Fatmagül Berktay, professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences and former director of the Women’s Research Centre of Istanbul University received her BA (International Relations), MA (Political Science), and Ph.D. (Political Science) from University of Ankara. She also holds a degree in Women’s Studies (University of York, UK) and has been active in the Turkish women’s movement since 1980’s. She is a founding member of the History Foundation of Turkey and chair of the Executive Board of the Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation. Berktay’s published books include Being a Woman, Living and Writing (Pencere Publishing, 1991), Woman in the Face of Monotheistic Religions (Metis Publications, 1996), Women and Religion (BlackRose Books, 1998), The Gender of History (Metis Publications, 2003), El Huviyye en Nisaiyye ‘abr et Tarih (Dar Kreideh Publishing, Beyrouth, 2009), The Call of Politics (Bilgi University Publishing House, 2010), Loving the World in the Present, Hannah Arendt’s Political Theory (Metis Publications, 2012). She also edited The Position of Women in Turkey and in the European Union (Ka-Der Press, 2004) and was one of the curators of the exhibition “Dream and Reality, Modern and Contemporary Women Artists from Turkey” (İstanbul Modern, 2011- 2012).
