Hasibe Kalkan Kocabay studied German Literature in Ankara, and Theatre in Istanbul. She works as an assistant professor at the Theatre Department of Istanbul University. She also writes theatre reviews for the daily newspapers Cumhuriyet and Radikal. Over the past decade, she has been conducting research on interculturalism in theatre. She has published articles on the works of Eugenio Barba, Peter Brook, Robert Wilson and Pina Bausch and had her training in Theater an der Ruhr (Germany). She is a member of IATC (International Association of Theatre Critics) and GIG (Gesellschaft für Interkulturelle Germanistik).

Research Project

Turkish Theatre as a Field for Construction of Identity

The intense interweaving of culture and theatre practice in the history of Turkish theatre was a part of the heritage which Turkish migrants in the sixties and seventies brought with them to their new country of domicile. In the eighties, at the times of the second generation, Turkish theatre in Germany seems to have pleaded for an autonomous cultural identity. The third generation clearly claims its place within the German society.

The Berlin Ballhaus Naunynstrasse under the artistic direction of by Shermin Langhoff dedicates its activity to a particular mission: it considers itself as a “place of intercultural and transcultural acting’’ in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood trying to concentrate the existing artistic energy in a wide network. Acting as a way of constructing an identity that lives up to the demands and requirements of our time is the basic idea of the Ballhaus Naunystrasse productions. Langhoff considers her work as post-migrant theatre because her productions tell stories of people with migrant background who did not migrate themselves. The entire structure, production and social work of the Ballhaus Naunynstrasse is an eminent example of the evolution of Turkish theatre in Germany.

My area of research will be the development of Turkish theatre in Germany as a social field for the construction of identity. Exchange and influence between the theatre traditions of both cultures, Turkey and Germany, will be analysed. The cultural interweaving shown and tested in cultural institutions and theatre productions will be considered with the question to which extent it creates models for the interweaving of cultures on every level or if they are only conceptuality as so often before in postcolonialist discussion.

Selected Publications 

• Kalkan Kocabay, H.,“Der (inter-)kulturelle Blick in Pina Bauschs Städtestücken,” in E. Hess-Lüttich (ed.) Kommunikation und Konflikt. Kulturkonzepte in der interkulturellen Germanistik, Frankfurt am Main u. a.: Peter Lang, 2009.
• Kalkan Kocabay, H., “Ein Beispiel für Interkulturelle Theaterarbeit: Peter Brooks ‘Mahabharata’”, in E. Hess-Lüttich (ed.) Der Gott der Anderen. Interkulturelle Transformationen religiöser Traditionen, Frankfurt am Main u. a.: Peter Lang, 2009.
• Kalkan Kocabay, H., Theater an der Ruhr: Yolculuk ve Yabancı ile Karşılaşma, [Das Theater an der Ruhr, Reisen und Begegnung mit dem Fremden], Istanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi, Alman Dili ve Edebiyatı Dergisi, Sayı 15, Istanbul: 2003.
• Kalkan Kocabay, H., Robert Wilson’un Tiyatrosu’nda Farklı Kültürel Öğelerin İşlevi, [Die Funktion Verschiedener Kultureller Elemente im Theater Robert Wilsons], Istanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi, Tiyatro Eleştirmenliği ve Dramaturji Bölümü Dergisi, Sayı 2, İstanbul: 2002.