Public Online Colloquium #3: Prof. Dr. Cemal Kafadar
“Public Colloquium” Series welcome Prof. Dr. Cemal Kafadar
The third of the Public Colloquium Series took place
The third of our “Public Colloquium Series” was held on Monday, May 27th. The most recent guest of the “Public Colloquium Series” that has attracted the attention of Kadir Has University faculty members and students to a great extent was Prof. Dr. Cemal Kafadar, from Harvard University. Prof. Dr. Cemal Kafadar gave us a conference titled “A Weird Channel Istanbul Story from Evliya Çelebi: Fish of the Danube, Monsters of the Bosporus”.
Kadir Has University Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Nihat Berker, who gave the opening speech of the “Public Colloquium Series” began his words with: “We are hereby organizing the third of our Kadir Has University Public Colloquium Series. I’m sure we’re going to have a great day today, just as in the first two. We all have known our professor Cemal Kafadar for a long time. We know how valuable he is in terms of culture and depth. We are truly pleased to welcome our professor Cemal Kafadar to our university”.
Prof. Dr. Cemal Kafadar, who later took the floor and told us that there is a tendency to memorize first person narratives and to write autobiographies in the world of the modern age. Prof. Dr. Cemal Kafadar continued his words as follows: “While this tendency is much stronger in Europe, it is not something the Ottoman has made the light of. Evliya Çelebi’s “Seyahatname” is arguably the longest travel book. Therefore, it is a perfect target for digital studies. It is really a voluminous work and offers a huge pile of information. We are planning of designing a project on this subject. Kadir Has University is both a right and suitable place, not only as it is the place where Evliya Çelebi was born and grew up but also the University has already assigned an important team for İstanbul Studies. I hope we can realize this project“.
“A LIFE SPAN BETWEEN ISTANBUL AND CAIRO”
Having told us that Evliya Çelebi was born in Unkapanı in the 17th century and had lived in Unkapanı region until he started his travels in his 20s, Prof. Dr. Cemal Kafadar continued his words as follows: “Evliya Çelebi spent his life between İstanbul and Cairo. The first volume of Evliya Çelebi’s Seyahatname, which is totally a 10-volume work, entirely describes İstanbul. Apart from Volume 10 where he told us about Cairo, the capital reserved for 10-15 years of his life, the remaining volumes describe 40-odd years of travel in the meantime”.
Kafadar stated that we have all known Evliya Çelebi’s work as a very entertaining text but at the same time it would be necessary to read it considering the tragic dimensions, and he described his views with the words: “Although Çelebi’s love for İstanbul is obvious, I would like to remind you that he spent the last 10-15 years of his life outside of İstanbul, without ever visiting Istanbul again. He even wrote on his way to his trip, ‘İstanbul has been a prison for me’. In other words, Evliya Çelebi is funny, he makes us laugh and amuses us, but he is little known as he also looks at the tragic and painful side of life”.