Phanariot Materialities: Aspects of Domestic Architecture, Urban Culture, and Social Mobility, Istanbul, June 29–30, 2024

The Research Center of Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED) at Koç University, in collaboration with Meşher and Sismanoglio Megaro, welcomes submissions from scholars at any stage in their careers to an international symposium on Phanariot material culture to be held in Istanbul on 29–30 June 2024. 

As part of an overarching three-year research program entitled “Phanariot Materialities,” scientifically led by Namık Günay Erkal, Firuzan Melike Sümertaş, and Haris Theodorelis-Rigas, the symposium will focus on the material and social history of the Phanariots, the Greek-Orthodox Christian notables of Ottoman Istanbul. It aims at facilitating interdisciplinary discussion on Phanariot material culture, with a particular focus on residential architecture, urbanism, family and households, communalities, neighborhoods, domesticity, etiquette, and performativity. In this light, Phanar may be approached not only as an urban neighborhood or ecclesiastical center but also as the heart of a spatial network extending far beyond Istanbul and even beyond the former Ottoman territories.

The symposium is a follow-up event from an online international workshop series that took place in spring 2023 and will pave the way for a collaborative exhibition planned for fall 2025 in Istanbul and other cities. Papers admitted to the symposium will be reviewed for inclusion in a publication planned for late 2025.