The third cultural studies seminar, co-organized by the departments of English Language and Literature, and American Culture and Literature of Ege University, the American Studies Association of Turkey, the British Council in Turkey, and the USIS-Ankara was held in I zmir on 13-15 May 1998. The theme of this year’s seminar, entitled “Popular Culture(s),” centered around the various approaches to and definitions of popular culture(s). Papers presented at the seminar examined the relationship between popular culture and aspects of everyday life from various perspectives.

On May 13, after the welcome address by Gönül Öney, Vice-President of Ege University, the opening speeches were made by Clive Gobby, British Council Representative in Turkey, and Robert Lindsey, USIS representative. The first keynote speech was delivered by David Espey of the University of Pennsylvania. In his speech, Professor Espey, viewing contemporary travel writing as popular culture, examined the perceptions of Americans in Turkey as revealed in such writing. The second keynote speaker, Nicholas Cull of the University of Leicester, opened the second day of the seminar with a speech entitled “The British Science Fiction Series: Doctor Who.” Ray Browne, Professor Emeritus of Bowling Green University, delivered on the third day the last keynote speech entitled “The Dynamics of Popular Culture Studies.”

Forty papers were presented in plenary and concurrent sessions. On the final afternoon session, the three keynote speakers David Espey, Nicholas Cull, and Ray Browne, and Laurence Raw of the British Council, Ayşe Öncü of Boğaziçi University, and Ayşe Lahur Kırtunç of Ege University participated in a panel discussion which provided a forum for a general evaluation of the seminar.

Over a hundred scholars from various universities in Turkey and abroad, and around a hundred students from Ege University and other universities participated in the seminar.

Below are the titles of the presentations in order of presentation:
David Espey, “ Contemporary Travel Writing As Popular Culture: Americans in Turkey.”

Frank Towers, “Race, Masculinity and the Unconscious: Problems and Prospects in Recent Scholarship on Workers in the 19th-century US.”

Yiğithan Yenicioğlu, “Male Homosexuality and Television.”

Elif Andaç, “Social Constructions of the Intellectual Self as a Subject: Reflections Through Literature.”

A. Aybil Göker, “Usage of Gender Representation in Advertisements as the Unisex Concept.”

Seçil Saraçlı, “Sports in Movies and the Consumer Culture.”

Damla İpek, “Van Damme, Drugs, Toilets and Punk Trying to Catch Up With Trainspotting.”

Oya Paker and Nuran Erol “Construction of Everyday Culture in Turkish Cultural Studies ... Really?”

Ay?e Göçer, “The Pros and Cons of Doing Popular Cultural Studies.”

Ayhan Kaya, “Cultural Bricolage and 'Double Diasporic Cultural Identity' Amongst Turkish Hip-Hop Youth in Berlin.”

Umay Altınok and Deniz Örücü, “Street Styling in Turkey.”

Kamil Aydın, “A Popular Representation of Turkey in the 20th Century Through Western Cinema: A Visual Panorama.”

Z.Tül and A. Süalp, “A Space for Dialogue.”

Nicholas Cull, “The British Science Fiction Series: Doctor Who.”

Oya M. Batum, “The High Culture-Popular Culture Divide and the British Novel of the Last Two Decades.”

Gülsen Canlı, “Roles of Teen Magazines in the Development of Teenage Identity.”

Yusuf Eradam, “Who Am I This Time? Popular Culture Shaping Individual Identity and Collective Memory.”

Süheyla Kırca, “Popular Culture: From Being an Enemy of the 'Woman's Movement’ to a Tool for 'Woman's Liberation.’”

Leo Mahoney, “Archives and Secret Intelligence in the Novels of John Le Carré.”

Murat Seçkin, “Detective Fiction: Thrillers, Whodunnits and Spy Catchers.”

Libuse Liskova, “Using Popular Culture for Inter-Cultural Understanding.”

Dilara Demirbulak, “Reading and Culture.”

Tuna İncesulu, “Impact of Radio on the Cultural and Social Development of Türkiye.”

Lucy Gibbs, “Flies or Spiders?: Women on the Web.”

Arda Arıkan, “Questioning the Given: Confusing Concepts of Popular and Mass Cultures.”

Zeynep Özek, Defne Ersin, Aykut Uluer, and Cenk Erdil, “Re-evaluating Popular National Images.”

Tracy Lord, “Speaking of Popular Culture: Knowing Voices.”

Süheyla Artemel, Oğuz Cebeci, Gün Orgun, Zeynep Gürata, Özlem Ezer, Fiona Tomkinson, and Melda Üner, “The Transformations of Sensational Public Events and Figures in Literature and Art.”

Güzide Eğilmez, “Consumer Habits Among Young People: A Research Project Conducted Among Hacettepe University Students.”

Sinem Bingöl, “Consumer Culture in Britain: Aren't We All Microsoftized Yet?”

Ray Browne, “The Dynamics of Popular Culture Studies.”

Gertrude Durusoy, “Books For Children as Vehicles of Popular Culture.”

Ayşe Lahur Kırtunç, “American Millennialism: Paranoid Visions of the Apocalypse.”

Oya Paker, Çiğdem Leblebici, Oya Somer, Kamil Orhan, and Suat Soylu, “Social Representation Theory: A Social Psychological Approach to Cultural Studies.”

Chris Rumford, “Popular Cultures, Unpopular Ideologies.”

Nurçay Türkoğlu, “Rethinking Popular Culture Together with Ethics.”

Hakan Dibel, “A Liminal Erotics: Sadism, Masochism and the Tight Embrace of the Imaginary Other in British Fiction.”

Donna Wyckoff, “Romancing Reality: Newsstand Novels and Sexual Morality.”

Christina De Coursey, “Elijah Harper and the Eagle's Feather: The Popular Political.”

Jeanne Dubino, “Post-Colonial Post-Modernist Responses to Popular Cultural Imperialism.”