News, Research
Introducing the 2023/24 Hellenisms Past & Present, Local & Global, Aytek Soner Alpan
In September 2023, the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University welcomed Aytek Alpan as its 2023/2024 Hellenisms Past and Present, Local and Global Postdoctoral Fellow.
Alpan is a historian, his research examining ethnic and linguistic minorities in the framework of the transition from empire to nation-state, forced displacement, and the formation of refugee identity, agency, and memory subsequent to involuntary population movements. His research concentrates primarily on modern Greece and Turkey, particularly on the experience of the 1923 Greco-Turkish population exchange. His book project entitled Trajectories of Displacement: A Comparative Historical Analysis of the 1923 Greco-Turkish Population Exchange offers a broad and long-term analysis of the Greco-Turkish population exchange with an emphasis on the refugee experience. He also performs research relating to the Constantinopolitan Greek community and Turcophone Orthodox Greek communities in modern Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
Alpan completed his PhD at the University of California, San Diego in the Department of History in June 2022 and he has completed a research fellowship at the Orient-Institut in İstanbul from 2013 to 2014, and was also awarded the Harvard-Koç Intensive Ottoman and Turkish Summer School Scholarship. He also holds a BSc and MSc from the Middle East Technical University
Alpan had this to say about joining the community at the SNF Centre:
Embarking on this journey at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies for the 2023-2024 academic year fills me with great pleasure and overwhelming gratitude. To me, this journey means thriving in a multi-disciplinary and diverse environment that perfectly aligns with my academic profile, engaging in a creative dialogue with the colleagues and students of the Centre, and sharing my research on the Turkish-speaking Greek community in the late Ottoman Empire, their literary tradition, and 1923 Greco-Turkish population exchange. As I become part of the dynamic and inspiring community as a Hellenisms Past and Present Postdoctoral Fellow, the support received since my recent start has been heartening. I eagerly look forward to building enduring academic connections and immersing myself in the breathtaking natural surroundings of the Vancouver region.
Alpan participated in the SNF Centre for Hellenic Studies Fall Seminar Series on Friday, November 24th and the recording of his presentation can be found on our YouTube channel here.
Learn more about Alpan and his work on the contact page of our website.
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