Yunt Talks #4: Nedret Öztokat Kılıçeri

The city, which has been the representation area of civilization since ancient times, appears as a phenomenon whose borders become blurred with the constant change of the physical and social environment. Dynamics such as construction and infrastructure activities, population mobility, environmental sustainability concerns, economic developments and technological advances make it necessary to think about the city. The complex structure of the city shaped by different dynamics brings with it the need to redefine the city. Making this definition has the potential to both understand continuity and changes and project the future of the city while evaluating the development of the city from past to present.

 "Where is the City?" by YUNT The speech program titled "Rethinking the Boundaries of the City" prepared within the scope of the exhibition aims to popularize the practices of thinking about the city in the sessions to be moderated by Prof. Dr. Eva Şarlak.

 Within the scope of the speech program, speakers will discuss the city's borders from different aspects. Each session will take place under a separate subheading and a reading recommendation will be shared with the participants before the session.

 —

 “The city” is the place of modernization.

 It is the field of complex and intertwined codes.

 The dynamics of the urban area (espace urbain), extending from the periphery to the center and from the center to the periphery, determines the way(s) of existence of the people living here.

 Each of us "exists" in a continuous and multifaceted network of relationships with different parts of the urban map by continuing our lives in a heterogeneous area consisting of multiple sign systems of the city.

 Within the scope of this speech program titled "The City as the Object of Our Perception of Place", which will be held in this direction, we will discuss how people interact with the reality of the city, based mainly on literature.

 It will be mentioned that it is in a network of relationship(s).

 The city and urban space as the object of our individual and collective memory, the city and its images that literature presents to us readers, the ways of human participation in the urban experience and the common areas of giant cities will be the main topics of this speech.

 In other words, by rethinking our perception of “place” based on literature; A tour will be taken from Demir Özlü to Vedat Türkali, from Balzac to Georges Perec, from Latife Tekin to Ayhan Geçgin, from Patrick Modiano to Annie Ernaux.

 Resume:

 Nedret Öztokat Kılıçeri works as a professor at the Department of French Language and Literature at Istanbul University. He teaches French literature and semiotics/linguistics. Additionally, he taught urban semiotics and visual semiotics courses in Sociology, Theater Criticism and Art Criticism programs at the postgraduate level.

 Kılıçeri has written many articles and review books on French and Turkish literature. Most recently, in 2021, his French review titled The Body in Maupassant's Fantasy and Dark Narratives (Le corps dans les contes fantastiques et cruels de Maupassant) was published by Istanbul University Press. Additionally, he translated the texts of authors such as Duras, Camus, Todorov and Modiano into Turkish.

 He is a member of the International Federation of Semiotics (Fédération Romane de Sémiotique-FRS) and the French Association of Semiotics (Association Française de Sémiotique-AFS).

 Reading/Source Recommendations:

 Literature

•  Geçgin, A. (2017). Long Walk . Istanbul: Metis Publications. (3rd Edition).
•  Tunç, A. (2023). Dry Girl . Istanbul: Can Publications.
•  Tekin, L. (2017). Berci Kristin Garbage Tales . Istanbul: İletişim Publications. (6th Edition).
•  Turkali, V. (2015). One Day Alone . Istanbul: Details Publications.

 Urban Studies

•  Koçak, D.Ö. and Koçak, OK (2015). Whose City is Istanbul? . Istanbul: Metis Publications.
•  Logie, S. and Morvan, Y. (2017). Istanbul 2023 . Istanbul: İletişim Publications.
•  Davis, M. (2016). Slum Planet . Istanbul: Metis Publications. (3rd Edition).