[164] GUEST PROFESSOR AT MTSU EXPLORES FOLK CULTURE OF TURKEY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 17, 2008
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

GUEST PROFESSOR AT MTSU EXPLORES FOLK CULTURE OF TURKEY
Ozkul Cobanoglu, Invited by Middle East Center, to Speak to World Civilization Class

(MURFREESBORO) - Dr. Özkul Çobanoğlu will present a lecture titled “Tradition and Transformation in Ottoman Folk Culture” from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. on Monday, October 20, in Room S260 of the Business and Aerospace Building at MTSU. Çobanoğlu will talk to Dr. Sean Foley’s Survey of World Civilization II class about the social history of the Ottoman Empire between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. In particular, he will investigate the influence of coffee houses and printing presses on Turkish literary and socio-cultural traditions. By drawing on a host of oral, social and cultural sources, he will illustrate how this process took place over time and continues to influence Turkish society.
Özkul Çobanoğlu, a full Professor of Turkish and Comparative Folklore at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey is one of Turkey’s leading folklorists. He specializes in Turkish folk culture and cultural, literary and religious trends in the broader Turkic world. He has taught as a guest lecturer at the Eastern Mediterranean University in Northern Cyprus; Jagelleon University in Poland; Prishtina University in Kosovo; the Crimean State University in Crimea, Ukraine; the Mongolian Natonal State University; Debrecen State University in Hungary; and Tartu University in Estonia. He has published widely on folklore theories, the history of Turkish folklore, genres of Turkish folk literature, the Turkish minstrel tradition, Turkish entertainment history, Turkish epics, Turkish proverbs,Turkish mythology, and Turkish folk beliefs.
The lecture, sponsored by the Middle East Center, is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Allen Hibbard, director of MTSU’s Middle East Center, at 615-494-8809 or ahibbard@mtsu.edu.