Refik Halit: A Life of Opposition | Christine Philliou

Ottoman History Podcast

E506 | Refik Halid Karay (1889-1965) was a writer, bureaucrat, and political exile whose life spanned the end of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. Christine Philliou traces his life as well as a genealogy of political opposition more broadly in her new book Turkey: A Past Against History. Following Refik Halid between his exiles in Sinop, Syria, and elsewehre as well as his momentous encounter with Mustafa Kemal in the Telegraph Episode, Philliou sheds light on the complicated transition between empire and nation. She also grapples with the challenge of telling history based on the voluminous and often satirical musings of a figure himself deeply invested in interpreting the past. More at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2021/07/halit.html Christine Philliou is professor in the History Department, Director of the Modern Greek and Hellenic Studies Program at the Institute for European Studies, and Director of the Turkish and Ottoman Studies Program at the Center for Middle East Studies at UC Berkeley. Her first book was Biography of an Empire (2010, UC Press; Greek edition forthcoming 2021 with Alexandria Publications) and her new book is Turkey: A Past Against History (2021, UC Press). Sam Dolbee is a lecturer on History and Literature at Harvard University. His research is on the environmental history of the late Ottoman Empire told through the frame of locusts in the Jazira region. Brittany White is a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of Virginia. Broadly, she is interested in the African Diaspora in former Ottoman territories. CREDITS Episode No. 506 Release Date: 16 July 2021 Recording Location: Kensington, CA / Somerville, MA / New York, NY Sound production by Sam Dolbee Script by Brittany White and Sam Dolbee Additional thanks to Chris Gratien Music: Zé Trigueiros, "Petite Route," "Saez," "Big Road of Burravoe" Images and bibliography courtesy of Christine Philliou available at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2021/07/halit.html