Turkish nationalism and the evolutionary idea (1923–1938)

Umut Uzer's An Intellectual History of Turkish Nationalism offers a textual analysis of the ideational grounds and developments of Turkish nationalism from the late Ottoman Empire to the present. The book's overarching argument is that in the course of its " ideological odyssey, " Turkish nationalism has evolved from a modern, secular, progressive, and even revolutionary idea—which the author loosely associates with early Kemalist thinking—to a " conservative " and patriarchal ideational formation that embrace traditional, exclusionary, and Islamic values. Uzer mainly credits the transition to multiparty democracy in the 1950s for this transformation but also emphasizes other factors, including the republic's gradual welcoming of Islamic ideals and groups into political life, the Cold War dynamics and anxieties about communism, and urbanization. In mapping this transformation, the book covers an impressive range of primary literature including not only the nationalist thinkers such as Ziya Gökalp who commonly feature in studies of Turkish nationalism, but also, more usefully, neglected figures such as Nihal Atsız, the influential proponent of Turkish racism. Indeed, the book's strongest contribution is its comprehensive analysis of racist thought and ethnic nationalism in modern Turkey. Thus, in addition to Uzer's analysis of the racial components of Turkish nationalism, the expansive primary sources contained within the book make it an important and useful resource for students and scholars interested in the region and era, but who cannot read Ottoman and Turkish. There are, however, three criticisms that could be raised against this otherwise important book. The first concerns style. Despite bringing together close readings of an impressive body of literature, some of which appears for the first time in English, the texts covered are not situated within a broader theoretical structure. Nor does the book offer a theoretically rich account of them. Instead, the presentation takes the form of descriptions and summaries of different texts, leaving the reader craving a more robust analysis of their theoretical depth and structure. The second point concerns the book's main argument about the evolution of Turkish nationalist thought from a relatively progressive and revolutionary ideational form to a more right wing and Islamist ideology. While not novel in the scholarship, this argument endorses a somewhat romanticized

Cultural Dynamics, 2005

As a new nation state founded in 1923 on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey faced the need to establish a new national identity and ideology. Recognizing the multiple faces of Turkish nationalism, this article explores how Kemalist conceptions of national identity were not limited to civic nationalist ideologies, but incorporated racist ascriptions of ethnic nationalism as well. Based on the research and publications of scholars associated with the Turkish Review of Anthropology from 1925 to 1939, this article analyzes a form of early Turkish nationalism that was shaped by a racist discourse supported by and purveyed through the disciplinary authority of anthropology. The author's analysis reveals a dominating and exclusionary discourse of Turkish nationalism, in which the 'Turkish race' (posited as the dominant national group) had a sense of proprietary ownership of the nation and national identity.

Turkish Studies , 2016

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 2008

1998

SEARCH FOR AN ETHNO-SECULAR DELIMITATION OF TURKISH NATIONAL IDENTITY IN THE KEMALIST ERA (1924-1938) WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE ETHNICIST CONCEPTION OF KEMALIST NATIONALISM

Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies , 2017

Although Ziya Gökalp was one of the most important intellectuals who shaped Turkish nationalism, scholarship did not systematically examine the links between his sociological perspective and nationalism. This study portrays how Gökalp's culture-civilization theory, predominantly adapted mainly from Emile Durkheim's sociological perspective, provides a basis to his Turkish nationalism. Gökalp developed two central premises in line with Durkheimian sociology: (a) civilization is dependent on cultural unity; and (b) religion is the root of culture. Via the culture-civilization duality, Gökalp constructed Turkish nationalism that excluded non-Muslim and non-Sunni minorities. This article not only provides a comprehensive account about the roots of Turkish nationalism but also posits a fresh perspective on Gökalp's trinity of Turkification, Islamization and modernization. In so doing, it underlines Durkheim's indirect impact on the foundations of Turkish nationalism.

2010

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.

2010

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.