In this week's episode, guest expert Itir Toksöz, Chair and Assistant Professor of International Relations at Dogus University in Istanbul, Turkey. joins us to talk about how she got started doing international work and how she makes international partnerships a key part of her success. We wrap up with our best tips and advice for international partnerships and at the end we'll have an assignment for our listeners- we'll ask you to try some of our tips and let us know how it goes by sharing your story on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook and tag us @university_of_venus on IG and @UVenus on Twitter or post it on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/UVenus/ and we will share, retweet, and amplify! Find University of Venus on Instagram @university_of_venus , Twitter @UVenus , and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/UVenus/
Topics Discussed in this Episode:
Resources Discussed in this Episode:
Music Credits: Magic by Six Umbrellas
Sound Engineer: Ernesto Valencia
View from Venus Episode 8
Mary Churchill: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of the View from Venus. My name is Mary Churchill, and on today's episode, I am joined by cohost Meg Palladino and Leanne Doherty and guest expert, Itir Toksöz, Chair and Assistant Professor of International Relations at Dogus University in Istanbul, Turkey.
[00:00:25] In today's episode, we'll be talking with Itir about how she got started doing international work and how she makes international partnerships a key part of her success. You will walk away with our best tips and advice for international partnerships, and at the end we'll have an assignment for you. Itir Toksöz is Chair and Assistant Professor of International Relations at Dogus University and a founding member of the editorial collective at the University of Venus blog at Inside Higher Ed and we asked her to join us on View from Venus because we wanted to get her advice on how to be successful with international partnerships.
[00:01:03] Welcome. Itir to View from Venus and thank you for joining us.
[00:01:09] Meg Palladino: [00:01:09] We like to start each episode with a lighthearted pop question to get us laughing. So today's question is, what is the silliest thing that you're pretty good at? I can answer first if you want me to give you a minute to think. So, at work, I'm famous for giving, an etiquette lecture on how to use a North American toilet.
[00:01:29] So that's one of my claims to fame here. And at home, or outside of work, I can juggle.
[00:01:37] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:01:37] Okay. Whew. That's cool. That's very cool.
[00:01:41] Itir Toksöz: [00:01:41] Okay. I think I was in my thirties when I got interested in fencing and I was told that I was pretty good at it. If I had stayed, they told me that I would be very good at it because in size I'm actually kind of thin and small. So they told me that, you know, it would be very difficult for the opponents to find a place to points and score on my body. That would be the silliest thing that I would be good at.
[00:02:10] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:02:10] I don't know how silly it is, but I'm really good at recognizing songs. Like if name that tune was a job, I would be really, really good at that. So you know, if this all again falls apart, there's always that that I can go to trivia nights and pick out songs.
[00:02:30] Meg Palladino: [00:02:30] Excellent.
[00:02:31] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:02:31] A couple of notes.
[00:02:34] Mary Churchill: [00:02:34] I'm going to follow up on Leanne and get more serious. I've said before that if Googling were an Olympic sport, I would be so good at it. My husband's a librarian and I beat him at it every single time. My search terms are to die for and that...
[00:02:53] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:02:53] You are out of control, Mary. Oh my goodness. I am feeling. Whew.
[00:02:59] Itir Toksöz: [00:02:59] You took a totally different track than where we were destined to go.
[00:03:05] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:03:05] Well, Itir, we have asked you here today because of all of your amazing international experiences. You have earned degrees in three countries: Turkey, France, and the United States. What was the impetus for you studying outside of your home country of Turkey and what did you find the advantages of doing so?
[00:03:22] Itir Toksöz: [00:03:22] Well, first things first, I was always very interested in international things and I was interested in foreign languages. I was interested in international pop culture and all of these things. And so when I started high school, I became very interested in learning foreign language. I learned English when I was 11 years old and then I started learning German. And then when I decided to make my choices for a university, because I was also interested in politics, I decided to study political science and I got into a department of political science, public administration. But my original aim by going into political science was to study international relations as well.
[00:04:08] And then, I studied in a departments where the language of instruction was French. So therefore I learned French and had all my courses in French. It kind of developed eventually that from one end through this linguistic interest from the other end, because I was interested in international politics, I really became very much connected. I had pen friends when I was growing up all over. I had family abroad, so, you know, they fed me with their experiences and so on, and therefore it kind of developed eventually out of these interests and tastes. I have always been a good student and because I was the top of my class, I received a scholarship from the French government.
[00:04:56] And I went to Université Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne and there I did my first graduate studies. But then I wanted to go to somewhere where I could have a more global education. And that is why I decided to apply to universities in the U S and I already had family in Boston, so I thought that would be a good choice that I at least know some people there.
[00:05:25] And the advantages are a lot of course, because, first of all, you satisfy these interests that you have had from very young, but more than that, you kind of develop really a wider perspective into how you see not only international politics, but the academia and the business or the job of educating people.
[00:05:54] Because in each country you see similarities and differences, best practices and lessons to learn from in terms of both what to do and not to do. And I think not only the diplomas, but these experiences were the things that enriched me for where I am.
[00:06:15] Meg Palladino: [00:06:15] Great. Excellent. Itir, you’ve written and presented on the role of popular culture in international relations. Can you tell us a little bit about how the two are related and why you were attracted to the subject?
[00:06:26] Itir Toksöz: [00:06:26] Well, first of all, I see popular culture kind of like as a mirror. It is possible to learn a lot from whatever popular culture presents. I actually did research and I still do research by studying my topics through cartoons, song lyrics, films and things like that.
[00:06:50] I taught an elective course on international relations through films for about 10 years. And it was a very popular class and my students were very happy and excited to take it whenever I offered it.
[00:07:04] And I also use therefore these cartoons, song lyrics, or films as teaching tools in my classes as well as resource material in my publications.
[00:07:16] Now, when you use these, let's say tools or instruments of popular culture in your work, both in terms of publication and in terms of teaching, you can catch perspectives outside of the academic narratives that you find in the textbooks, and that to me is very important because that's helped students question what they've learned or complete what they've learned, or even if you can laugh at certain things, they make you really question whether you should be laughing at them or not. So, it actually helps me to enrich students' perspectives and to give them a more complete and a more humane picture of the topic that I am teaching.
[00:08:09] Mary Churchill: [00:08:09] Oh, I love that and you know, I love pop culture too, so that's near and dear to my heart. One of the reasons I wanted to have you speak with us on the podcast here at View from Venus is because -about international partnerships - is because there's a lot of research out there that shows that women are less likely to engage in international partnerships for many reasons: family responsibilities, also fear around security issues and traveling and so, I really wanted you to speak to how you've taken advantage of international collaboration and partnerships to try to encourage more women to do this work because as we know, these skills are really, really important now. And we know that they're increasingly important.
[00:09:02] And so part of this is what words of wisdom can you give us around, why women should be doing this type of work and how you've taken advantage of it and how it's helped your career. And where do you start?
[00:09:17] Itir Toksöz: [00:09:17] Now the thing is, I think first of all, where I started was actually through the help of my family because many of the things that you have enumerated right now as obstacles, I was lucky enough not to face them. My parents have always been very supportive of me studying abroad, going abroad for things. It actually has not even occurred to me the question about the safety issue, except for maybe a few instances. But, also now my husband is also an academic. He's a foreigner himself, so he is my connection to the outside international academic world too. And therefore oftentimes we travel to conferences together and when we can, either he has to go alone or I go alone, to me, this is not an issue. But I don't have any children and as a result of that, maybe I am, let's say, saved from the responsibilities of being a parent or a mother and I really wouldn't know how I would deal with it if I were at parents because I see a lot of female colleagues struggling with this. But what I found out about myself is that, okay, we sit down and read and try to enrich ourselves in our professional lives, but whenever I go to conferences and I engage in debates with other people, this is when I found that the most interesting research ideas come to me.
[00:10:56] One professor of mine had told me that I was traveling to conferences a lot and that would maybe cut on my ability to publish, but actually it's happened the other way around because actually the publications that I've made and the collaborations that I got into were all thanks to the conferences that I've attended to, given the fact that the currency exchange rates go up and down, it's not always stable for a country , developing countries for people from developing countries to travel internationally all the time. But I'm also lucky enough that I live in a big metropole like Istanbul, where we also have a lot of international conferences in international relations, politics as well.
[00:11:47] But I think another way of enriching these or engaging in international collaboration is through the partnerships. These can be institutional partnerships of, you know, common graduate programs, common programs, exchange students and things like that. But maybe more importantly, when I started to go to conferences or do these exchange programs, I really tried to be good friends with the people that I meet who are interesting people. And therefore through these friendships, I am trying to forge more and more, collaborations. And of course, social media is one way of engaging with, you know, colleagues around the world. For example, even if I haven't seen you, Mary and Leanne, you for the last maybe 10 years or so.
[00:12:44] And since I have never met with Meg face to face yet, I am on the same, let's say a small panel with you guys tonight. So there are always, in this day and age, ways of doing things. We can reach out. I think that's possible and very important.
[00:13:03] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:13:03] Well, you, you know, stole my thunder here a little bit, Itir. I was going to out us as colleagues from graduate school, how many years ago we're not going to say, because we're still very young, vibrant academics, you and I. But, with all that being said, something I've always admired about you is your willingness to try anything. You were always someone, whether it was a, a dance or a food or an exchange with someone, you were always willing to try something when some of us weren't as readily able to reach out of our comfort zone. Could you talk a little bit about what - you know, we've talked about some formal mechanisms for making connections - what about the informal mechanisms? I mean, does personality help in these situations?
[00:13:45] You know, does the idea of, you know, having this sense of adventure help in establishing these kind of connections?
[00:13:54] Itir Toksöz: [00:13:54] I think it's kind of does, but I wouldn't exclude the possibility that even a shy person would be able to do all of these things as well. It's, I think, helped me, the fact that I was a very talkative person, that I liked being in, you know, in crowds and in public and, you know, talking with people, exchanging ideas and so on. As for my, let's say, sense of adventure or trying new things, I'm not that good in that. I must admit, like there are certain things that I would not, I wouldn't go bungee jumping, for example.
[00:14:28] I don't have that kind of adventure,
[00:14:29] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:14:29] Well, that's just being smart. No, that's just being smart. That is not adventurous. That is just understanding people can't fly.
[00:14:38] Itir Toksöz: [00:14:38] To be honest, there were times, there was one time, for example, and I wrote this for our University of Venus blog. There was one time where I decided to go to a conference. I applied with one paper and then, two other colleagues from two other commissions, they were setting up panels and they said, like, you're working on so and so issue. Would you consider coming and, you know, presenting our panel as well since you're coming anyway. And then like a couple of days before that conference, I had found out that there was another conference taking place in the same city.
[00:15:17] So since I was going, I applied to there as well, and I ended up presenting four papers within like three days. And you know, that is the kind of sense of adventure that I try to do.
[00:15:29] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:15:29] No, that's great. I mean, it's just classic, honest answer from you. Right. You know, the idea of finding that balance and making it work for you.
[00:15:39] Mary Churchill: [00:15:39] For me that felt like academic, bungee jumping, the way she described it.
[00:15:46] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:15:46] Might've been scarier, quite honestly.
[00:15:48] Mary Churchill: [00:15:48] I know, right? Definitely a lot more work!
[00:15:54] So we are running out of time and so I want to be sensitive to that because I know some of us have to exit in a couple of minutes. So we wrap up with top tips and for this week it's top tips for international partnership. I will start us off and I'm going to steal one that it's your shared with us, which is if safety or security or nervousness is an issue, take a friend, right? I mean, take a friend, take a partner, but go with someone or plan to meet someone there so you're not going alone. So that would be a top tip for me, is take someone along.
[00:16:29] Itir Toksöz: [00:16:29] Yes. That's very good. What I can add to that is, always try to get to know the people. You know, it's not only about academic connections, but you build relationships first of all. Ask them about their children, their grandchildren, their daily lives, their daily struggles. And by doing that, you actually recognize that some of the problems that you think are unique to your own academic culture are actually global structural problems. Now we live in a world where we are interconnected despite the tendencies of, let's say, isolationism, rising nationalisms or populisms all across the world.
[00:17:15] But even against that backdrop, we're actually interconnected in a very, very tight way in the way the global world has shaped certain problems and we will learn from one another and share experiences and that's our way out. But to feel safe in these relationships, I think first we got to know one another personally as well, and then all of the stories come out.
[00:17:44] What Leanne said about the honesty on a basic level would be my top tip. And getting personalized with the people that you engage in your academic collaborations.
[00:17:57] Meg Palladino: [00:17:57] I mean, stepping back a little bit to maybe a more institutional partnership, I think you have to make sure that the partners make sense for your institution and then also, you know, on a more maybe departmental or personal level, maybe you can leverage partnerships that your university already has with other universities. So just kind of building relationships. And then of course you have to find the right person to talk to.
[00:18:25] Leanne Doherty Mason: [00:18:25] And, more on a personal note, you know, my research is so domestic - U.S. domestic - that I think what I've really learned about making international connections around is just basic cultural competencies in those interactions and how, you know, Itir, you spoke to this a little bit about how we may have similar institutions, but the U.S. higher ed system is so much different than...fill in the blank.
[00:18:48] Right? And you know, when I, sports, popular culture scholarship is really heavily Western European, very British, Scottish, and talking to colleagues from those institutions where they have to produce work that the government will find valuable to get credit for it. And how do you do that if you're studying blank, right?
[00:19:06] And to know that I'm in a different kind of space, you know, that tenure provides me an ability to study whatever I want, right? You know, technically, right? So, but those academic cultural competencies that are really important so that you're not overstepping with those connections too, I think is really important.
[00:19:26] Mary Churchill: [00:19:26] Thank you so much, Itir. It's here. It was wonderful to see you. This has been really fun.
[00:19:32] Okay, listeners, here's this week's assignment. Share your story of international partnerships with us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, and tag us @UVenus and we'll retweet, share in our story and post on Facebook.
[00:19:48] As always, thanks for joining us and since next Thursday falls during winter break here in the U.S., this episode is the final episode of the first season of View from Venus.
[00:19:58] We'll be back in late January with season two.
[00:20:01] Stay tuned and thank you for listening.