ARTS AND CULTURE
Veteran journalist Suzan Nana Tarablus published three books of oral history as the Istanbul Trilogy (Varlık Yayınları): Bir Sabah Galata’da Uyandım (One Morning I Woke up in Galata) Çek Kayıkçı Balat’a (Boatman Row to Balat) and Kuşaktan Kuşağa Kuzguncuk Yolculuğum (My Kuzguncuk Journey Through Generations). The books revolve around the testimonies of the members of families who lived in Galata, Balat-Hasköy and Kuzguncuk-Yeldeğirmeni districts.
“By using the oral history method which is effective in describing social reality with different dimensions, I tried to give information about the socio-cultural and economic structure of the period. Urban space has been the meeting point and dialogue area of different languages, identities and cultures. In all three books I relate the original structures of the old districts where the Jewish community once lived, thereby portraying the process of shaping a unique society within Istanbul’s cultural and spacial possibilities. They provide interesting and important testimonies, as they exemplify the Jewish community’s experience of being open to the wider community. The books also question the impact of the multicultural structure of a historical city in the breakdown of the past century.”
Tarablus credits her education for her urge to research and search for truth, and her zest for journalism for revealing the cultural memory of the Jewish community.
Published February 2022
