Between Baldwin and Pakay: An Istanbul Story
2025, Digital Exhibition
A grant-funded historical research project and digital exhibition featuring two self-conducted oral history interviews
The Brief
By 1961, James Baldwin had emerged as a powerful literary voice addressing American racial dynamics through novels, essays, and public speaking, yet faced mounting pressures, as a Black, gay man that would eventually lead him to seek refuge abroad in Paris and then, in Istanbul. During his time, he was photographed by a young Turkish photographer named Sedat Pakay whose collaboration with Baldwin left a rich visual culture of images and videos.
The Context
This ArcGIS Story Map (digital exhibition) and oral history interviews were conducted as a part of a personal and academic project funded through a grant under the Lovelace Fund for Discovery. For this project I:
1) Conducted archival research of the James Baldwin Papers at the Schomburg Center for Black Culture and Research finding unpublished essays and letters about his time in Istanbul.
2) Interviewed Kathy Pakay and Timur Pakay (Sedat Pakay’s wife and son respectively) and Donald Spanel (Sedat Pakay’s friend and photographer) through oral history methodologies learned through our internship with the Southern Oral History Program.
3) Engaged with digital humanities tools like ArcGIS Story Maps to tell a wider audience about our findings compiling oral history videos, photographs, interactive maps, and text into one digital product.ps, and text into one digital product.
timeframe: December 2024-April 2025
Research
Questions
How did Istanbul function as a creative sanctuary for James Baldwin during his years in exile from 1961 to 1971?
How did Baldwin’s relationship with the Pakay family, particularly Sedat Pakay’s photographic work, shape his understanding of his own identity and his writing during this period?
In what ways can we visualize Baldwin’s Istanbul through a digital ArcGIS Story Map, connecting historical sites to key moments in his personal and creative life?
Methods
Oral History Interviews
Archival/Historical Research
ArcGIS Story Maps
Final Products