Zeynep Oktay

Asst. Prof. Dr. (Vice Chair)
PhD, Sorbonne University École Pratique des Hautes Études
zeynep.oktay@boun.edu.tr
+90 212 359 7233
Research Interests: 
Sufism, Alevi and Bektashi history, Classical Turkish Literature, Islamic Studies
PDF icon zeynepoktay_8.11.2022_cv.pdf
Teaching: 

TKL 58A Vernacularization in Classical Turkish Literature
TKL 405 Sufism in Classical Turkish Literature
TKL 489 The Masnavi Genre in Classical Turkish Literature
TKL 311 Turkish Folk Literature I
TKL 312 Turkish Folk Literature II
TKL 393 Introduction to Mystical Literature
TKL 101 Ottoman Turkish I
TKL 102 Ottoman Turkish II

Selected Publications: 

“Alevism as Islam: Rethinking Shahab Ahmed’s Conceptualization of Islam through  Alevi Poetry.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 49 No 2 (2022): 305-326. 

“Historicizing Alevism: The Evolution of Abdal and Bektashi Doctrine.” Journal of Shi’a Islamic Studies Vol. 13 No 3-4 (2020): 425-456.

“Alevi-Bektashi Literature as a Discursive Tradition: Interpretive Strategies, Orality, Charisma Loyalty,” In “Entangled Literatures and Histories in the Premodern Ottoman World,” ed. N. İpek Hüner Cora and Michael Pifer, special issue, Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association Vol 7. No 2 (2020): 33-53.

“The şaṭḥiyye of Yūnus Emre and Ḳayġusuz Abdāl: The Creation of a Vernacular Islamic Tradition in Turkish.” Turcica 50 (2019): 9-52.

Other Activities: 

Projects:

"The Islamisation of Anatolia, c. 1100-1500". Research Fellow, ERC Project. University of St. Andrews School of History. December 2014-December 2016.