This is an essay written by Prof. Hacer Ansal in Turkish. Prof. Ansal established the first STS MA program at a Turkish university (Istanbul Technical University) back in 2000. In the digital collection "An Archaeology of STS in Turkey," we provided an essay about this program. In "Innovating STS in Turkey" digital collection, we wanted to extend this discussion by including Ansal's personal reflection on this STS program. In this essay, she talks about how they opened the program and why it got closed. Ansal talks about the obstacles that prevent institutionalizing STS in Turkey, which particularly refer to the political and economic instabilities. Though lots have changed in Turkey in the last ten to fifteen years since the end of this program, Ansal's story is still relevant. Indeed, it is the story that we listen closely and try to find ways to innovate STS in Turkey through thinking deeply about what it means to institutionalize STS!
We haven't translated this text into English intentionally. Here, we neither want to underline that "there exist things that cannot be translated" nor supporting the usage of Turkish language (as a native tongue, which is surely not the only language spoken in Turkey) from any essentialist/localist position. We just think about this decision as a thing to play with in the future in line with one of the frameworks of the digital collection on innovating STS in Turkey, namely "translation."
Hacer Ansal, "ITU STS Program ", contributed by Duygu Kasdogan and Aybike Alkan, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 20 June 2022, accessed 3 December 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/itu-sts-program
Critical Commentary
This is an essay written by Prof. Hacer Ansal in Turkish. Prof. Ansal established the first STS MA program at a Turkish university (Istanbul Technical University) back in 2000. In the digital collection "An Archaeology of STS in Turkey," we provided an essay about this program. In "Innovating STS in Turkey" digital collection, we wanted to extend this discussion by including Ansal's personal reflection on this STS program. In this essay, she talks about how they opened the program and why it got closed. Ansal talks about the obstacles that prevent institutionalizing STS in Turkey, which particularly refer to the political and economic instabilities. Though lots have changed in Turkey in the last ten to fifteen years since the end of this program, Ansal's story is still relevant. Indeed, it is the story that we listen closely and try to find ways to innovate STS in Turkey through thinking deeply about what it means to institutionalize STS!
We haven't translated this text into English intentionally. Here, we neither want to underline that "there exist things that cannot be translated" nor supporting the usage of Turkish language (as a native tongue, which is surely not the only language spoken in Turkey) from any essentialist/localist position. We just think about this decision as a thing to play with in the future in line with one of the frameworks of the digital collection on innovating STS in Turkey, namely "translation."