Course description

Istanbul: The Many Lives of an Imperial City

“Whoever ends up possessing Constantinople will govern the world,” Napoleon Bonaparte once declared. Even though Napoleon erred, the city has been the seat of powerful empires from which Romans, Byzantines and—after 1453—Ottomans ruled vast multi-ethnic and multi-religious populations. Now the major city of the Turkish Republic, Istanbul harbors, oftentimes uneasily, the heritage and memory of all three alongside a much more recent but equally powerful Turkish nationalism.

In this course, you explore the political and cultural history of Istanbul as an imperial capital and its transformation into Europe’s largest city under the modern Turkish Republic, using historical primary sources, film, fiction, music, memoirs and relevant secondary sources. The course has an embedded travel component with faculty members during spring break.

Application

Course registration is by faculty approval and requires completing the application and selection during October.

Applicants may be contacted to schedule an interview with the faculty leaders for the trip. If determined as necessary, these will be semi-formal interviews, offered in specific time slots and will not be rescheduled, so monitoring email following application is advised.

Itinerary highlights

During the embedded travel component of the course in Istanbul, you will participate in dialogue meetings with students at Koç University. You will also visit preeminent sites of historical memory-making, including:

• The Old City imperial complex: Topkapı Palace Museum, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque
• Houses of worship: churches, mosques, and synagogues, on both the city’s European and Asian sides
• Academic and cultural centers: Koç Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Boğaziçi University, İSAM Centre for Islamic Studies, İRCICA Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture
• Museums: Istanbul Modern, Sakıp Sabancı Museum, The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

Travel details

For all students accepted to the course, the School of Foreign Service will cover the costs of travel and accommodation fees, including:

• Airfare
• Lodging (double occupancy hotel)
• Transportation for the company visits and any on-site group travel costs
• Some meals and tips
• Site visit entry fees

Students are responsible for covering:

• Tuition and fees
• Books and materials for the class
• Visa requirements 
• Georgetown University requires a $65 international health insurance 
• Miscellaneous meals
• Phone and data charges
• Transportation to and from the airport in Washington, DC 
• Out-of-pocket personal expenses 

Past students shared an estimated cost of $100-300.

If you do not have a valid passport or one that will remain unexpired for at least 6 months after returning from the program, please apply for a new one now. 

Visa

You are responsible for obtaining your visa for the travel portion of the course. Please submit your visa application well in advance. 

Faculty 

Mustafa Aksakal

Mustafa Aksakal is Associate Professor of History and the Nesuhi Ertegün Chair of Modern Turkish Studies at Georgetown University. He has written and lectured widely on Ottoman, Turkish, and Middle Eastern History. He is the author of two books, The Ottoman Road to War in 1914 (Cambridge 2008) and The War That Made the Middle East (Princeton 2026).

Sylvia Önder

Sylvia Önder is Head of the Turkish Program at Georgetown University and teaches Turkish language classes as well as classes in the Department of Anthropology, the Disability Studies Program, and the Medical Humanities Program. Her 2009 book, We Have No Microbes Here: Healing Practices in a Turkish Black Sea Village, is part of the Medical Anthropology Series of Carolina Academic Press.