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INTEREST CATEGORY: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
POSTING TYPE: Events

Posted by: Eminegül Karababa

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The Theorization Seminar

Doctoral Seminar on Consumption, Markets, and Cultures Theorization

��1-6 June 2026
Ankara, Turkey

This five-day intensive seminar focuses on mid-range and contextually grounded theorization of consumption, markets, and marketing. It introduces participants to contemporary historical, socio-cultural, and political-economic approaches to conceptualizing and theorizing market and consumption phenomena.

The seminar is designed primarily for doctoral students and early-career faculty members; however, anyone with an interest in these topics is welcome to participate.

This event is part of the European Doctoral School on Consumer Culture Theorizing (). The seminar has been offered biennially since 2005—initially at Bilkent University and, since 2019, at Middle East Technical University ().

Seminar Objectives:

1. The seminar aims to familiarize participants with the socio-culturally inspired research on markets, consumption, and marketing – broadly known as Consumer Culture Theoretics (CCT). The readings and the speakers highlight an interdisciplinary perspective, engaging with scholarship from marketing, critical marketing, anthropology, sociology, communication, and cultural and gender studies. Together, we examine the historical, socio-cultural, political-economic, and ethical dimensions of consumption and marketing in both developed and developing contexts across the global North and South.
2. The seminar also aims to enable the participants to advance the conceptualization of their work. Participants and faculty will discuss how to frame and theorize their research in relation to the relevant literatures, craft compelling research questions, and develop conceptualizations and theoretical contributions.
3. Another purpose is to enhance the participants’ awareness of the expectations and processes of international journals and their review processes. There will be a faculty panel on “how to publish” research papers.

Seminar Coordinators:

• Eminegül Karababa, Department of Business Administration, Middle East Technical University, eminegul@metu.edu.tr
• Olga Kravets, School of Business and Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, Kravets@rhul.ac.uk
• Güliz Ger, Faculty of Business Administration, Bilkent University, ger@bilkent.edu.tr

The Theorization Seminar

Doctoral Seminar on Consumption, Markets, and Cultures Theorization

��1-6 June 2026

Ankara, Turkey

Mentors who have already committed:

Domen Bajde, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Delphine Dion, ESSEC Business School, France
Eileen Fisher, York University, Canada
Güliz Ger, Bilkent University, Turkey
Markus Giesler, York University, Canada
Eminegül Karababa, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
Olga Kravets, University of Royal Holloway, UK
Grant McCracken, Tailwind Radar, USA
Meltem Türe, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey

Location: Litai Hotel, Ankara Turkey

Seminar Application and Participant Selection:

Selection will be based on the letter of interest, which is expected to address the student’s research interests and the fit of this seminar with their doctoral studies. The letter of interest should be around 1000 words. Letters of interest should be sent to cmctseminar@gmail.com as attachments to e-mail messages. The deadline for applications is 22 March 2026 (Sunday).

Seminar Program:

The program consists of lectures, panels, presentations, group work, and mentor meetings. Participants will receive a reading list upon registering for the seminar. The participants are strongly recommended to do the readings before they come to the seminar. On the evening of 1 June 2026, the seminar will start with a welcoming reception at Litai Hotel and will end 6 June 2026. The details of the program will be announced later.

Other Information:����

The seminar will be held in English and equals to 6 ECTS credits. The number of participants is limited to 30.

Participants are free to choose to receive credit or not. Those who wish to receive course credit will present their research projects on the first day of the seminar and will submit a reflection paper at the end of the seminar. They will be evaluated based on their presentation, participation in discussions and mentor meetings, and the capacity shown in enriching their perspective. We provide a certificate confirming the workload for the seminar is equivalent to 6 ECTS credits including self-study, 30 hrs lectures and mentor meetings, oral presentation, and the written submission.

The tuition and fees for the seminar is 900 Euros. The tuition and fees will cover for participation in the seminar, accommodation, breakfasts, lunches, the welcoming reception, and a gala dinner.