To date, the complicated question of a national identity embodied in the built environment has dominated the contemporary scholarship on early republican historiography. Akboy-İlk’s study, however, distinguishes itself with its focus on architectural documentation, which became an agent of history-writing in the early years of the nation state. Curated by the ideologies of the state, the formal documentation findings extensively informed the republican plot of the modern progress of Turks. For scholars interested in a closer reading of the crossing boundaries between architectural heritage and nation-building in the case of the modernization of Turkey, this book is revealing and provocative in bringing forward architectural documentation, a remarkably overlooked subject in studies of the area.
Serra Akboy-İlk currently works in Collin College, Dallas, U.S., teaching design and historic preservation courses. Serra holds B.Arch. from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and an M.A. in Cultural Heritage Management from Koç University, Istanbul; along with a Ph.D. in architecture with a focus on historic preservation from Texas A&M University. Her research interests include drawing, architectural documentation, and historiography of Turkish art and architecture. Her recent publications center on documentation activities in the nation building project of early republican Turkey. To date, Serra has published in numerous venues, including Turkish Historical Review, Journal of Drawing Research Theory and Practice, Journal of Architectural Planning and Research, and Preservation Education and Research.