Mathematical Communities

Nesin Math Village:Mathematics as aRevolutionary ActGIZEM KARAALI

This column is a forum for discussion of mathematical

communities throughout the world, and through all

time. Our definition of ‘‘mathematical community’’ is

the broadest: ‘‘schools’’ of mathematics, circles of

correspondence, mathematical societies, student

organizations, extra-curricular educational activities

(math camps, math museums, math clubs), and more.

What we say about the communities is just as

unrestricted. We welcome contributions from

mathematicians of all kinds and in all places, and also

from scientists, historians, anthropologists, and others.

� Submissions should be uploaded to http://tmin.edmgr.com

or sent directly to Marjorie Senechal,

mi.editor1@gmail.com

PPerched right next to a tiny little mountain village inthe Turkish Aegean, you will find, beyond the olivetrees and the vines, slate boards full of scrawls, a

brand new stone library with volumes and volumes of themathematical classics, and enthusiastic mathematicians hud-dled together over cups of tea and a problem. This is anaccount of my visit to the Nesin Mathematics Village, a possiblyunique experiment in building a mathematical community inone of the most unexpected places on earth (Figure 1).

…

I squeeze into an orange car with all my belongings andlook out its open window as the rolling hills of the Aegeanpass by. I got off the plane in Izmir eager to walk about andstretch my legs, but we had to rush to meet the shuttle driversent there to fetch us. Grateful though a bit restless, I sit thereand try to think of what the next few days may have in store.Whatever you do, don’t look at the road. Turkish driversdrive as if traffic is a vicious video game, where the goal is notto survive but to score big. (I know. My father was one.)

Outside, fields full of summer’s bounty pass by. Then theroad shrinks and the little car carrying our party startsclimbing.Eventually ancient olive trees giveway to sprawlingvineyards, and then we find ourselves in a little mountainvillage once called Cirkince by its original inhabitants, ‘‘kindof ugly,’’ inorder todissuadecuriousvisitors. Today the secretis out and its currentname is Sirince, ‘‘kind of cute,’’ certainly amore apt description (Figure 2). Tourists visiting nearbyEphesus twelve kilometers away (Figure 3) will occasionallytake the ride to drink its wine and see its Orthodox Greekchurch. Sirince has a poignant history involving lost home-lands and broken friendships. And though in the summers itis bustling with its growing tourism industry, it is still a village,where ‘‘birds chirp, donkeys bray, goats baa, mourningdoves coo, dogs bark, roosters crow, children play, a tractorpasses.’’1

But we are not quite yet at our destination. We pass thelittle town of six hundred, and find an even narrower path forthe orange car, which in its current surroundings is starting tofeel like a clumsy giant barely holding on to the windingunpaved road. Still no need to worry, because our driver hasplayed this game several million times before, and justaround the time I start wondering about dinner, we arrive.

I get out of the car and look around. Sirince was small, butwhere we are now is tiny! Stone houses, sprawling trees,plants ofmanykinds all over theplace, butterflies as big asmytoddler’s palm, and a hand-laid cobblestone path in front ofme. Later I’ll hear the frogs, I’ll get acquainted with the bigants and the ginormous spiders, and each of the many many

1http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Aegean/Ephesus/sirince/, accessed January 2, 2014.This website has information about Sirince and some nice pictures, too. And

of course there is always the google alternative; simply enter in ‘‘Sirince’’; google is smart enough not to need the tailed S to get you the right information.

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DOI 10.1007/s00283-014-9453-5

cats of the villagewill eventuallypay a visit atmydinner table,but at this firstmoment, I just breathe in the freshmountain airand the scent of the wildflowers along with it.

…

The name Nesin might sound familiar. It is almost ahousehold name in Turkey. Most have heard of Aziz Nesin(1915–1995), theprolific and restless satirist (Figure 4)whoseplays and short stories amused their readers amid pointedremarks about Turkish democracy, bureaucracy, willfulignorance, intellectual snobbery and hubris, and mostrecently religious fanaticism. His unabashedly atheisticstance during the early 1990s became controversial in the

Turkish public sphere, especially as the latter evolved into amore openly conservative one.

For the readers of this magazine, the son Ali Nesin isperhaps a more kindred spirit. Ali Nesin, a logician andalgebraist by training (Yale Ph.D., 1985), spent several yearsin the United States, at both Notre Dame University and theUniversity of California, Irvine. When his father passed awayhe returned to Turkey to take over the Nesin Foundation, anonprofit organization Aziz Nesin had founded in 1973 toprovide educational opportunities for children who did nothave them.2 The Math Village is a new venture of theFoundation.

The polymath-entrepreneur Sevan Nisanyan, an oldfriend of Ali Nesin and one of the main pillars of the Village,tells the story: ‘‘We used to talk […] about the ideal educa-tional environment, the architecture, the setting, theoperation and so on. We looked […] at medieval monasteriesand old Turkish medreses. And then one day, all of a sudden,it started looking doable.’’

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AU

TH

OR GIZEM KARAALI is the associate editor of

The Mathematical Intelligencer. She earned

her mathematics Ph.D. from the University

of California, Berkeley, and now teaches

at Pomona College. Her mathematical

research lies in the representation theory

of Lie superalgebras and super quantumgroups; her scholarly interests also include

humanistic mathematics, pedagogy, and

quantitative literacy. Among many other

activities, Gizem is a founding editor of

the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

(http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/). In

whatever spare time she has, she likes

traveling, reading and writing, walking aloneand with friends, and playing with and

cooking for her two young children. She

likes symmetric and colorful patterns and

hopes to learn to make beautiful things by

hand one day.

Department of MathematicsPomona College

640 North College Avenue

Claremont, CA 91711

USA

e-mail: gizem.karaali@pomona.edu

Figure 1. A panoramic view of the mountain range, with both Sirince and the Math Village in sight. Photograph taken by Stephan

Ramon Garcia from atop a nearby observation tower (Hodri Meydan Kulesi).

Figure 2. A street in Sirince.

2http://www.nesinvakfi.org, accessed January 2, 2014.

46 THE MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCER

If you ask the Turkish establishment, both Nesins, thefather and the son, have been perpetual troublemakers. AzizNesin repeatedly and pointedly spoke up about free speechand its violation, led the Turkish Writers Union at a criticaltime, and was the target of many death threats, most recentlyfrom radical Islamist organizations. Ali Nesin was chargedwith inciting rebellion in the army during his compulsorymilitary training. And so when the latter joined forces withNisanyan, another known ‘‘troublemaker,’’ the fruit of theirefforts would of course be suspect.

‘‘We tried to get permission to build,’’ says Nisanyan. ‘‘Theapplication was mired down in a bureaucratic swamp—Turkey, you may know, is famous for its bureaucratic

swamps. So one day in 2007 we said, hell, permit or no per-mit, we are going to go ahead. We built a bunch of absolutelyprimitive shelters—you know, stone and adobe huts, treehouses, tents, an outdoor kitchen. A sort of rustic camp withsome faux-Roman ruins scattered though it. We had a big treegrowing out of themain lecture hall.Within threemonths,wewere ready to host our first summer school of 60-plus stu-dents. We had some star lecturers from Russia, the UK, Israel,and so on. They loved it. And the students loved it.’’

The story keeps showing up in the Turkish newspapers.Every now and then there is a new report from the authoritiespointing out that the Village was built without the properpermissions. Every now and then this leads to a declarationfrom the same authorities that the Village or some building init will have to be torn down. (The most recent report wasdated September 2013.) The Jandarma, rural security forces,come to arrest construction workers (who I believe areeventually released). And yet, the Village goes on. ‘‘K€oy hepdevam ediyor,’’ says Ali Nesin, the Village keeps on keepingon.

…

So what happens at the Village? This is a full-blown mathinstitute, lively with mathematical activities running year-round. A large segment of the activities target domestic stu-dent groups; there is a large educational componentintegrated into the mission of the Village. There are severalresearch conferences held there as well. Individualresearchers can also make use of the Village if they like. TheNesin Village website describes it best:3

At the Mathematics Village one can do mathematics of anykind and at any level. For example, this is how a typicalsummer school goes: Some of us stay in the stone houseswhile others stay in tents. We wake up at 7 in the morning.There are lectures between 8:00 and 12:00 and from 16:00to 20:00. High school students attend all the lectures (8hours in total, 4 lectures a day each lasting two hours).University students attend at least two lectures a day.Professional mathematicians give these lectures, butsometimes students can give a lecture or one or twoseminars on a given subject. At night, students work aloneor in groups. Thursday is our day off. Students organizeinto groups of three and these groups accomplish choressuch as cleaning (bathrooms included!), cooking, dish-washing, and gardening, in rotation. Researchers canburythemselves in their work and not speak to anyone if theyso desire. Outside the summer months, friendly or familymeetings, or even honeymoons may be organized at theVillage.

At the beginning, you might have had visions ofOberwolfach, or if you are based in North America as I am,you might have thought of BIRS (Banff InternationalResearch Station) in Calgary, MSRI (Mathematical SciencesResearch Institute) in Berkeley, or AIM (American Institute ofMathematics) in Palo Alto. Now tents or students doing thedishes and the gardening might give you a hint that this is notBanff anymore. Maybe more like summer camp for naughty

Figure 4. A caricature of Aziz Nesin hung on the wall of our

little village home.

Figure 3. Ephesus is one of the best preserved ancient ruins

in Turkey and only a short drive away from Sirince.

3http://matematikkoyu.org/eng/about/faq.php, accessed January 2, 2014.

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kids? But no, this is indeed a math institute, only a la Turcastyle. Let us read on. On the same website, the accommo-dations and offerings are summarized as follows:

Aside from 4 delicious meals a day and lodging, [the Vil-lage] offers mathematical training, a natural environment,and peace. We have a closed lecture theatre and an open-air amphitheatre, each having the capacity to seat 60. Wealso have bleachers which seat 200 students at a time. Forgroups of 20-30 people, we have small bowers. We haveterraces for those who want to study quietly. There is noswimming pool, public broadcasting of music, or televi-sion.We try toprotect our village from factorswhich couldbedetrimental to concentration.Wehavedouble roomsaswell as ‘‘dorms’’ for 4, 6, 8, or 10 people. The Villagehouses are made of stone, mud, and hay. VIP may preferthe more comfortable pensions of the nearby village ofSirince.

Having been there, I offer you my own brief recap ofa typical weeklong stay at the Nesin Math Village: a rusticvillage home (Figure 5), mosquitos, delicious and healthycomfort food served four times a day, smoking everywhere

(it seems Turkish intellectuals smoke incessantly!), and ofcourse mathematics. Anyone who is there on a program isdeep in concentration, and mathematical conversations areeverywhere. Random slate boards and little groups oftables are sprinkled about the premises and the scribbleson the boards and the contents of the ashtrays show thatthey are all clearly used. Mathematics is in the air.

Anything for the nonmathematicians? Kids especially willlove exploring the grounds, observing the noisy but shy frogsin the little pond under the mulberry trees, or climbing on thelatter to eat some fresh off the branches. Mine also enjoyedthe mega-abacus (Figure 7). But do make sure your babydoesn’t swallow a quarter-sized spider; mine did try.

…

Saturday, June 15, 2013, was our last day in the Math Vil-lage. And that coincided with the official opening ceremonyof thenewest construction on site: a central library thatwouldalso house a large lecture hall (Figure 8). Of course therewere no officials invited, but there was a big red ribbon as istraditional in Turkish opening ceremonies, and a giant pair of

Figure 5. The path to our little cottage on the left, and a shared courtyard that is attached to it on the right.

Figure 6. An outside classroom on the left, and a series of beds for those who want to take a nap in between intense episodes of

math on the right.

48 THE MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCER

scissors. And there were two speeches, one by Ali Nesin andone by Sevan Nisanyan. The latter seemed rather touched bythe Foundation’s decision to name the building after him.

…

In his speech Nesin said that Anatolia is undergoingtransformation, going through revolutionary changes. Andthat theMathVillage is a part of this change. Somemight thinkthat hewas referring to theGezi Park events that hadbegun inIstanbul that May and had sparked protests across the nation.But I think that he was talking about a more significantawakening among the Turkish people, demanding bettereducation, more opportunities for intellectual development,and more respect for all human rights.

In any case, Nesin probably did not feel the need to sayanything openly political. It was a good day at the Village andit was a time to celebrate. And celebrate we did. On tables

placed along the path to the dining commons was a feast setup for all, and we all enjoyed the culinary talents of thekitchen staff (Figure 9).

…

In his brief speech that day, Nisanyan said, ‘‘Ne g€uzelhayaller var! Yapacak cok s�ey var.’’ There are many beautifuldreams and so much to do! Later on he told me: ‘‘I dream of awhole series of similar institutions, all here within this lovelyvalley near Sirince. There must be a social sciences academy,a divinity school, an art school, an archaeological institute.The theater school (which is more like a theater commune)came to life already this year. The divinity thing is homelessyet, but this summer we held a couple of lovely conferenceswithin the mathematics grounds and I hope it will just growfrom there. Mathematics was just the first step, really.’’

Mathematics as thefirst step towhat, exactly? Awholenewway of learning and living. A whole new way of being. Thereare those who see education as a subversive, or possibly, arevolutionary act; now, on the mountains of the TurkishAegean, we see that mathematics itself can be subversive orrevolutionary.

Nisanyan is more careful with his words: ‘‘There is [a] vastamount of room for all sorts of unorthodox and creative ideasin theworld. [TheMathVillage]was just one such idea. It’s theproduct of two crazy old pals, a mathematician and a builder-philosopher, getting together to realize their dream. I don’treally believe that our experience is generalizable. That is,you can’t just copywhat we did and expect the magic to workin the same way. But I am sure other people can be inspiredby what we did, and maybe get up their courage to do sim-ilarly wild things, maybe in a totally different field.’’

Here is to that hope!

Figure 7. A large working abacus welcomes visitors to the

Nesin Math Village. In the background is the Sevan Nisanyan

Library.

Figure 8. The interior of the Sevan Nisanyan Library, which

opened its doors on June 15, 2013.

Figure 9. The buffet dinner following the opening ceremony.

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