The 2025 CEST Summer School explores the politics of culture wars—deep-seated ideological conflicts over values, identity, and social norms that divide societies along political, religious, or cultural lines. Our goal is to bring together junior academics and PhD candidates examining the intersection of culture, politics, and society in Turkey, including its diasporas and related communities in neighboring countries.
We welcome research exploring transnational, national, and local dimensions, with a particular focus on state policies, municipal interventions, and oppositional initiatives. We especially encourage comparative scholars who examine Turkey alongside other cases where culture plays a central role in state-led autocratization, conservative pushbacks, ‘anti-woke’ discourses, and far-right politics—particularly those analyzing sites of resistance and opposition.

The Summer School seeks to explore both the construction and impact of authoritarian cultural policies. On one side, we see the rise of a conservative-nationalist cultural hegemony—encapsulated in Turkey by the slogan yerli ve milli (local and national/Islamic). On the other, we witness the suppression of dissenting cultural expressions and attacks on progressive politics. At the same time, counter-movements emerge from opposition municipalities, liberal upper-middle-class art institutions, the Kurdish movement, and left-wing liberal and socialist groups. These actors challenge authoritarian cultural policies through artistic production, the creation of alternative institutions, public contestation, disruption, and transnational collaborations. Beyond the binary of state versus resistance, we also seek to explore groups operating in more ambiguous spaces, such as non-establishment Islamic formations, women’s village theatre troupes, or trade unions’ cultural initiatives.
Our approach is interdisciplinary, drawing from political science, international relations, history, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, museum studies, gender and queer studies, as well as migration, diaspora, and religious studies. We particularly welcome qualitative, in-depth, and ‘politics and society from below’ approaches.

We invite scholars whose work engage with a broad spectrum of cultural fields, from state policies on music, theatre, and literature to contested spaces in museums, religious infrastructures, TV series, and gender politics within Turkey and its transnational spheres of influence. Comparative studies that place Turkey in dialogue with other contexts are also encouraged.

Please submit your application as a single PDF file to summercest2025@gmail.com by April 6, 2025. Add the subject line: “CEST 2025 Application – [Your Name].” Your application must include:
Letter of motivation (max. 2 single-spaced pages),
Summary of your work in progress (500 words),
Short CV (1 page), including contact details for two referees who may be contacted for references,
Full CV (3–4 pages),
Draft paper (4,000–8,000 words) relevant to the Summer School theme (this may be a thesis chapter, a draft for publication, or a research paper you wish to develop).
Indication of previous participation in a CEST event (if relevant).

Objectives of the Summer School
The Summer School has three key objectives:
– To bring together junior scholars from Turkey and other European countries for an in-depth theoretical and empirical engagement with cultural politics in Turkey, as well as with global trends concerning the centrality of culture in the rise of authoritarian politics.
– To provide participants with opportunities to engage with leading scholars in the field, fostering academic dialogue, mentorship, and potential collaborations.
– To support participants in developing essential academic skills in critical social and area studies, including critical thinking, writing and publishing strategies, presentation techniques, and research funding applications.

Program Overview
The Summer School will take place from 24–31 August 2025 at the University of Turin, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society. The program will include:
– Daily lectures and seminars by leading scholars on various aspects of cultural politics,
– Structured discussions on participants’ research,
– Practical sessions on research funding and academic presentation skills.
– Participants will be expected to prepare two presentations of their research in progress:
– A 7-minute presentation for the plenary session,
– A 20-minute research presentation for their working group.
– Application Process

PhD candidates and junior academics (within five years of completing their PhD) whose research closely aligns with the Summer School’s theme are invited to apply. The selection committee may also consider applications from advanced MA students if their research is highly relevant to the program.