Iletisim Publishing Press Release Dated March 8, 2024

İletişim Publications March 8 Books Press Bulletin has been published. İletişim Publications brings 6 different books together with readers.

Franz K. Âşıkları (Franz K. Lovers) – Burhan Sönmez

Turkish Literature, 107 Pages

Burhan Sönmez’s novel Franz K. Lovers is published by İletişim Publishing. In this novel, Sönmez tells a gripping and suspenseful love story that takes place during the Cold War and moves back and forth between countries…

Ferdy Kaplan was sent as a child to Istanbul to live with his grandparents after his German mother, a Nazi supporter, and his Turkish father died in Berlin during the Second World War. In 1968, as youth uprisings begin to shake the city, heated debates are taking place in student magazines.

Young people in a secret resistance group that punishes former Nazi criminals believe in the value of defending and avenging dead writers. Ancient times, traditions, betrayals… The Lovers of Franz K. is a literary thriller and romance novel by Burhan Sönmez, set on the Paris-Istanbul-West Berlin map during the Cold War, when Europe was divided into East and West.

“Some traditions are honorable. In the old days, if a death row inmate broke his rope while being hanged, life was considered to have laughed at him. So he was pardoned. I adhere to this tradition.”

Sanayisizleşme, Konut Siyaseti, Orta Sınıf  (Deindustrialization, Housing Politics, Middle Class) – Funda Sönmez Öğütle

Research-Study, 206 Pages

Funda Sönmez Öğütle’s Deindustrialization, Housing Politics, Middle Class is published by İletişim Yayınları. Sönmez examines how the practice of so-called neoliberalism has changed the cities through the example of Zonguldak, while carefully focusing on deindustrialization as an important dimension of urbanization.

Funda Sönmez Öğütle meticulously examines how the so-called neoliberalism changes cities and transforms life through cities. How have cities themselves become objects of cultural capital and taste? How was the “desire for a good life” tied to “dreams” of housing and construction; how was the middle class “ideal” accepted? How did social groups differentiate themselves, either by choosing to coexist in the same space with their peers or by longing to be spatially closer to the groups and classes they wanted to belong to?

The book also addresses deindustrialization as an important dimension of urbanization. The dominant urban and housing policy has an effect that prevents the effects of the collapse caused by deindustrialization from being digested and confronted. This is an effect that destroys urban memory and leads to the erosion of urban character. Zonguldak, which constitutes the field of this study, is a typical and striking example in this respect.

Deindustrialization, Housing Politics, Middle Class is a study not only of our urban landscapes but also of our lifestyle landscapes…

“This book reveals how a neighborhood is constructed as a cultural space shaped by lifestyle differentiation and status distinctions through the consumption practices of the middle classes in a Turkish urbanization process in which deindustrialization and urban restructuring are intertwined. This is also the story of how the housing politics of the post-2000 central government that infiltrated the provinces restructured a city through the perceptions and practices of the middle classes.”

Kiske Kuşunun Peşinde Katamizeler  (Katamizeler in Pursuit of the Kiske Bird) (1835-1981) – Oktay Özel

History, 374 Pages

Oktay Özel’s book Kiske Kuşunun Peşinde Katamizeler (1835-1981) is published by İletişim Yayınları. Oktay Özel presents readers with a story of Turkey through his own family, based on years of oral history, archives, field research and official records…

In Pursuit of the Kiske Bird tells the story of a Georgian immigrant family from Çürüksulu who migrated from Batumi to Ordu between 1878 and 1882 after the 93 War and tried to create order and prosperity out of chaos for three generations. The one hundred and fifty-year history of the Katamize/Özel family from then to today. The lives between the city of Ordu and the nearby countryside that are re-mobilized, disrupted and rebuilt in each generation…

Social relations and solidarity networks that make a new beginning possible every time in difficult conditions where wars, conflicts, daily tensions run deep and never seem to end… From the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, from then to today, the search for a new life in pursuit of the bird of prey…

Oktay Özel presents readers with a story of Turkey through his own family, fed by years of oral history, archives, field research and official records.

“We have before us a difficult and problematic history that coincides with the last two hundred years of the Katamize family, a period in which time flows fast and relentlessly. So let’s roll up our sleeves and take a closer look at that history. Our history…”

OKTAY ÖZEL

Sosyalist Feminizm Yeni Bir Yaklaşım (Socialist Feminism A New Approach)
Frieda Afary, Gül Varlı Karaarslan (Translator)

Politics, 272 Pages

Socialist Feminism – A New Approach, written by Frieda Afary, is published by İletişim Yayınları. It is an important source that interprets important issues such as misogyny, homophobia and racism rising today from a socialist feminist perspective…

Frieda Afary draws on a wide range of thought from Hegel to Butler to outline a socialist feminism that can address the issues of our time, authoritarian right-wing populism, misogyny, homophobia and racism. She connects the disasters we are living in today with the phenomenon of alienated labor that capitalism has made dominant and bridges the distance between the objective and the subjective.

Socialist Feminism-A New Approach discusses the perspectives of socialist feminist organizing to “defeat domination”, to develop a “humanist alternative to the 21st century manifestations of capitalist-racist-homophobic patriarchy”. It is a powerful work both to familiarize oneself with the accumulation of the socialist feminist tradition and to see the present in such a light.

“Many of the facts analyzed in this book show that our distress is both objective and subjective, linked to deep-rooted structures of classism, racism, sexism, heterosexism and alienation. The attacks on women, people of color and those who do not conform to the gender binary continue unabated…”

Ateizmin Ruhu Tanrısız Bir Maneviyata Giriş (The Spirit of Atheism An Introduction to a Godless Spirituality)
André Comte-Sponville, Mehmet Moralı (Translator)

Politics, 176 Pages

André Comte-Sponville’s The Spirit of Atheism – An Introduction to a Spirituality without God is published by İletişim Publishing. Presenting an original manifesto of atheism, Sponville takes the evidence offered by theologians and philosophers for the existence of God and lays out the foundations of his own atheism.

Can religion be renounced? Does God exist? Do atheists reject spirituality?

In The Spirit of Atheism, André Comte-Sponville answers these questions with candor and courage. He takes the evidence for God’s existence presented by theologians and philosophers and lays out the foundations of his own atheism. He argues that secularism, love and tolerance are the essential grounds to unite people and calls us to find the truth in our own being. The thinker advocates an atheism that is open to both the spiritual life and this world, open to questioning, rooted in human values and love, and grounded in justice and compassion.

Taking a clear stand against both fundamentalism and fanaticism, Comte-Sponville proclaims the search for a godless and dogma-free spirituality and presents an original manifesto of atheism.

“God or no God, there are too many atrocities to count. This teaches us something, not about religion, but unfortunately about humanity.”

Uygulamalı Hikâye Anlatıcılığı (Practical Storytelling)
Arjen Barel, Ronni Gurwicz, Stu Packer, Ali Cevat Akkoyunlu (Translator)

Application, 226 Pages

Practical Storytelling by Arjen Barel, Ronni Gurwicz and Stu Packer is published by İletişim Yayınları. This book takes the reader on a colorful journey through the astonishing world of the ancient art of storytelling and demonstrates the contribution of storytelling to the development of individuals in the modern world.

Practical Storytelling invites the reader on a colorful journey through the amazing world of the ancient art of storytelling. While discovering the power of stories that make the heart beat with excitement, the mind wander with curiosity in the world of imagination and the soul become free, it questions the possibilities of searching for common meaning and uniting through humanity and life. Focusing on how stories can be used for the development of communities and individuals in the modern world, the authors offer practical suggestions for conflict resolution, vocational training, language learning, personal development or rehabilitation. An indispensable reference for anyone seeking to strengthen individual members of communities and the bonds between them.

“Applied storytelling is working with storytelling and storytelling methods to trigger both personal and social change. The starting point is the complete unity of narrator and listener, who exchange information, using narrative fiction and imagination and entering personal, emotional and universal spaces to arrive at a common and equivalent foundation.”

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