries, Ankara: British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 6-7 July 2023.
“The Bektashization of Yunus Emre’s poetic tradition: What the earliest manuscripts tell us.” Sufi Manuscript Cultures II. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi. 5-6 June 2023.
“The History of Popular Religion in Turkey: Conceptual and Methodological Issues.” Religion and its History in Turkey: New Approaches, Alternative Perspectives. Leipzig University, 27-28 January 2023.
“Preeternity and Time in Turkish Sufi Poetry,” Conference: Faces of Islam: Of Tolerance and Coercion, Utrecht University, 13-14 October 2022.
Instructor at weekly camp: Beylikler Dönemi Anadolu: Siyasi Tarih & Kültürel Panorama (Anatolia in the Beylik Period: Political History and Cultural Panorama), Arkhé Project, Şirince Turkey, 13-20 August 2022.
Instructor at weekly camp: What is Islam?, Arkhé Project, Şirince Turkey, 18-25 June 2022.
“The Speaking Qur’an in Alevism: Poetry and the Word of God,” Conference: Esotericism and the Qur’an, Université de Lausanne, May 5-7 2022.
“Beyond Doctrinal and Confessional Boundaries: The Religious Doctrine of Muhyiddin Abdal,” New Horizons in Kizilbash/Alevi-Bektashi History Workshop, William&Mary, VA-USA, April 29-May 1 2022.
“Yunus Emre Şiirinde Benlik ve Mana.” Yunus Emre, Hacı Bektaş Veli ve Ahi Evran Sempozyumu. İstanbul Lütfi Kırdar Kongre ve Sergi Sarayı, 4-5 December 2021.
“Sufi Metaphysics as Literary Theory: Şeyh Galib’s Beauty and Love.” Pre-modern Comparative Literary Practice in the Multilingual Islamic World(s). OCCT, University of Oxford, 22-24 July 2021.
“Aux sources de l’alévisme : l’évolution des doctrines abdāl et bektachi.” Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes, Istanbul, 7 December 2020.
“Alevi-Bektashi poetry as discourse: Interpretive communities and discursive categories.” Online workshop: Approaching the pir-talip relationship as a tool for understanding Alevi deyiş/nefes, Leipzig University, 9-10 October 2020.
“Alevism as Islam: How Alevi Poetry Forces us to Rethink Shahab Ahmed’s Conceptualization of Islam,” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, 14-17 November 2019.
“The Role of Persian in Early Bektaşhi and Abdal Poetry: The Case of Kaygusuz Abdal,” Persian as a Lingua Franca in the Ottoman Empire, Hamburg University, 12-13 July 2019.
“Rum Abdallarının Eserlerinde İnanç Unsurlarının Dönüşümü: 14.-17. Yüzyıllar.” Zehra Toska Onuruna Sempozyum, Boğaziçi University, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, 9 February 2018.
“The Making of a Genre: How Folk Tradition and Sufi Tradition Come Together in the Turkish Şaṭḥiyye.” Aesthetic Dimensions of Alevi Cultural Heritage Lecture Series, Orient-Institut Istanbul, 11 October 2017.
“Situational Identities in Late Medieval Sufi Poetry: The Case of Kaygusuz Abdal.” New Religiosities in Turkey Workshop 2 (2016): Biography, Personal Identity, Ego, the Self, and Self-Transformation, Orient-Institut Istanbul, 17-19 March 2016.
“The notion of syncretism and its relation to orality in the formation of the doctrines of Alevism and Bektashism.” International Conference, Islamisation: Comparative perspectives from History, University of St. Andrews, Scotland UK, 20-21 March 2015.
“Kaygusuz Abdal and the Religious Doctrine of the Abdâlân-ı Rûm.” Middle East Studies Association Annual Meeting 2014, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington DC, 22-25 November 2014.
“Yunus Emre ve Kaygusuz Abdal’ın Şathiyelerinde Dil Algısı.” I. International Congress of Turkish Culture: Turkish Sufi Culture and Traditions, Istanbul, Süleyman Şah University, 13-15 October 2014.
“Risâle-i Şeyh Sâfî’de Anlatı Katmanları ve Öğretinin Çoğul Yapısı.” Ordu University
International Symposium on Classical Turkish Literature, Ordu University, 10-12 May 2012.
“L’Homme Parfait dans l’Alévisme et le Bektachisme anatolien : Hypothèses préliminaires sur les niveaux d’enseignement.” Doctoral Workshop, French Institute for Anatolian Studies (IFEA), 1 June 2011. [The Perfect Man in Anatolian Alevism and Bektashism: Preliminary Hypotheses on the Levels of Teaching]
LANGUAGES
Turkish (Native), English (Proficient),
Ottoman Turkish (Proficient), French (Proficient),
Persian (Advanced), Arabic (Advanced), Russian (Intermediate)