Dr. Semih Gokatalay, Ph.D. - Virginia Military Institute
New Website Loading »
Dr. Semih Gokatalay, Ph.D.

Dr. Semih Gokatalay, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Office: 326 Scott Shipp Hall

Phone: 540-464-7201

Email: gokatalays@vmi.edu

Fields: The Middle East, Business History

Website

Honors and Awards

  • The Dean’s Fellowship Award for Social Studies, University of California, San Diego, 2024
  • Fein-Lapidus Fellowship, the American Jewish Historical Society, New York, 2024
  • Hellenic Research Fellowship, the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection, California State University, Sacramento, 2024

Assistant professor Semih Gokatalay specializes in the history of the modern Middle East. Dr. Gokatalay teaches advanced courses in Middle Eastern history as well as the two-semester World History sequence. He came to VMI in 2025 after receiving his doctoral degree from the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on economic history, nationalism, capitalism, diplomacy, gender, children, and state-society relations in the modern Middle East. He has published scholarly books, articles, and chapters on the region’s history.

At VMI, Gokatalay directs the Middle Eastern Studies minor.

Courses Taught

History of the Middle East I
History of the Middle East II
World History I and II

Publications

Books

  • Fairs, Festivals, and State–Society Relations in the Ottoman Empire, 1876–1908. Bloomsbury, 2026.
  • The Political Economy of Corporations in the Late Ottoman Empire and Early Turkish Republic, 1908–1929. Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Başkanlığı, 2019.

Articles

  • “The Izmir Fair and Public Education in Early Republican Turkey,” Paedagogica Historica
  • “Greek Orthodox Communities, Religious Festivals, and National Identity in the Late Ottoman Empire,” Die Welt des Islams 65, no. 1 (2025): 33–58.