Culture, Learning and Pedagogy: Talât Sait Halman’s Transdisciplinary Legacy

Abstract

On 5 December 2014, Talât Sait Halman passed away at the age of 83. A poet, critic, and translator, as well as the Republic of Turkey’s first Minister of Culture, he was also highly involved in the development of cultural studies in the country. In the fifteen years or so since he gave a keynote speech on the subject, however, the discipline appears to have lost its way. This article takes a fresh look at “cultural studies” from a transdisciplinary perspective, arguing that we should consider how rather than what learners are doing when they acquire cultural knowledge. Using a framework pioneered by theorist Eckhart Tolle, it is suggested that learning should be approached as the “discovery of intelligence beyond thought,” helping learners and educators alike to listen to and reflect on their behavior towards others. Through such processes they can come to learn more about the cultures they inhabit as well as alternative constructions of cultural life. To achieve this, it is necessary to redefine the way people learn; educators have to empower learners by giving them an opportunity to determine the direction of their learning. This model of “cultural studies” is not discipline-specific, but applies to all forms of learning.