Turkish German Cultural Encounters in West Berlin (1970-1980)

Tiny Spaces, Big Ideas - Ela Gezen

Drawing on extensive archival research this lecture discusses cultural activities during the early stages of Turkish migration to West Germany.

More information on this topic:

  • Ela Gezen. “Mehmet kam aus Anatolien: Türkeistämmige Künstler*innen in Westberlin,” “Die ganze Geschichte fasse ich an der Hand.” Literatur und Kunst zur Einwanderung ins Nachkriegsdeutschland, ed. Maha El-Hissy. Berlin: Verbrecher Verlag, 2025. 
  • Ela Gezen. “Deutsch-Türkische Literarische Begegnungen in West-Berlin um 1980,” solicited chapter for Berlin International. Literaturszenen in der geteilten Stadt (1970-1989), eds. Susanne Klengel, Jutta Müller-Tamm, Lukas Nils Regeler and Ulrike Schneider. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023. 
  •  “Menschenlandschaft: Traces of Turkish Migration in West Berlin,” The Berlin Journal. A Magazine from the American Academy in Berlin, Issue 36 (2022-2023), 50–54. 
  • Ela Gezen. “Integration, Turkish Theater, and Cultural-Political Interventions in West Berlin: Vasıf Öngören’s Kollektiv Theater (1980–1982), Comparative Drama, Special Issue on Performing Turkishness and Its Others: Theater and Politics in Turkey and Its Diasporas, (July 2019): 301–321.

About the Lecturer

Ela Gezen

Director, Interdisciplinary Studies Institute
Graduate Program Director, German Studies
Professor, German Studies

Ela Gezen is the graduate program director and a professor of German Studies, and is a co-director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Institute at UMass Amherst.

Ela Gezen