Teaching Turkish Literature and Popular Music This presentation explores the use of Turkish literature and popular music in American universities to introduce students to the themes and questions needed for an introductory understanding of modern Turkey. Building on experiences teaching Turkish literature in translation at a public university in California, this paper will argue that teaching literary works, organized chronologically or thematically, makes it possible to acclimate students to Turkey’s historical, social, and political contexts. Similarly, the inclusion of materials in non-textual media such as music (in genres ranging from Turkish classical music and folk to contemporary rock and hip-hop) provides an opportunity to learn and interact with unfamiliar contexts in a more experiential manner. At a moment when Turkish music (from 1960s psychedelic rock to contemporary hip-hop) is more familiar to young people in North America than in previous periods, music provides a pedagogical opening for the American classroom. This presentation will also discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by the frame of a national canon (“Turkish Literature” or “Turkish Music”). While this approach gives students unfamiliar with Turkey an opportunity to understand the major texts and contexts, the inclusion of non-canonical works (especially by minority writers or those writing/performing in Turkey but not in Turkish) also makes it possible to put pressure on the nation as an organizing frame.