East and West: Who Gets to Tell the Story?
26 November and 3 December
|Cemiyet Lokal, Efruzgâh Odası
What happens when the world knows you only through someone else’s story? From Edward Said’s Orientalism to contemporary narratives about Muslims, migrants, and Palestine, explore how representation becomes power—and how those spoken about reclaim their own voices.
Saat ve Yer
26 November and 3 December
Cemiyet Lokal, Efruzgâh Odası, Asmalı Mescit, Yemenici Abdüllatif Sk. No: 1/3, 34430 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Türkiye
Etkinlik Detayları
On 26 November and 3 December 2026, Thursday evenings at 19.00, we will welcome Gianfranco Bria, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow and Assistant Professor at Roma Tre University, for two English-language sessions at Cemiyet Lokal in Şişhane, Istanbul.
Who has the power to tell another people's story? And what happens when those being described struggle to make their own voices heard?
Beginning with Edward Said's Orientalism, we will explore how the West has imagined, represented, and defined the East—and how these representations have shaped political power, cultural identities, and our understanding of others.
From colonial narratives to contemporary portrayals of Muslims, migrants, and Palestinians, the two sessions will examine who gets to speak, whose perspectives are overlooked, and how communities challenge the identities imposed upon them.
Can we understand another culture without speaking in its place? And can anyone truly speak for an entire people?
Through these questions, we invite participants to reconsider the boundaries between East and West, the relationship between knowledge and power, and the politics of telling another's story. The programme will be conducted in English.
Lectures of academic standard
Gift package and refreshments
Certificate of participation
Access to video recordings of the sessions for later viewing
Additional readings to deepen your knowledge
The opportunity to meet fellow participants in person and ask questions to the lecturer
At the beginning of the seminar, during our welcome and introduction on Thursday, 26 November, you will receive an educational package. Through the QR code included in the package, you will have access to video recordings of the sessions, as well as the readings for each session. This will give you the opportunity to catch up on any session you may have missed or revisit the lectures at a later time. The educational materials will remain accessible to you after the seminar, so you can return to the recordings and revisit the course whenever you wish. The recordings are not sold separately to those who have not participated in the seminar. For questions, bank transfer or cash payment options, and applications for scholarship-supported participation, you can contact us here. You can either purchase a ticket for the full seminar or purchase tickets for individual sessions.
Program
1st Session | Making the Other: Edward Said and the Power of Representation | Thursday, 26 of November, 19.00
Welcome & Demirhindi Sherbet Reception | 19.00
Who has the power to define another people? Starting with Edward Said’s Orientalism, this talk explores how literature, scholarship, and political discourse helped construct an image of the East as irrational, unchanging, and fundamentally different from the West. We will trace the relationship between these representations and colonial power, asking how descriptions of people and cultures can become tools for classifying and governing them.
Placing Said within a broader history of anticolonial thought, the discussion will also consider the questions his work leaves open. Can we challenge stereotypes about the East without treating the West as a single, homogeneous world? How can we understand cultural differences without turning them into fixed identities? An accessible introduction to the ways knowledge shapes our encounters with others.
2nd Session | Speaking in One’s Own Voice: Otherness, Representation, and Agency | Thursday, 3 of December, 19.30
What does it mean to be spoken about, yet struggle to be heard? Building on Edward Said’s Orientalism, this talk explores how peoples and communities represented as “Others” negotiate imposed identities and assert their capacity to tell their own stories and shape history.
From colonial representations to public narratives about Muslims, migrants, and Palestinians, we will examine how categories such as “foreigner,” “enemy,” “victim,” and “refugee” influence whose voices are heard and whose experiences are overlooked. How do people challenge these representations? And when do attempts to speak on their behalf reproduce the inequalities they seek to overcome?
Drawing on Said’s legacy and the critiques it generated, the discussion will explore the tensions between identities imposed from outside and the ways people understand and represent themselves. Particular attention will be paid to the diversity within communities: speaking in one’s own voice does not mean speaking with a single voice. Palestine will provide one important case for reflecting on the wider relationship between representation, political recognition, and the capacity to act.
Gianfranco Bria
Gianfranco Bria is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow (MSCA) and Assistant Professor at Roma Tre University. He is also Adjunct Professor of Islamic Law at Sapienza University of Rome and Associate Member of the Centre d’études Turques, Ottomanes, Balkaniques et Centrasiatiques (CETOBaC) at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris. As a Marie Curie Global Fellow, he is currently conducting research as an associate researcher at Columbia University, New York University, and Bard College (United States).
His research focuses on Islamic authority, sainthood and charisma in the Balkans, Islamic/Sufi networks, and the history of Sufism in Southeastern Europe since the late Ottoman Empire. He also studies the contemporary transformations of Islamic practices, including their discourses, symbols, and forms of embodiment.
His MSCA project, Reshaping Sufi Path in Late Modern Southeastern Europe: The Teachings and Networks of the Melâmȋya-nûriya (ReSuSEE), provides an analytical and comparative study of the doctrines and networks of the Melâmȋya-nûriya, a Sufi path that emerged in Southeastern Europe during the late Ottoman period.
Ücretler
Full Participation
By purchasing this ticket, you will be able to attend both sessions of the lectures in full, receive the complete gift package, and enjoy unlimited access to the lecture videos and estra content through our website.
₺2.000,00
+₺400,00 KDV
Student
By purchasing this ticket, you will be able to attend both sessions of the lectures in full, receive the complete gift package, and enjoy unlimited access to the lecture videos and estra content through our website. Student tickets are available exclusively to undergraduate students under the age of 25. If necessary, Cemiyet may request and verify your student ID or proof of enrollment.
₺1.200,00
+₺240,00 KDV
One Seating
With this ticket, you will be able to attend one of the two lectures, according to your preference. If you would like to attend both lectures and access all the lecture content, we recommend purchasing the full participation ticket.
₺1.200,00
+₺240,00 KDV
Scholarship Ticket
By purchasing this ticket, you will enable a student to attend both lectures in full, receive the complete lecture package, and enjoy unlimited access to the lecture content through our website. You will also be informed of the school and department of the student whose participation you have supported.
₺1.200,00
+₺240,00 KDV
+₺36,00 bilet hizmet bedeli
Davetnâme-i Cemiyet-i Hâssa
This limited-edition ticket is intended as a way of supporting the activities of Cemiyet. You may choose the amount you wish to contribute. By purchasing this ticket, you will be able to attend both lectures in full, receive the complete lecture package, and enjoy unlimited access to the lecture content through our website. In addition, guests who purchase the *Davetnâme-i Cemiyet-i Hâssa* will have a special place reserved for them at the event, with their names displayed at their seats.
₺
Toplam
₺0,00
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