معرفی
Esra Almas is a faculty member in the Department of Turkish Literature at Bilkent University. Her research focuses on memory studies, urban imaginary, and modern Turkish literature with a specialization in autobiographical narratives and Jewish memories of Istanbul. She holds a PhD from the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis and has held teaching positions at universities including the University of Amsterdam, Leiden University, Haliç University, and İstanbul Şehir University. Almas is an honorary fellow at the Netherlands Institute in Turkey and has conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Katz Center.
Education: BA/MA in English and Comparative Literature (Boğaziçi University and University of Auckland), PhD in Cultural Analysis (University of Amsterdam). Her current project explores Jewish memories of Istanbul through sensory and intellectual frameworks, interrogating multidirectional memory in the region. She is affiliated with the Memory Studies Association and Modern Language Association.
Research interests include autobiography, minor literatures, Sufism, and visual narratives. Her work bridges literature and urban studies, analyzing how minority experiences are inscribed in Istanbul’s cultural fabric. Awards include the ASCA Fellowship and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Katz Center. She has published in journals like Culture, Theory and Critique and Jewish Social Studies.
Her academic contributions span teaching, translation, and organizing literary events with PEN International. Recent research highlights include studies on Ottoman-era women’s narratives, Pierre Loti’s turcophilia, and the intersection of exile and urban spaces in Turkish literature.
