Papers by Banu Helvacioglu
McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Mar 25, 2002
Studies in Political Economy, 1992
International Sociology, 2000
The European Legacy, 1999
We are all "Europeans". As has been the case in the last 150 years, we are Europeans in spite of ... more We are all "Europeans". As has been the case in the last 150 years, we are Europeans in spite of Europe.' In April 1994 there was an international symposium organised at Marmara University, Istanbul, to discuss the changing conceptions of Europe. One of the participants watching outside of the window, noticed a German ship named "Europa" passing through the Bosphorous and he exclaimed: "C'est L'Europe qui a passé." 2 This anecdote summarises the logic behind the changing political and cultural representations of Europe both in Europe and in Turkey. Like a ship, Europe is an identifiable, knowable, explicable object, constantly moving in its own territory as well as in foreign waters. As the name of the ship, Europa, alludes, the more one tries to bound this constantly moving object within the logos of history, geography and politics, the more eternal and mythical it becomes. Those who claim to identify themselves as Europeans contend with different references to Greek mythology, Roman history, Judeo-Christian tradition, and the legacy of Enlightenment thinking which are constructed in imagination as markers of origin. The logic behind the self-constitution of Europe is then defined by the blurry boundary drawn between physical reality and the metaphysical construction of the idea of Europe in imagination and representation. In practice this logic manifests itself in a series of discrepancies between the physical geography of Europe and cultural and political representations of European heritage. In Turkey, because of its geographical location and the centuries old relations between the Ottoman empire and European imperial powers, the blurry boundary between physical geography and the metaphysical constructions of the intrinsic essence of European culture and identity are reproduced in a rich medley of paradoxical discourses. In everyday life floating images of Europe are circulated in the market in the forms of military armaments, foreign currency, durable consumer goods, movies, novels, music charts, fashion design and architecture. The term Europe is often used interchangeably with another vague construct, West. As an idea, both Europe and West refer to idealized conceptions of cultural civility, industrial development, scientific progress, liberal democracy and innumerable aesthetic trends. When it comes to the thorny question of European identity, the commonly held view both in Europe and in Turkey is that Turkey is "a country caught between two continents, two traditions, [and] two trends in history". 3 This view is in conformity with dualistic thinking which conceives of reality in binary oppositions between west and east, be
Since the 1980s there has been an ongoing controversy on what con stitutes critical thinking and ... more Since the 1980s there has been an ongoing controversy on what con stitutes critical thinking and political action. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, developments such as the rise of ethnic and religious nationalisms, the violent reconfiguration of cultural and geographical boundaries, the increasing salience of neoliberal policies, and the grow ing influence of identity politics around the world intensified this debate by challenging conventional frameworks used in political stud ies. The theoretical renaissance brought by postmodern, poststruc turalist, postmarxist, and feminist analyses guides us in different direc tions to reflect critically on the formations, since about the eighteenth century, of the modern, colonial, European, liberal political orders. From the purview of these analyses, what is at stake in the current conjuncture of world disorder is the disintegration of modern culture, society and the ideological foundations of the nation-state. Marxist analyses, on the other hand, continue focusing on the restructuring of capitalism in a global context and offer critical reflections on the per vasive influence of capitalism on social relations. On the question of what constitutes progressive politics in our times, the proposals range from class struggle, through the politics of coalition and solidarity between different social movements, to the politics of particularism, isolationism, and the contingency of political action. Regardless of the framework, there are two recurring issues in problematizing the notion of the political. First, as a methodological problem, there is the dichotomy between the particularity and locality of political developments and the general, historical trends which define
Studies in Political Economy
Studies in Political Economy, 1992
Page 1. The Thrills and Chills of Postmodernism: The Western Intellectual Vertigo BANU HEL VACIOG... more Page 1. The Thrills and Chills of Postmodernism: The Western Intellectual Vertigo BANU HEL VACIOGLU While we live, we do not see ourselves in it; we flow onward. So what happened in the process, what we were in it will not coincide with what we can experience. ...
Third World Q, 1996
... Mehmet Akif Ersoy, from the National Anthem of the Turkish Republic2 Republican laicism was t... more ... Mehmet Akif Ersoy, from the National Anthem of the Turkish Republic2 Republican laicism was therefore a Janus-like affair: on the progressive side the Caliphate was eliminated in 1924, but on the other, platoon practice in of®cer training in the 1950s still culminated with the ...
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Papers by Banu Helvacioglu