Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies presents
History or Story? Remembering and Rewriting the Past
A lecture by Tuba Baykara, a visiting scholar at @afamuw
Friday, February 13, 2026
1–2 PM (U.S. Central Time)
In-person and Online
Memorial Union, Room TBD
or via Zoom
This talk explores the tension between history and story by examining how storytelling becomes a powerful means of remembering and rewriting the past in Yuva (2012) and Cümbezin Kızı (2023). Storytelling in both novels moves beyond the passive transmission of historical facts and instead actively reconstructs the past by intertwining memory, place, and identity. Yuva focuses on African American experiences of trauma, belonging, and familial memory, while Cümbezin Kızı depicts British colonial Cyprus to reveal processes of social division and gendered marginalization. By foregrounding everyday narratives and lived experiences, the novels demonstrate how cultural memory transforms history into a dynamic, collective, and continually renegotiated process.
Tuba Baykara is an Assistant Professor of English Language Teaching at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her scholarship primarily focuses on African American drama, examining intersections of race, gender, discrimination, cultural identity, and representation in contemporary Black theatre.
Cookies and coffee will be served.