CALL FOR PAPERS: INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OFLocal Artisanal Cheeses in Turkey and the World: The Use of Geographical Indication for “Kars Kaşarı” Cheese 15-17 july 2016 / Venue: Caucasus University (Kafkas Üniversitesi), Kars, TurkeyConvenor: Bogatepe Environment and Life Association (Boğatepe Çevre ve Yaşam Derneği), Ecomuseum Zavot (Ekomüze Zavot)

Cheesemaking is not only a craftsmanship that preserves and renders milk safe to consume for longer periods of time. Thanks to this craft, microbiological forms of life have been produced in many different regions of the world through unique cultural techniques under different geographical and climatic conditions.

There are many aspects of cheesemaking to consider: from ecological cycles to microbial diversity, lives of cows to the lives of bacteria, industrial techniques to traditional practices, political maps to cultural frontiers, property relations to natural resource and communal management, nutritional values to food identities, pastures to dairies, supermarkets to local markets and solidarity tourism. In general, this symposium aims to explore the increasing complexity of food and supply chains in cheesemaking sectors. More specifically, the goal of the symposium is to initiate a discussion on how local artisanal cheeses differ from industrial cheeses and what sort of possibilities and limits geographical indications offer for the reproduction of artisanal cheeses, local taste, traditional know-how, and rural communities.

You are invited to submit an abstract on the topics related to, but not limited to:

The symposium will bring together researchers and interested sectors to better understand the use of geographical indication for Kars Cheese and other world cheeses in building farmer organizations and solidarity between local cheese producers and communities.

● Cheesemaking as craft: past and present● Changing definitions of ‘local’ and ‘traditional’ in cheesemaking● Relations of cheesemaking to other agriculture and animal husbandry practices● Cheesemaking as cultural heritage ● Trends in consumption patterns of cheese, milk, and meat● Importance of pastures in traditional cheese production● Mainstream supply chains and emerging alternative networks linking producers to consumers● Geographical indication and their importance in cheesemaking● Production of scientific evidence for territorial distinctiveness (translating terroir)

SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS Please email your abstract (300-500 words) to karspeynirciliksempozyumu@gmail.com by 30 April 2016. Include your full name, contact details (email and mobile), academic affiliation and a short biography. For more information, please visit the conference website https://karspeynirciliksempozyumu.wordpress.com/ or contact Derya Nizam (dniz1191@uni.sydney.edu.au) or Fatih Tatari (mtatari@ucdavis.edu). Selected papers will be included in the symposium proceedings. Selected papers can be presented in Turkish or English. Simultaneous translation will be provided for oral presentations. The symposium is free to attend, but registration is required for all participants.

KEY DATES & DEADLINE

Deadline for abstract submission: April 30, 2016

Announcement of accepted abstracts: May 30, 2016

Deadline for paper submission: June 15, 2016

Announcement of final program: June 20, 2016

Deadline for registration: June 30, 2016

KEY-NOTE SPEAKERS

PROF. DR.ARTUN ÜNSAL: received his PhD degree in Political Science from University of France in 1970. He taught in many universities such as Hacettepe, Ankara, Bogazici and Galatasaray. He was representative of Le Monde, Journal De Geneve in Turkey, and representative of Hurriyet Newspaper in Paris. He also published numerous articles and documentaries about food and cuisine culture for national and international media. Unsal is also the author of a book “When Milks Asleep” that was published in Turkish is about the history of cheesemaking in Anatolia, regional cheese types, their production techniques, including a collection of local cheese-based food and dessert recipes in Turkish cuisine.

ANDREAS BIGLER: is a cheese master who produced Emmental cheese in Arni, Switzerland for 37 years. He is currently the head of the Emmental Regional Cheese Association. Arni is the hometown of David Moser the pioneering cheesemaker that taught the indigenous people how to produce Swiss Cheese in Kars. Bigler is one of the contributors in the project of “From Alps to Caucasus: The History of Cheesemaking in Kars”. Bigler’s research in the David Moser archive in Bern has revealed valuable piece of information to trace the history of cheesemaking in Kars.

İLHAN KOÇULU: has been carrying the family tradition in cheese production (gravyer, kaşar and other local products) in Bogatepe, Kars. He is the founder of Bogatepe Life and Environment Association, and the first cheese museum of Turkey, Ecomuseum Zavot. Koculu has been constructing global networks, opportunities for the local community and solidarity tourism. He has launched numerous projects for protecting local varieties such as Kavılca wheat, also created workshops for the conservation and drying of various endemic herbs (aromatic, medicinal, edible, coloring and ornamental). Koculu was the coordinator of the project of “From Alps to Caucasus: The history of cheesemaking in Kars”. He continues to conduct oral history studies.

PROF. DR. NEŞE ÖZGEN: has completed her award winning PhD thesis in Sociology at Ege University in 1992 (Yunus Nadi Social Sciences Prize, 1993). Ozgen is known for her pioneering research in and co-founding of the field of “Sociology of Borders”. She joined the project of “Caucasus Borders and Citizenship” as a researcher in Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology from 2006 to 2009. Ozgen conducted extensive field research on land ownership, and citizenship in the border side of Ardahan and Kars. “Collective Memory: Ways of Forgetting and Remembering” is among her major works.

PROF. DR. SONJA SRBINOVSKA: has a PhD degree in dairy processing in the field of Goat cheese. She is working as regular professor in Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, since 1988. Her main duties are teaching dairy science, food control systems and food quality and safety legislation to the students, but also provision of advice and support to Ministry of Agriculture, Food Agency, and Standardization Institute of R. of Macedonia, farmers and dairy associations and other stakeholders. She is also author and co-author of more than 70 publications and articles in the field of dairy science and food quality and safety.

DOÇ. DR. ZAFER YENAL: has completed his PhD in sociology at Binghamton University in 2000, since then he has taught sociology at Bogazici University. His research interests include historical sociology, globalization and development, the sociology of agriculture, food and consumption. He co-authored “The End of Agriculture as We Knew It” in 2013 with Caglar Keyder in seeking to bring politics -issues of commoditization and peasant dispossession- ‘back in’ to analyses of agriculture and rural transformation.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Assist. Prof. Ahsen Aksoy, Kafkas Üniversitesi, TurkeyProf. Artun Ünsal, Galatasaray Üniversitesi, TurkeyDr. Anastasia P. Valavanidou, Ministry of Culture, GreeceAssist. Prof. Asiye Çetinkaya, Kafkas Üniversitesi, TurkeyAssist. Prof. Birsen Bulut Solak, Selcuk Üniversitesi, TurkeyDr. Carlo Alberto Dondona, IRES-Piemonte Region, ItalyÇare Olgun, Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi, TurkeyAssist. Prof. Deniz Ünsal, Istanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, TurkeyDr. Derya Nizam, University of Sydney, AustraliaAssist. Prof. Esin Candan, Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi, TurkeyFatih Tatari, University of California Davis, USAProf. Georgios Katsangelos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GreeceAssist. Prof. Güven Gülbaz, Kafkas Üniversitesi, TurkeyAssist. Prof. Ufuk Kamber, Kafkas Üniversitesi, TurkeyProf. Mitat Şahin, Kafkas Üniversitesi, TurkeyAssoc. Prof. Meryem A. Atasever, Atatürk Üniversitesi, TurkeyProf. Dr. Mustafa Atasever, Atatürk Üniversitesi, TurkeyAssist. Prof. Mustafa Doğan, Batman Üniversitesi, TurkeyProf. Neşe Bilgin, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, TurkeyProf. Neşe Özgen, Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi, TurkeyOrkun Doğan, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi, TurkeyDr. Oscar Najavas, La Ponte-Ecomuseum, SpainOzan Torun, İstanbul Üniversitesi, TurkeyProf. Özlem Öz, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, TurkeyProf. Peter Davis, Newcastle University, UKDr. Pınar Nacak, İzmir Ticaret Borsası, TurkeyDr. Rok Bavcar, Goriska Regional Museum, SlovakiaDr. Sergio Lira, University of Leicester, UKProf. Sonja Srbinovska, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, MacedoniaProf. Dr. Tayfun Özkaya, Ege Üniversitesi, TurkeyUrsula Heinzelmann, Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, GermanyProf. Yahya Kemal Avşar, Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi, TurkeyAssoc. Prof. Zafer Yenal, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, TurkeyAssist. Prof. Zühre Aksoy, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Turkey

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Derya NizamFatih TatariGamze İneceliİlhan KoçuluMitat ŞahinMustafa DoğanŞaduman Karaca

BOĞATEPE ENVIROMENT AND LIFE ASSOCIATIONİlhan Koçulu

Boğatepe Environment and Life Association was constructed in 2002 to support life in local villages through natural and social resources. For more than ten years, it has been carried out some projects to prevent mass migration brought about by the isolation of rural areas and the allure of large cities; at the same time, efforts have been made to increase social awareness concerning local potential, and to encourage the embracing of traditions and a sense of belonging. Within the scope of our efforts, we have launched studies and projects with a variety of aims, such as promoting the planting of local crops and the use of greenhouses in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, and we have also organized educational projects for the cultivation, harvesting, drying, and conservation of various edible, aromatic and medicinal herbs.In addition, under the name of solidarity tourism we have arranged tour groups to stay in villages to raise cultural awareness. We have striven to obtain and promote the geographical indication of Kars cheese together with Kafkas University, and we also took part in the founding of Ecomuseum Zavot thanks to the support of United Nations Development Programme. Thanks to the studies of a team of experienced scholars from the History Foundation (Tarih Vakfı) and financial support of Serhat Development Agency (Serhat Kalkınma Ajansı), we conducted a research project investigating the art of cheese making and various cultures in Kars and its outlying areas, including the Caucasus and Anatolia. This project make possible other projects, such as the book of “From the Alps to the Caucasus: 150 Years of Cheesemaking in Kars” and exhibitions which was held in Istanbul and Kars in April and May of 2014.

SPONSORS