Fatma Beyza Celebi: Cosmopolitan Nostalgia: Examining local memory in contemporary Istanbul focusing on spatial and visual representations of the city’s cosmopolitanism in the 1920s and 1930s

Supervisor: Dr. Felipe Hernández

Research overview:

Beyza’s research traces the visual and spatial representations of the perceived cosmopolitan Beyoğlu in the 1920s and 1930s in relation to contemporary local memory. Recent scholarship on memory has pinpointed the relationship between places to the images of memory, and the city is a particular space of an archive that organises collective and local memory. Much of the work surrounding memory and space is being conducted in disciplines such as anthropology, history, and geography. This research extends the previous understandings of memory and space through unique dynamics of place and memory in the context of cosmopolitanism in Beyoğlu. This is done by examining contemporary spatial, social, and political changes through an urban lens, and examining how the neighbourhood differs from its archive of representations of cosmopolitanism. The research spatially focuses on the arcades of Beyoğlu, and specific streets surrounding it. The research uses ethnographic methods such as collective mapping methods and interviews to explore the complex relationship between cosmopolitanism, local memory and nostalgia. Beyza’s research traces the visual and spatial representations of the perceived cosmopolitan Beyoğlu in the 1920s and 1930s in relation to contemporary local memory. Recent scholarship on memory has pinpointed the relationship between places to the images of memory, and the city is a particular space of an archive that organises collective and local memory. Much of the work surrounding memory and space is being conducted in disciplines such as anthropology, history, and geography. This research extends the previous understandings of memory and space through unique dynamics of place and memory in the context of cosmopolitanism in Beyoğlu. This is done by examining contemporary spatial, social, and political changes through an urban lens, and examining how the neighbourhood differs from its archive of representations of cosmopolitanism. The research spatially focuses on the arcades of Beyoğlu, and specific streets surrounding it. The research uses ethnographic methods such as collective mapping methods and interviews to explore the complex relationship between cosmopolitanism, local memory and nostalgia.

Biography:

Beyza is an architect and urban planner interested in architectural history and theory.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (with high distinction) in architecture and urban planning from Newcastle University. She also holds an MPhil degree in Architecture and Urban studies from the University of Cambridge. She has worked in various architectural practices before starting her PhD. She currently teaches undergraduate students at Cambridge University.