Seda Baykal

I am interested in the mutually constitutive relationship between academia and the socio-political and economic dynamics in Turkey, focusing on the changing structure of the universities and the intellectual field.  In my master's thesis, I examined how the mektep-madrasa controversy is manifested in Ankara University School of Divinity as a divide between those who see the study and teaching of Islam as a religion and those who see it as a social scientific inquiry. My present work critically addresses the recent revival of higher religious education and the emergence of the "Faculty of Islamic Studies" at various universities in Turkey. I am particularly interested in the question of how these faculties contribute to Islamic political thought and represent the prevailing sociopolitical dynamics in Turkey.