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Erdag Göknar, Visiting Assistant Professor, Slavic Languages & Literature

Contact Info:

Office Location:	308 Language Bldg
Email Address:

Teaching (Spring 2026):

• AMES 307S.01, TURKISH CULTURAL HISTORY Synopsis

  Allen 226, TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM

  (also cross-listed as CULANTH 297S.01, HISTORY 283S.01, ICS 345S.01, LIT 276S.01)

• AMES 503S.02, ASIAN & MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES Synopsis

  Allen 226, TuTh 11:45 AM-01:00 PM

Education:

Ph.D.	University of Washington	2004
M.A.	University of Washington	1998
MFA	Univ. of Oregon	1994
B.A.	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	1988

Specialties:

Turkish
Turkish Studies
International Comparative Studies

Research Interests:

Current projects: Between Orient and Nation: The Modern Turkish Novel and Orhan Pamuk (in-progress), Colonial Encounter and Cultural Revolution: Narrative Identities of Ottoman Modernism and Turkism (in-progress), A Mind at Peace (translation of Tanpinar novel), Archipelago Books, NY, 2008, Mediterranean Passages from Dido to Derrida, co-editor, UNC Press, 2008

Primary focus on the legacies of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkist cultural revolution upon modern Turkey. Secondary focus on cultural translation and representations of Turks and Muslims, including regional understandings of Turkey and Islam in the Middle East and Eurasia. Theoretical focus on literature, colonialism, modernism, translation, and identity.

Areas of Interest:

Ottoman Empire/Turkey
Ottoman/Turkish relations with Europe
Narrative Identities
Muslim Nationalism

Keywords:

Literature • Identity • Representation • Cultural Translation • Ottoman Empire/Turkey

Current Ph.D. Students  

• Johanna Schuster-Craig (German Studies)  

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

1. Goknar, E, "The Novel in Turkish: From Narrative Tradition to Nobel Prize", in Cambridge History of Turkey: Turkey in the Modern World, edited by Kasaba, R, vol. IV (Fall, 2008), pp. 35-35, Cambridge University Press [catalogue.asp]  [abs]
2. Goknar, E, "Orhan Pamuk and the ’Ottoman’ Theme", World Literature Today, vol. 80 no. 6 (November, 2006)

Bio: Erdağ Göknar is Assistant Professor of Turkish at Duke University and a literary translator. He holds a Ph.D. in Near and Middle Eastern studies (Turkish literature and culture) and an M.F.A. in creative writing. A Turkish-American scholar, he is currently a fellow at the National Humanities Center where he is writing a critical analysis of the Turkish novel and Orhan Pamuk. He is the recipient of two Fulbright awards, the Dublin IMPAC literary award (with Orhan Pamuk), and an NEA translation grant. His partner, Banu Gökarıksel, is professor of cultural geography at UNC and their son Levent Sa'y, is a toddler.