Jude Konyar is in his final year as a humanities student with ambitions of graduate research in Ottoman and Turkish history. His research interests include the history of nation building in Turkey, and interactions between Kurdish minorities and modern Turkey and Iran. He is literate in Turkish and currently studying Kurmancî Kurdish. His fellowship research project is titled Du Dewlet, lê Yek Welat: The Multiethnic Underworld of the Turkist Right. Jude is one of our 2024-25 Undergraduate Fellows.
What are your main research interests and what excites you most about them?
My research focuses on the ideological construction of Turkish nationalism by individuals who don’t fit neatly into the ethnic categories it presupposes. This topic holds personal significance for me: having grown up in the Middle East, I harbour a concern for regional identitarian issues and the ethnic persecution that often accompanies them. More broadly, I believe this work contributes to a richer understanding of nationalism beyond Europe and the Americas. Although this isn't always true in academic contexts, much of the writing about the region tends to take ethnic categories and other social groupings as fixed or self-evident. I aim to contribute to a discourse that acknowledges the complexities and nuances such simplifications often overlook.
What project are you working on at the JHI and why did you choose it?
Currently, my attention is divided between two projects. One is a nonacademic project that details the nuanced engagement of Georgian Turks with political currents in Turkey. The other is a study of Ziya Gökalp, a Kurdish-born Turkish nationalist whose writing has been embedded in the language of nationalism across Turkey. Specifically, I’m leveraging a study of Gökalp’s writing post-1920 to argue that the construction of a Kurdish other was necessary to the self-image of Turkish nationalism on the eve of the inauguration Turkish Republic. Initially, I had conceived of the first as a short side-project, but over the course of the first semester it grew into a much more involved––and fruitful––endeavour. I’m juggling the two at this point.
How has your JHI Fellowship experience been so far?
As expected, my experience at the JHI has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve found the weekly lunches enriching and I think that, while I’ve definitely found valuable import for my current research from these discussions, they help widen my scholarly horizons generally. I’ve also developed a great rapport with the other fellows––the JHI has allowed me to foster connections that I hope I’ll hold on to as I move forward in my career. My only regret is that I haven’t been able to spend more time at the Institute
Why do you believe the humanities are important?
I don’t think it’s possible to reliably navigate the complexities of today’s world without a grounding in the study of the human experience. By helping people understand the social world and their own inner lives, the humanities provide essential tools for personal and societal insight. They cultivate a capacity for critical thinking and teach us when and how to reflect upon the limits of our understanding.
Can you share something you read/watched/listened to recently that you enjoyed/were inspired by?
I’ve challenged myself to read through all of In Search of Lost Time. It’s been a struggle trying to make consistent progress this year, but I’m getting there.
What is a fun fact about you?
This summer, I will be locking myself away in Armenia to study several languages. This has been a fantasy of mine for some time and I’m really excited that I’ll finally have the opportunity to go.