In Memoriam
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A Note in Remembrance of
Mahmut Gokmen
Mahmut Gokmen was a promising, keen, and productive young scholar in the
Department of Geography at the University of Oklahoma. Born in a very remote
and rugged mountain village in the area of Havza City, Samsun, in Turkey, Mahmut
went to a primary school in his village, where there was only one teacher for the whole
school. Mahmut’s first journey outside his village was to pursue his education at a high
school in Havza, a two-hour drive from his village. Coming from a very poor family,
the expectations from both his family and village were significant. Mahmut was a role
model to his two sisters and two brothers. His mother was illiterate and his father had
only completed the first grade in school.
Mahmut met his family and village’s expectations successfully. He passed the
nationwide university entrance exam to enter college, and then attended the University of
Istanbul where he was introduced to geography, and became one of the leading students
in his class. In 1999, when one of the most devastating earthquakes of the century hit
Western Turkey, Mahmut had to sleep in the parks of Istanbul and study under the
street lights. His love of reading and writing was just too great to be interrupted.
Mahmut’s long-term goals were to help build a prosperous and peaceful
community in his hometown and country. Thus, after college he came to Los Angeles to
learn English and pursue an academic career. His interest in geography was cultivated
while in Los Angeles, particularly as he had a chance to meet political geographer Dr.
John Agnew. Mahmut was then accepted into Akron University to earn his master
degree under the supervision of Dr. Ghazi Falah. In his master thesis, he analyzed “the
geopolitical changes and continuity in bilateral relations between Turkey and the U.S.
from the Truman Doctrine in 1947 to the present.”
In the summer of 2006, he merged his life with a dedicated and beloved lady,
Nalan Gokmen. The following fall, Mahmut was accepted to the PhD program at the
University of Oklahoma, Department of Geography as an advisee of Dr. Darren Purcell.
Mahmut worked on a variety of topics including popular geopolitics, Orientalism,
territoriality, imaginary geographies, and the war in Iraq. He attended many international
and national conferences and he published several articles in Turkish, Canadian, and an
Aether Vol. viii.b, 108–109, September 2011
© Copyright 2011, The Center for Geographic Studies • California State University, Northridge
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Aether: The Journal of Media Geography • Summer 2011
American geographic journals. His last ongoing, but not yet finished work was with Dr.
Karen Culcasi.
Mahmut passed away in the summer of 2008 when he was at the peak of academic
life, at the age of 27. His remains were repatriated to his village where he started his
short and remarkable journey.
Necati Anaz
Department of Geography
University of Oklahoma
4
I had known Mahmut for only two-years, but in that brief time I was very fortunate to
work with this incredibly intelligent and kind young-man. As his close friend Necati
indicates above, Mahmut was of exceptional character and promise. Coming from a rural
village in Turkey, he faced many obstacles in his pursuit of a Geography degree in the
American educational system; but nevertheless, he persevered and was very successful.
As a discipline, Geography has been deprived of Mahmut’s future endeavors and insights,
but also auspiciously influenced by his early-career contributions. Of course, Mahmut
has also touched people’s lives across the globe and outside of Geography. He is gravely
missed as a husband, a son, a brother, a friend, a neighbor, and a colleague. I consider
myself very fortunate to have known him even for a brief amount of time.
Karen Culcasi
Department of Geology and Geography
West Virginia University