CEST Summer School

The theme of the Summer School, which will be held in Vienna, is Cultural Exchange and Heritage. Vienna is an ideal place to think about methods and theories related to cultural exchange and heritage. The city is full of places, sites, objects that illustrate the complex and entangled history with the Ottoman Empire that goes back to the 16th century and which up to the present plays an important role in the “Erinnerungskultur” (“collective memory”) of the Austrians. Generally, this legacy is often labelled and remembered as “Turkish”. However, this rich cultural heritage is the result of a much more complex configuration and included the agency of more diverse groups than the label "Turk" suggests. Ottomans of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, such as Apostolic or Catholic Armenians, Orthodox Greeks or Sephardic Jews, are gathered under this term.

The residential summer school – through a program of lectures, workshops and cultural visits – will offer participants the opportunity to explore the concepts of "cultural exchange" and "cultural heritage", to discuss them with internationally renowned scholars. In addition to the theoretical aspects, concrete places of cultural exchange and cultural heritage will be visited with experts.

The application period is now closed. More information at cest-turkey.org