Gunay Uslu

Gunay Uslu is PhD candidate and lecturer in the Department of History of European Culture at the University of Amsterdam. Main field of interests: cultural history, cultural policy, cultural management and organization, museum studies and heritage studies. She also operates her own company Gunay Uslu Projects Art & Culture, providing advice and organising cultural projects for and with various cultural institutions in Amsterdam.

Teaching courses

Exhibition Practice (BA); Heritage Practice (MA); MA-thesis courses; BA-thesis courses; Museum Studies, field trip Rome; Cultural Policy (BA)

Research & Projects

2012: Exhibition: Dutch Pioneers in Turkey (Amsterdam Museum 18 April-26 August):
- http://hart.amsterdammuseum.nl/27288/en/gunay-uslu-en-geert-snoeijer
- www.nederlandsepioniersinturkije.nl

2010: Zenobia Foundation Essay Award (Encouragement): 'Ottoman Appreciation of TrojanHeritage 1870-1875', TMA 41, p. 4-10
- (http://dare.uva.nl/record/343719)

2010: Documentary 'Mijn Land' (Co-Director & Sound)

2009: International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)
Premiere 'LONGSTAY' (PR/Communication)

2008: PhD research 'Homer in Modern Turkey' (completion planned in 2012)

2006/07: Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam: Exhibition Istanbul (Consultant)

2004: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: Museum-night (Organizer)

2003/04: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: Exhibition ‘De ambassadeur, de Sultan & de kunstenaar (Projectmanager education)

2004: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: Farewell-event of the Rijksmuseum principal building (Organizer)

2002: Rast, Nederlands Turks Theater Atelier: Theatre production ‘In the shadow of my father’ (based on personal M.A. Thesis: Friends of Destiny. The experiences of Turkish immigrant workers with their migration to the Netherlands between 1964-1974) (Researcher)

Nederlandse pioniers in Turkije

Tentoonstellingspracticum: Vliegende Tentoonstelling

Exhibition Dutch Pioneers in Turkey

PhD Research: Homer in Modern Turkey

The process of appropriation and identification of Homeric tangible (artefacts) and intangible heritage (texts), as well the person of Homer in Modern Turkey starting from the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann during the late Ottoman Empire, with a focus on the ‘Kemalistic’ period (1923-1950), until the present. The research project concentrates on the function of Homeric heritage in modern Turkish culture. How and why Homeric heritage has been absorbed into Turkish culture? What are the circumstances and the cultural and political motives for Homers appearance and appropriation in Turkey? What was the role of the government and the cultural elite, and which instruments were used in the process of identity politics?

'OttomanAppreciation of Trojan Heritage 1870-1875', TMA 41, p. 4-10 (2009).

Supervisor: Prof. dr. Pim den Boer
University of Amsterdam

Adviser: Prof. dr. Cemal Kafadar
Harvard University