Yeliz Teber
Supervisor: Associate Professor Zeynep Yürekli
College Affiliation: Blackfriars Hall
Email: yeliz.teber@ames.ox.ac.uk
Education:
2016-Present: DPhil / Asian and Middle Eastern Studies / University of Oxford
Supervisor: Associate Professor Zeynep Yürekli-Görkay
Working Thesis Title: The Çelebis in the Formation, Expansion and Consolidation of Bektashism in the Early-Modern Ottoman Empire,
2014-2016: MPhil / Islamic Art and Archaeology / Khalili Research Centre / Wolfson College / University of Oxford (Distinction)
Supervisor: Associate Professor Zeynep Yürekli-Görkay
Dissertation Title: Legend and Architectural Patronage in the Balkans: Sarı Saltuk in the Ottoman Political Context,
2006-2010: MA / Cinema / University of Bahçeşehir (Distinction),
2003-2006: BA Minor / Visual Communication Design / University of Bahçeşehir (First-class honours),
2001-2006: BA Major / Cinema and Television / University of Bahçeşehir (First-class honours, The Highest-Ranking Student of the Faculty, Rectorship Award).
Publications:
‘The Leadership of the Convent of Hacı Bektaş: The Spiritual Descent of the Çelebis in Light of New Evidence’, in New Horizons in Kizilbash/Alevi-Bektashi History, ed. Cemal Kafadar and Ayfer Karakaya-Stump (Academic Studies Press, Forthcoming).
Scholarships & Grants & Awards:
2016-2022: Khalili Research Centre Scholarship
2022: Best Graduate Student Paper Award, Kizilbash/Alevi-Bektashi History Workshop,
2022: William & Mary College Travel Grant,
2021: Historians of Islamic Art Association, Grabar Travel Grant,
2020: UKRI, Global Challenges Research Fund,
2019 and 2017: Barakat Trust Travel Grant,
2018: E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Trust, Centenary Research Scholarship,
2017-2018: Barakat Trust Oxford Studentship,
2017: Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Vangelis Kechriotis Memorial Travel Grant,
2017: Blackfriars Hall Student Grant,
2014-2016: Barakat Trust Junior Student Scholarship,
2015: Arabic Language Course in Amman, Jordan, co-funded by the Khalili Research Centre, Wolfson College, and Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies,
2006-2010: Bahçeşehir University Scholarship for MA,
2008-2009: Erasmus Exchange Student Programme, Italy,
2003-2006: Bahçeşehir University Stipendiary Scholarship,
2003-2006: Bahçeşehir University Scholarship for BA Minor,
2001-2006: Bahçeşehir University-ÖSYM Scholarship for BA Major.
Teaching Experience:
July 2022: Workshop Lecturer, UNIQ course to state school students, University of Oxford,
Trinity Term 2022: Undergraduate Tutor, University of Oxford,
2020-2021: Lecturer of Ottoman Texts Reading Group, University of Oxford,
2011-2012: Departmental Lecturer, Cinema-TV, University of Bahçeşehir,
Spring 2011: Workshop Lecturer, Istanbul Ulus High School,
February 2011: Workshop Lecturer, Bursa Bahçeşehir College,
2006-2011: Teaching Assistant, Cinema-TV, University of Bahçeşehir,
2006-2008: Teaching Assistant, Cinema-TV MA programme, University of Bahçeşehir,
2006-2008: Teaching Assistant, Visual Communication Design, University of Bahçeşehir.
Research Experience:
D.PHIL. and M.PHIL. Projects:
Conducted library, archival and museum research, and surveyed and documented Ottoman buildings, building remains and gravestones in Turkey, Greece, Romania and Albania.
Research Assistant, University of Oxford Feb. 2017 - Oct. 2018
Project title: ‘Clash of civilizations’ in late medieval Southwest Asia: Interfaith transference of sacred sites and shrines in Anatolia/Thrace and the Indian subcontinent
Principal investigator: Associate Professor Zeynep Yürekli-Görkay
Funding body: The John Fell Fund
Created a database of building sites dedicated to Prophet-Saint Hızır in Anatolia and Thrace.
Conference and Symposium Presentations:
‘The Establishment of the Leadership at the Shrine of Hacı Bektaş: The Spiritual Descent of the Çelebis in Light of New Evidence’, in New Horizons in Kizilbash/Alevi-Bektashi History Workshop, co-organized by Harvard University and William and Mary College, 29-30 April-1 May 2022.
‘Tracing the Life of Kızıl Deli from Anatolia to Thrace’, in Bektashism in the Southern Balkans: A Symposium in Memory of Efstratios Zenginis, co-organized by Harvard University and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, e-Conference, 30-31 October 2021.
‘Muslim “Heretics” in Ottoman Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries’, in Radical Religious Communities in Premodern Societies, Tábor, Czech Republic, 20-22 October 2021.
Research Interests:
Antinomian dervish groups in Eastern Europe and the Middle East,
Abdals, Bektashis and Kizilbash in Ottoman Anatolia and Balkans,
Sufi shrines, material and visual culture,
Hagiography and Ottoman historiography,
Contemporary Alevi movements in urban slums in Turkey.
