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HISTORICAL

Every month, we choose a term to analyze its history in detail. Terms are usually chosen in regards to their relevance with the current events.

J’Accuse…!: Émile Zola and The Dreyfus Affair

Boran GÖHER

12.07.2021

“I accuse Major Du Paty de Clam… I accuse General Mercier… I accuse General Billot… I accuse General De Boisdeffre and General Gonse… I accuse General De Pellieux and commander Ravary… I accuse the three handwriting experts, sirs Belhomme, Varinard and Couard… I accuse the offices of the war… Finally, I accuse the first council of war…”

The Witch Trials: Salem and Beyond

Elif NAZLICAN & Gizem AKDOĞAN

07.06.2021

Witch Trials were a series of prosecution of people accused of witchcraft back in the 17th century. Even though it is mostly labeled as ‘’Salem Witch Trials’’ with the most infamous witch hunt and trial, arrests were made in several villages and towns including Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover, and Salem Town, Massachusetts, and in different countries such as Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Benelux countries. The reasons and motivations behind these trials which lead to the tragic execution of 40.000 to 60.000 people who were arrested and prosecuted were indeed a collective justification of different subjects.

Culture and History Under The Shadow of Colonialism: The British Museum

Boran GÖHER

07.06.2021

Located in London, England; the British Museum is one of the largest and most popular museums in the entire world. One of the most recognizable landmarks in London and an extremely popular tourist attraction, its worldwide cultural impact is not to be underestimated. The roots of its great significance and wide allure lie for the largest part in its collection, the museum having over eight million items in its collection.

Culture and History Under The Shadow of Colonialism: The British Museum

Boran GÖHER

07.06.2021

Located in London, England; the British Museum is one of the largest and most popular museums in the entire world. One of the most recognizable landmarks in London and an extremely popular tourist attraction, its worldwide cultural impact is not to be underestimated. The roots of its great significance and wide allure lie for the largest part in its collection, the museum having over eight million items in its collection. Yet, the large catalog of items is also a point of contention.

The Witch Trials: Salem and Beyond

Elif NAZLICAN & Gizem AKDOĞAN

07.06.2021

Witch Trials were a series of prosecution of people accused of witchcraft back in the 17th century. Even though it is mostly labeled as ‘’Salem Witch Trials’’ with the most infamous witch hunt and trial, arrests were made in several villages and towns including Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover, and Salem Town, Massachusetts, and in different countries such as Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Benelux countries.

Democracy (Un)chained: Arab Spring Today

Alp Ünal AYHAN & Zühtü Anıl TUTAR

03.05.2021

The Arab Spring began eleven years ago, rattling many regimes in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Its effects are still felt in many countries, and the actions of the era had consequences far beyond their day or location. Some protestors even emphasized implementing the “Turkish model” which included a Muslim-majority country with a secular constitution and a Western liberal democracy, yet almost no one in Turkey is interested in the Arab Spring or Arab politics.

Environmental Racism and Keystone XL:
A Battle for Indigenous Sovereignty

Alp Ünal AYHAN

05.04.2021

The Keystone XL pipeline was a proposed part of the Keystone Pipeline system that carries oil from western Canada to the US through the Dakotas to the Midwest and Texas. Three phases of the system had already been built, and the XL pipeline would be the fourth if it were constructed. The pipeline was presented as an extension to the rest of the Keystone system to increase capacity.

History of Unfairness: Social Classes and Women’s Struggle

Hülya AFAT

08.03.2021

Regardless of the time period, societies have had classes. Even though the criteria those classes separate varies over time and according to the geography, there is one mistreatment that still continues, and that is gender discrimination. Examining the class struggle without mentioning the discrimination against women would not be just, especially, during Women’s History Month.

History of Time

Cansu GÜLBAHAR

01.02.2021

Time is money. As humanity, the invention of planes, ships, cars is related to gaining time. A long time ago people realized that we can’t go back in time, at least till the time we reach the speed of light, so they wanted to handle their work fast or minimize the hours we spend on the way. In such cases, we decided to explore the history of time which is something that we live our lives according to.

Western Economics in the 80s: Neoliberalization

Hülya Afat & Boran Göher

01.02.2021

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Raegan were the leaders of the UK and US respectively during the 1980s, the reason why they are the first names that come to mind when we think about neoliberalism is that their neoliberal policies implemented and changed the state-citizen dynamics globally during the 80s.

The History of Psychology as a Science

Begüm GÜVEN

04.01.2020

History is full of contingencies and the history of psychology is no exception. We can conclude what we consider as psychology only in a retrospective fashion. This perspective, of course, comes with many biases, for we live on the other side of history, the future.

A Road Full of Obstacles: Turkey’s European Union Journey

Duygu BAYRAM& Didem ÖZÇAKIR

07.12.2020

Turkey and the European Union have a long history, starting from the 1960s. However, after nearly 60 years of debates, there is still no solid ground and improvement in its membership process. In this article, we are examining this story that is full of diplomatic relations, ups and downs.

Evolution of the Understanding of Crime and Punishment

Ümit Altar BİNİCİ

07.12.2020

Since the beginning of mankind, crime has always been present within humans. As humans kept reproducing, crime has spread and evolved into many kinds. With that, the ways and means to deal with the crime have also evolved.

Evolution of Money: How Did We Get Here?

Hülya AFAT

02.11.2020

We all know the story of Lydians starting to use coins as the first official currency because of the problems bartering caused, even before that, items like tea, salt, and seeds were used as money in bartering, but their perishable nature pushed people to develop money from a more sustainable material like metal. This evolved into the usage of various metals like gold, silver, and bronze through time, sorting the values of the metals according to their scarceness is actually the very fundamental principle of economics which made it into the modern eras.

History of Unusual Entertainment: Human Zoos and Circuses

Kaan ERTAN

05.10.2020

Chariot races, ancient Greek tragedies, operas, Olympic games, fairs, concerts, cinema… These are a few of the countless things that we do, or used to do, to entertain ourselves. Although some of these are now obsolete, all of them surely sound nice and harmless. However, not everything we have ever done in the name of entertainment has been so innocent. From this viewpoint, I want to discuss 2 forms of entertainment that were once extremely popular, yet very inhumane: human zoos and freak shows.

A Look at the Creation of Modern State

Didem ÖZÇAKIR

05.10.2020

When we think of the term “state” we recall uniter and powerful entities that have power on a certain territory. These uniter entities appear with their own defined nation and sovereignty. This idea that comes to our minds when we think about the term “states” is a definition of the modern states. However, states have not always been the same throughout history. Ottoman Empire’s way of imposing its sovereignty and ruling the country has been very different from what we have today. In this article, we will look at how the notion of states changed throughout history by looking at their main elements.

The Rule of the People: History of Democracy

Duygu BAYRAM

07.09.2020

The term democracy comes from the Greek words dēmos and kratos. While what democracy means has evolved, at its core, democracy gives people the right to have a say in the ruling of the community they belong to. Today, democracy mostly takes the form of an election where the public chooses a representative by vote; however, when the term was first coined in ancient Greece, the system was slightly different.

Aleph in Language and Linguistics

Ümit Altar BİNİCİ & Begüm GÜVEN

07.09.2020

Nature has shaped many of the words we commonly use in our daily lives throughout history. As humankind became more and more civilized, languages transformed shapes into the letters we know today. An undeniable example to the evolution of the language undoubtedly would be the letter “A.”

When the Economy Contracts: History of Economic Crisis

Didem ÖZÇAKIR

03.08.2020

We are now living through perhaps the worst economic crisis of history because of the effects of COVID 19. The unemployment rate has been increasing steadily for the past months, millions of people could not go to work because of lockdowns and governments accepted very comprehensive packages of economic measures throughout the world.

The 100-Year-Old Strife in the Caucasus

Kaan ERTAN

03.08.2020

Recently, an old and renowned region in Caucasia reminded us of the complex history and fragile peace in the area. This region is Nagorno-Karabakh, located within Azerbaijan, yet de-facto ruled by its own pro-Armenian government. But why is it not ruled by Azerbaijan and why is it a hot political topic nowadays? Let us examine the situation by digging into its roots.

An Ever-Present Problem: The Course of Racism Throughout History

Boran GÖHER

06.07.2020

Despite the recent prominence of globalism and increasing standards of education, racism still stands as a major problem, both on a personal and systematic level. Undoubtedly, this is a multi-faceted issue caused by a plethora of underlying interconnected problems relating to human nature and the cultural norms of humanity constructed over many millennia.

History of Pandemics: What Did We Learn From Yesterday?

Kaan ERTAN

01.06.2020

The year 2020 gave the word “pandemic” a common meaning for people from all over the world. That being, the COVID’19 disease. As of March 11, 2020; World Health Organization (WHO) announced that COVID’19 has been moved to the pandemic disease category.

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