Love and Literature

In today's episode, your host (Melinda Karaca) will speak to Imke Rietdijk. Imke Rietdijk is an art historian and is currently working in the cultural field. She has received a bachelor's degree from Leiden University in the Netherlands and completed her master's degree in Edinburgh. Her focus in art revolves mainly around modern and contemporary art. In this episode, Imke will be exploring two artworks: Gustav Klimt's Kiss and Rodin's sculpture, The Kiss. Both works will be analyzed and looked into. Since this episode talks about these art pieces, it might be useful to look both of the works up. Thank you all for listening and thank you Imke.

In today's episode, your host, Melinda Karaca) will speak to doctoral researcher Mohammed Hamdouni. As a PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology & Anthropology with a rich and diverse background in cultural studies, digital marketing, and strategic communication, Mohammed Hamdouni is deeply committed to exploring the intersections between music, dance traditions, and the anthropological fabric that binds societies. His journey has taken him through various roles – from serving as an influential member of The International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance to contributing as a Graduate Committee Member at The Center for Maghreb Studies, where he delves into the rich cultural tapestry of the Maghrib region. With experience spanning continents, he has cultivated a unique perspective on the digital and cultural landscapes, offering insights into tangible and intangible heritage, cultural narratives, and the anthropology of objects. In this episode, he explores what the path of love entails when it comes to Sufism. What is Sufism? What is love? How is love explored within this field? These are all questions that this podcast episode explores. Thank you, Professor Mohammed Hamdouni, and thank you all for listening.

In today's episode of the Love & Literature podcast, host Melinda Karaca speaks to Dr. Alexander Moseley. Alexander Moseley is a private tutor, educator, and author of books on philosophy, political philosophy, and educational philosophy; a home educator; and a judo coach. His rich background in various fields, such as ethics, education, politics, and philosophy, has brought valuable insights to the podcast. This episode will explore what all these fields have in common and how they are all connected. Thank you, Dr. Alexander Moseley, and thank you all for listening.

In today's episode of the Love & Literature podcast, host Melinda Karaca speaks to Professor Chouraqui. Frank Chouraqui is a lecturer at the Institute for Philosophy at Leiden University. His research has a historical side and a systematic side. The historical aspect is focused on the philosophies of Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty, especially their ontologies of relationality and their connections with ontological accounts of power. The systematic aspect focuses on the analysis of belief and its relation to action, especially in the case of fanatic and dogmatic belief. This episode will explore what love entails, which is not an emotion. Regarding this topic, more examples and explanations will be provided in this episode. Thank you, Professor Chouraqui, and thank you all for listening.

In this episode of the Love & Literature podcast, host Melinda Karaca speaks to Stevie Suan. Stevie Suan is an Associate Professor at Hosei University in the Faculty of Global and Interdisciplinary Studies. He holds a doctorate in Manga Studies from the Graduate School of Manga Studies at Kyoto Seika University, received his M.A. in Asian Studies from the University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa, and his B.A. in Cinema and Cultural Studies from Stony Brook University. Born in Sri Lanka, but raised primarily in New York City, he has spent considerable time living in Japan, as well as extended stays in Taiwan and Indonesia, where he has studied and researched a variety of topics relating to the arts and media, ranging from traditional theatrical performance to contemporary animation.In this episode, he will be discussing what it entails to belong to a nation. What is a nation-state? What is nationalism? Can nationalism be considered a form of love? And many more questions will be explored in this episode.

In this episode of the Love & Literature podcast, host Melinda Karaca speaks to Professor Ortega about what love entails. Professor Ortega is a scholar in Language Education & Applied Linguistics. He bridges theories and practice, teaching future educators how to implement inclusive, culturally responsive, and pluriversal pedagogies. His research is collaborative and embodied, employing ethnographic, participatory, and arts-based methods to explore how communities express cultural and linguistic identities.In this episode, the notion of love got deconstructed. Perhaps trying to find one distinct definition of love is also a form of oppression. It is an oppression of other "diminished" or unheard narratives. Thanks to Professor Ortega, this notion became more apparent. Thank you, Professor Ortega, and thank you all for listening!

In this episode of the Love & Literature podcast, host Melinda Karaca talks with Julide Sezer about Orhan Pamuk's Museum of Innocence. This book has recently also been turned into a series. Julide Eda Sezer is an independent researcher who is interested in critical posthumanism, new materialism, decolonization, and postcolonialism, and explores the complex and intertwined relationships between human and more-than-human worlds. Her thesis, Sustaining Resistance, Cultivating Liberation: The Enduring Bond of Rooted-Resistance-Companionship between Palestinians and Olive Trees, which received the Hélène Phoa Gender Studies Research Thesis Prize in 2023, embodies these concerns. Beyond research, Sezer has extensive experience in project and conference management, and in facilitating interdisciplinary reading groups and collaborative initiatives that bring together feminist, ecological, and decolonial perspectives. These spaces foster intellectual companionship, critical reflection, and the cultivation of knowledge in relation rather than separation.One of these spaces includes her YouTube channel, on which she provides an intellectual and insightful platform to explore various themes. The name of the channel is Julide'nin oyun odasi. Thank you, Julide Sezer, and thank you for listening.

In this episode of the Love & Literature podcast, host Melinda Karaca talks to the multilingual educator Maider Muñoz Bujedo. Maider Muñoz Bujedo is an experienced educator with a background in Translation and Interpretation (German and English). Her career has taken her across Germany, the United States, India, China, Costa Rica, Chile, and Spain, teaching in various classroom settings. Currently, she is serving as a Bilingual Specialist at a Waldorf school. The philosophy of the Waldorf schools and its workings are being explored in this episode. Thank you all for listening, and thank you, Maider Muñoz Bujedo.

In this episode of the Love & Literature podcast, host Melinda Karaca examines The Wife of Bath’s Tale, a narrative from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, with Noralia Karaca.Noralia Karaca is a second-year literature student at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, whose academic interests focus particularly on Medieval English literature.In this episode, she provides an analytical overview of the tale and explores its central themes with a special focus on the question "what is it that women desire?". Thank you Noralia Karaca and thank you all for listening

In today's episode of the Love & Literature podcast, Melinda Karaca (your host) will discuss the role of AI and love with Professor Stephen M. Whitehead. Dr. Stephen M Whitehead finished his doctorate at Leeds Beckett University in 1996. He is a sociologist and international expert on men, masculinities, gender identity, and education. He has written many books on these aforementioned topics and is still writing. In this episode, we will particularly take a look at the role of AI and how this influences love relationships and societies as a whole. Thank you Professor and thank you all for listening.

In today's episode of the Love & Literature podcast, Melinda Karaca (your host) will be discussing the art of reading with Professor Steven G. Kellman. Professor Kellman is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has been teaching and researching at the university since 1976, and his research of interest includes comparative literature, prose fiction, literary translingualism, film, biography, and modern and contemporary literature. In this episode, the Professor will be sharing his knowledge on the matter of translingualism, what it entails, how it works, and what it brings to the world of literature. In addition to this, he will also be sharing more about the love affair between author and reader. In fact, a reader's engagement often extends beyond merely interacting with a work. Comprehending this relationship of author and reader allows us to become more acquainted with literature. Thank you Professor Kellman, and thank you all for listening.

In today's episode of the Love & Literature podcast, Melinda Karaca (your host) will be going through love advice from Social Psychologist Professor Sinclair. Professor Sinclair is an associate professor at Louisiana State University, conducting research and giving lectures. Her experienced multi-method approaches showcase her passion for science with impact and embrace her participatory action research in particular. One of her well-known contributions is her research on the Romeo and Juliet effect, which is something that will be explored in this episode. Thank you professor Sinclair, and thank you all for listening.

In today's episode of the Love & Literature podcast, Melinda Karaca (your host) will be going through love advice from Dostoyevsky's White Nights. Published in 1848, the book is set in the cold, dreamlike Russian city of St. Petersburg and follows the story of a young man. Whether he should be guided by love or his own feelings remains to be seen. The feelings of the young man, whose name is unknown, do not always coincide with those of the other characters. The search for human connection, hope, and loneliness is constant, and the narrative directly interrogates the moral values ​​of both the characters and the reader. The story is thus an interrogation of the dynamics of love and its implications. Dostoyevsky makes his readers think and reflect on life through the characters. It is a romantic yet realistic view of human love.