Traveling Theories, Traveling Theorists: Seniha Tunakan, “die kleine Türkin” at the KWI-A at Ihnestraße 22–24 and at Ankara University

Abstract: Seniha Tunakan (1908–2000) was a female physical anthropologist from Turkey who completed her doctoral studies at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Anthropologie, menschliche Erblehre und Eugenik—KWI-A (Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics) in 1941. Called die kleine Türkin (little Turkish girl) by her mentor Eugen Fischer in Berlin, Tunakan’s stay at the KWI-A coincided with a period in which the racist narratives of nationalism were at a peak. As such, the KWI-A became an epicenter of international scholars and students, who came mostly from European countries, but also from China, India, Japan, Korea. This article concentrates on the traveling theorist Seniha Tunakan and aims to understand her travels to Germany and the theories of the KWI-A, and back to Turkey. Based on meticulous examination of archival documents and photographs in various archives in Germany and Turkey, this article examines Tunakan’s academic path, the particularities of her stay in Germany during the Second World War and situates traveling theory in personal and political contexts.