By Emmelia Georgiou

Within the framework of the European Capital of Culture Pafos2017 and the Terra Mediterranea: In Action project an anthropological talk will be given by Yael Navaro in conversation with a film made by Emrah Gokdemir, entitled What Khidr Says to Moses: Turn Around Me in Nicosia tomorrow.

The talk, entitled Violence and Spirituality: Evocations of the Mystical Khidr in the Shadow of the Syrian War, will take place in the courtyard of the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre (NiMAC).

Navaro, a reader of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge where she has been teaching since 1999, will present her project Living with Remnants: Politics, Materiality and Subjectivity in the Aftermath of Past atrocities in Turkey. This project studies relations between people and material spaces after the 1915 Armenian Genocide in Turkey. Her specific ethnographic research focuses on Antakya (Antioch) in south Turkey (close to the border with Syria), where she has been conducting work on violence and spirituality.

A native of Istanbul, she studied at Robert College and Princeton University, where she received a masters and a PhD in Anthropology. In addition to having written a number of articles, she is also the author of two books, Faces of the State: Secularism and Public Life in Turkey (2002) and The Make Believe Space: Affective Geography in a Post-war Polity. The latter is an ethnographic and theoretical meditation upon the space of the northern part of Cyprus post 1974 and prior to the opening of checkpoints. Navaro is best known for her work on people’s engagement with spaces and objects left behind in post-war environments.
Gokdemir, from Antakya, Turkey, is a painter, video maker, graphic designer and performance artist. He was also a member of A77 Art Collective, founded in Antakya in 2005. In 2010 he worked as a production manager at the second International Antakya Biennial. He is also one of the founders of the Antakya Contemporary Art Association (AGUSAD), which was established in 2011 by young contemporary artists living in Antakya. He has exhibited his works both locally, in Istanbul art venues and other cities in Turkey, as well as internationally in Germany, Poland, Ukraine and the UK.

The presentation – which will be in English – will concentrate on the influences of faith and experiences of violence. The anthropologist and film maker will trace how spirituality has survived and surmounted historical events and disasters through the history of Antakya.

In Roman times under the name Antioch on the Orontes, the city was known as an important centre for trade and was thus the subject of numerous armed conflicts.

At the heart of Navaro’s research and Gokdemir’s film is Khidr, a figure from pre-Islamic times revered in Islam. It is believed that God extended Khidr’s life until the end of time. The Alawites in the Antakya region worship him in prayers and portraits. Navaro examines this mythical figure against the backdrop of the ongoing Syrian war.

Violence and Spirituality: Evocations of the Mystical Khidr in the Shadow of the Syrian War
Anthropological talk with Yael Navaro. July 19. NiMAC, 19 Palias Ilektrikis, Nicosia. 7.30pm. In English. Tel: 22-797400

 

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