Leyla Neyzi (born July 29, 1961) is a Turkish academic (

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

/ sociologist/historian) who is currently working in

Sabancı University Sabancı University ( tr, Sabancı Üniversitesi), established in 1994, is a young foundation university located on a 1.26 million squaremeter campus which is about 40 km from Istanbul's city center. Its first students matriculated in 1999. ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Biography

Leyla Neyzi was born in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, the daughter of

Ali H. Neyzi ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

, a businessman and writer, and Olcay Neyzi, a

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

. After graduating from

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi or ), often shortened to Robert, or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational Secondary ...

, she studied

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

( BA 1982) and Development Sociology at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

(PhD 1991). She worked as an assistant professor at

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus, Bosphorus strait. It has six facult ...

, (1992–1994) and as the Oral History Project Director, Economic and Social History Foundation (1995–1996). She currently teaches

. Leyla Neyzi produced a notable series of studies based on the diaries of Yaşar Paker, who issued from the tiny

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community of early 20th century

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, and who was twice enrolled in the

labor battalion Labour battalions have been a form of alternative service or unfree labour in various countries in lieu of or resembling regular military service. In some cases they were the result of some kind of discriminative segregation of the population, wh ...

s in

, the first time during the

Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) There have been several Greco-Turkish Wars: *Greek War of Independence (1821–1830), against the Ottoman Empire *Undeclared war in 1854 during the Crimean War, with Greek irregulars invading Ottoman Epirus (Epirus Revolt of 1854) and Thessaly * Fir ...

and the second time during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

(in which Turkey did not take part). One of these studies was published in

Jewish Social Studies Jewish Social Studies is a quarterly U.S. based journal. It was established in 1939, by the Conference on Jewish Relations, later known as the Conference on Jewish Social Studies. Its editor was the American philosopher Morris Raphael Cohen. In ...

in Fall 2005Strong as Steel, Fragile as a Rose: A Turkish Jewish Witness to the Twentieth Century
a paper by Leyla Neyzi based on Yaşar Paker's diary, published in the

in Fall 2005

Awards

Malcolm H. Kerr Malcolm Hooper Kerr (October 8, 1931 – January 18, 1984) was a university professor specializing in the Middle East and the Arab world. An American citizen, he was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, where he died. He served as president o ...

Dissertation Award, Middle East Studies Association of North America, 1992. *Research Award, Population Council Middle East Awards Program, 1998–1999 (Family History, Generation and Identity in Turkey). *Research Award,

, 2003–2004, (An Oral History of the Neighborhood of

Teşvikiye Teşvikiye is one of the four neighbourhoods (together with Maçka, Osmanbey and Pangaltı) within the Nişantaşı quarter of the Şişli district in Istanbul, Turkey. According to the 2000 census, the population of the neighbourhood was 11,59 ...

). *Visiting Scholar,

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Programme on Contemporary Turkey and St. Antony's College, Senior Associate Member, 2004.

References

External links

Personal page in Sabancı University web site
20th-century Turkish historians Academic staff of Sabancı University Turkish women historians Turkish anthropologists Turkish women anthropologists Turkish sociologists Turkish women sociologists Turkish women academics 1961 births Living people Stanford University alumni Cornell University alumni Robert College alumni 21st-century Turkish historians {{Turkey-historian-stub