Turkey, although on our list of "places we most want to visit", nonetheless has never been very high in our collective consciousness in terms of what we actually know about the country, its history and culture. This has meant facing a steep learning curve as we prepare for our trip.
Heidi has the advantage here. She had already successfully completed two CSU courses on Middle Eastern History and was enrolled in a third this semester. The disadvantage she faced, of course, was that the courses covered much more than just Turkey, confusing and complicating things quite a bit. Nonetheless she now knows a good deal more than Lee about the larger context, culturally, religiously and historically speaking.
Lee's approach initially emphasized making the most of our itinerary by undertaking research on the 'net. That proved daunting as the complexity of the historical and cultural layers became more and more apparent. Who were the Selyuks? Which came first, the Byzantine or the Ottoman empire? What was the distinction between a Vizier, a Calif and a Sultan? How did the Armenians and the Kurds fit into the historical narrative?
He ended up with more questions than answers as he delved deeper into the available information!
In the end, both of us turned to books to develop some level of understanding of just what we were getting ourselves into. For Heidi, two titles by Stephen Kinzer, CRESCENT AND STAR and RESET: IRAN, TURKEY AND AMERICA'S FUTURE, helped paint a picture of both the recent past and some of the contemporary issues being faced both here and abroad. Lee found TURKEY: WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW by the journalist Andrew Finkel useful in providing background on the present state of affairs and TURKEY, ISLAM, NATIONALISM AND MODERNITY for providing a fascinating cultural history overview of Turkey's struggle to modernize in the face of both external threat and internal religious and ethnic division.
We also came across subtitled episodes of MAGNIFICENT CENTURY, a long-running and very popular Turkish television series focused on the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sultan, a kidnapped slave who eventually became Sultana. These made us even more anxious to spend time exploring the Topkapi palace in Istanbul and the luxurious historical artifacts on display there.
Heidi has the advantage here. She had already successfully completed two CSU courses on Middle Eastern History and was enrolled in a third this semester. The disadvantage she faced, of course, was that the courses covered much more than just Turkey, confusing and complicating things quite a bit. Nonetheless she now knows a good deal more than Lee about the larger context, culturally, religiously and historically speaking.
Lee's approach initially emphasized making the most of our itinerary by undertaking research on the 'net. That proved daunting as the complexity of the historical and cultural layers became more and more apparent. Who were the Selyuks? Which came first, the Byzantine or the Ottoman empire? What was the distinction between a Vizier, a Calif and a Sultan? How did the Armenians and the Kurds fit into the historical narrative?
He ended up with more questions than answers as he delved deeper into the available information!
We also came across subtitled episodes of MAGNIFICENT CENTURY, a long-running and very popular Turkish television series focused on the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hurrem Sultan, a kidnapped slave who eventually became Sultana. These made us even more anxious to spend time exploring the Topkapi palace in Istanbul and the luxurious historical artifacts on display there.
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