GÖNÜL PULTAR
Gönül Pultar is the founding chair of the Cultural Studies Association of Turkey (2005- ), and was the founding
chair of the Group for Cultural Studies in Turkey (1999-2005) until it was dissolved to give way to the
association (www.kulturad.org). Moreover, since 1997 she is the President of the World League of Tatars, and
for the services she rendered in that capacity, was one of the recipients of the medal bestowed on the occasion of
Kazan’s Millenium celebrations.
Born in Istanbul, Dr. Pultar graduated from Robert College and received her doctoral degree in English from
Middle East Technical University (1994). After a start in journalism, she turned to teaching and has taught at
Middle East Technical University (1982-1990); Bilkent University (1992-2002); and Boğaziçi (Bosphorus)
University (2004-2005). At Bilkent University, she also served as the founding deputy director of the Center for
Turkish Literature (1998-1999), and the coordinator of Bilkent University Seminars in Literature, Society and
Culture (2002-2004). Dr. Pultar was a fellow at the Longfellow Institute of Harvard University in 1998.
Dr. Pultar has served as Vice-president of the American Studies Association of Turkey (1994-2000); a member
of the Executive Committee of the Discussion Group on American Literature in Languages Other than English
of the MLA (1998-2002), chairing the Group in 2002; a member of the International Committee (1997-2000)
and a member of the Sakakabira International Prize Committee (2000-2002) of the ASA; a member of the
Advisory Board of the Longfellow Institute at Harvard University (1998- ); a member of the Advisory Board of
MESEA (Multiethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas, 2000-2004); a charter member of IASA (International
American Studies Association, 2000- ); and served on the Steering Committee of MELUS-Europe (1998-2000).
She is at present a member of the Advisory Editorial Board of Journal of Popular Culture (2002- ), and a
memberof the Advisory Board of MELUS-India (2004-).
Dr. Pultar was the founding editor of Journal of American Studies of Turkey (1995-1999). Her published works
in English include Technique and Tradition in Samuel Beckett’s Trilogy of Novels (1996); and On the Road to
Baghdad or Traveling Biculturalism: Theorizing a Bicultural Approach to Contemporary World Fiction (2005);
the short story “Leda and the Swan” (in Cultural Horizons, ed. Jayne Warner, 2002); besides numerous
encyclopedia entries and chapters, articles and essays in books and journals published in the US, Germany, The
Netherlands, India, and Japan. She has published in Turkish two novels, Dünya Bir Atlıkarınca (The World is a
Merry-go-round, 1979) and Ellerimden Su İçsinler (Let Them Drink Water from My Hands, 1999); and
Kardeşim Yaralısın: Fakir Baykurt’u Anarken (Brother You’re Wounded: In Memoriam Fakir Baykurt, 2002,
co-edited with Selim Sünter); Kardeşliğe Bin Selam: İlhan Başgöz ile Söyleşi Gönül Pultar ve Serpil Aygün
Cengiz (Greetings to Brothers All: An Interview of İlhan Başgöz by Gönül Pultar and Serpil Aygün Cengiz,
2003); Kültür ve Modernite (Culture and Modernity, 2003, co-edited with Emine O. İncirlioğlu and Bahattin
Akşit); Türk(iye) Kültürleri (Cultures of Turks/Cultures of Turkey, 2005, co-edited with Tahire Erman). She is
currently preparing a special issue on American literature in languages other than English for the journal
Comparative American Studies.
Dr. Pultar can be reached at:
Cultural Studies Association
İnebolu sokak 13-15/4, Setüstü, Kabataş
34772 Istanbul, Turkey
phone/fax: +90 212 292 2229
e-mail: gpultar@kulturad.org