TURKISH CULTURE & SOCIETY
Syllabus
(Understanding Society)
For a long time modernization and westernization were treated as virtually
synonymous terms. Modernization in the West has been characterized, amongst other
things, by secularization, democratization, human rights, and economic and
technological development. More recently it has been associated with individualism
and consumerism leading to a weakening of family and community bonds, greater
global economic disparities, and environmental exploitation and degradation.
Not surprisingly then, those in developing countries, or modernizing countries, are
seeking to separate modernization from westernization. But is this possible? What
does it mean to be a modern society? Can countries benefit from certain aspects of
modernity without losing their cultural values and national identity to Western
cultural hegemony?
Students will engage with debates about modernization and what characterizes a
modern society; whether or to what degree there is a universal modernity, and how
different members and groups within Turkish society are contesting what it means to
be Turkish and what it means to be modern. These themes are closely connected to
debates about citizenship, national identity, the role of the state, and who can
participate in the public square and on what basis. The course will use
democratization, secularization, human rights and economic development as four
doors through which to enter Turkish modernity and society.
Urbanization has been the helpmeet of modernization and so the course will take
advantage of our location in Istanbul. Using the physical and human geography of
Istanbul, students will engage with some of the key sticking points in modernization
and modernization theories, as well as challenge their own assumptions about what it
means to be modern and come to a greater understanding of how ideological battles
are embodied and worked out in contests over public space -- whether that is what
women wear or where immigrants live. Thus special attention will be given to the
struggle over personal and publice and the use of spatial references (public/private,
urban/rural, East/West, local/global) to control and persuade. Students will be
encouraged to be more critical and self-reflective in how they use these terms.
Istanbul is an ideal setting as a city that straddles and thus challenges these
dichotomous categories in tangible ways.
In many ways modernization has meant the expansion of the state into areas of life
previously overseen by the family or religion, from women in the workplace to
children in state schools. This is particularly true in the case of Turkey in which
modernization was a self-conscious and deliberate state policy of westernization
embraced by the few and imposed upon the many. Moreover these westernizers
emphasized the secularism of western modernity while downplaying democracy and
human rights. Thus Turkey will challenge many students’ assumptions as Turkish
feminists argue against a woman’s right to veil and Islamists prove more democratic
and pluralist than secularists. Through studying Turkey’s unique struggles to find a
balance between national cohesion and ethnic and religious diversity, students will be
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challenged to consider in new ways how all countries, not least of all the United
States, deal with similar tensions.
Finally, students will be expected to ask how we as Christians should respond to
cultural and religious diversity in God’s world and the loss of diversity in the wake of
westernization and globalization.
Cautionary Notes:
This course aims to introduce students to the behavioral, attitudinal, and religious
patterns of life in Turkey and the Middle East. This includes political, social,
religious, and economic dimensions of the broader culture. It is an introduction to
further inquiry.
Much of the learning that occurs this semester will not become clear, if it does at all,
till students return to America and have time to process and to follow-up on what they
have learned while in the region.
Students may have the understandable expectation that during the semester they will
gain an in-depth knowledge of the culture of Turkey and the Middle East. However
noble this ambition, it is neither respectful nor realistic. While students will certainly
learn and experience more than they ever expected, much more study and experience
is necessary just to begin to appreciate, much less understand, the cultures of the
region. In order that students not over/underestimate the potential for learning,
students should:
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Understand the complexity of the region and to accept a certain ambiguity of
knowledge—a willingness to accept, think about, and write with a sense of
intellectual and spiritual ambiguity. For those wondering how spiritual truths
can be deciphered in a context of ambiguity or uncertainty, remember St.
Paul’s remarks: “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see
Him face to face.” Until then, appreciate the ambiguity of life and learning.
Not oversimplify Turkish and Middle East realities by imposing a contrived
order, organization, conceptual framework, or religious bias to the data.
Instead, attention should be given to appreciating the nuanced nature of
personal and social realities across the region. As with any country or region,
no simple answer exists to any serious question regarding Turkey or the
Middle East. Any conclusions about the status of women in the Middle East,
for example, will depend on any number of factors not easily reducible to a
simple formula. Instead, students are expected to think in terms of how
women interact, behave, and think within different contexts—economic,
social, political, religious, geographical, etc.
Accept that experience is a necessary yet insufficient guide, since both
subjective understanding and numerous differences both between and within
cases do not allow for simplistic, neatly packaged conclusions about any
particular issue area. For example, don't make the mistake of assuming that
you understand Turkish culture because you strike up a friendship or take tea
with an Turkish [individual or family], even though you are in fact learning
something about the culture by doing so.
Think about how the complex patterns referred to above relate to your own
faith tradition intellectually, practically, and spiritually. For example, how
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does any cultural artifact—political, social, economic—impact the way that
Christians believe and worship and view others?
Consider the idea of culture with a small “c”—While many cultural
preferences may be praiseworthy and deserve respect and preservation, many
others are just preferences based on personal or group interest. For example,
imposing cultural change on other people groups is usually wrong, but cultural
change at some level is the norm for most peoples.
Pay special note to issues related to the Arab-Israeli, Palestinian-Israeli
conflict. Students should note the many ways that the conflict colors political
opinion and policy in other countries.
More to come on living and travel etiquette.
PERFORMANCE
Participation – 20%
This involves all class time with the directors and guest speakers. You will be graded
based on questions and quality of questions asked and general level of engagement
with the issues. You should be striving to make connections between speakers, topics
and countries.
This also includes the respect you show your peers and instructors by coming on time
and prepared for all talks, activities, travel, etc.
Exam – 20%
Reflection Essay – 20%
6-10 page Essay on Debate topic – 20%
Debate Presentation – 20%
You will each participate in a one hour presented debate based on a question from this
course or one of the other program courses. The members of your group must divide
into two groups with one answering the question in the affirmative and the other in
the negative. Your papers need to support the position you take in your presentation.
It is good to develop the skill of getting inside and arguing for positions that may not
be your own. You may express interest in a particular topic or side in a topic, but the
final decision and appointment of topics and positions belongs to the instructor.
Your debate will follow the Oxbridge style of debating. 20 minutes per side (broken
down into individual arguments and counter arguments) and 20 minutes for question
and answer. After a break we will then discuss as a group the merits of the cases made
and alternative proposals. (If you want to know what I am aiming for here listen to
“intelligence squared” on NPR – “Oxford style debating on America’s shore.”)
Debate questions for this course:
Is the Turkish expression of modernity unique or is western modernity circa
1950?
Is a secular state the best guarantor of religious freedom?
BONUS
You will receive a half letter grade bonus on your presentation grade if you
are able to convince more people of your position. This does not mean your
side has to have an absolute majority, but you need to have taken more
supporters from the other side or convinced more ‘undecideds.’
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READINGS
Introduction to Istanbul as a City and Contested Public Space
 Andrew Mango, The Turks Today (2004)
 Caglar Keyder, ed., Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local, (1999)
 Ayse Oncu and Petra Weyland, eds., Space, Culture, and Power: new
identities in globalizing cities (1997)
 Engin Isin & Greg Nielsen, eds., Acts of Citizenship (2008)
 Anna Secor, “The Veil and Urban Space in Istanbul: Women’s dress, mobility
and Islamic knowledge,” Gender, Place & Culture 9:1 (2002): 5-22
 Anna Secor, “`There is an Istanbul that Belongs to Me’: Citizenship, Space,
and Identity in the City,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers
94:2 (2004): 352-368
 Tahire Erman, “Becoming ‘urban’ or remaining ‘rural’: The views of Turkish
rural-to-urban migrants on the ‘integration question,” International Journal of
Middle East Studies 30 (1998): 541-561
SECULARIZATION
Turkey provides a fascinating case study of forced top down secularization. It also
presents a different understanding of secularization than that common to Americans.
Rather than ‘freedom of religion,’ Ataturk and his followers adopted French laicism,
in other words, ‘freedom from religion,’ which in practice has meant state control of
religion.
Students will study the Kemalist ideas and their application through state and legal
channels, enforced when necessary by the military. Students will consider the badges
of secularism in modern Istanbul: limited veiling, public consumption of alcohol, etc.
Students will also look at how “traditional” cultural values have not only endured but
are increasingly offering an alternative modernity. In this process students will
consider the role of the state and state structures (education, court, parliament,
constitution & military) in engineering society and the ways in which civil society
groups, families and individuals adopt, adapt, reject, and resist the state’s directives.
Particular attention will be given to alternative models being put forward by the
moderate Turkish Islamist parties and religious movements such as the Fetullah Gulen
movement, and renewed popular interest in Sufism and all aspects of Ottoman
culture.
In secularism and the contest between traditional authority in the home and mosque
and the new authority of the state: the role of women and the education of children
remain key battlegrounds over cultural identity.
Students will be called upon to question the benefit or feasibility of a separation of
religion and state. They will also consider the philosophical underpinnings of
Western secularism, namely the Enlightenment, and the degree to which Turkish
understanding of modernization and secularism is different for not having
experienced the ruptures of the Enlightenment in the same way. On the one hand
students will be encouraged to consider the ways in which the scientific method has
been the key to many modern developments in science and technology. However, is
it necessary for a society to embrace the scientific method and its secular
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underpinnings in order to fully participate in modernity, or rather, benefit from
modernity?
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Mustafa Akyol, “Turkey’s liberal Islam and how it came to be,” an updated
version of Mustafa Akyol, “Turkey’s Veiled Democracy” The American
Interest, Nov-Dec 2007
Mustafa Akyol “Welcome to Islamic Reformation 101,” Turkish Daily
News March 1, 2008.
Ayse Kadioǧlu, “the Paradox of Turkish Nationalism and the Construction of
Official Identity,” Middle Eastern Studies (1996)
Nilfur Gole, “Secularims and Islamism in Modern Turkey: the Making
of Elites and Counter elites” Middle East Journal 51:1 (1997): 46-58
Kimberly Hart, “The Orthodoxization of Ritual Practice in Western Anatolia,”
American Ethnologist, 36:4 (2009): 735-749
Jenny B. White “The End of Islamism? Turkey’s Muslimhood Model,” from
Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, and Democratization, ed.
Robert W. Hefner (Princeton University Press, 2004)
Robert Piggott, “Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts,” BBC News
2/26/08
THE GULEN MOVEMENT
 Bill Pawrk, “The Fetullah Gulen Movement,” Middle East Review of
International Affairs, 12.4 December 2008.
 Excerpts from Fetullah Gulen’s writings
 M. Hakan Yavuz and John Esposito, Turkish Islam and the Secular
State (2003)
 Hakan Yavuz, “Towards an Islamic Liberalism? The Nurcu Movement
and Fethullah Gulen,” Middle East Journal 53:4 (1999): 594-605
EDUCATION
 Soon-Yong Pak, “Culture politics and vocational religious education: the case
of Turkey,” Comparative Education 40:3 (2004): 321-341
 Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela & Fatma Nevra Seggie, “Miniskirts and
Headscarves: Undergraduates Student Perceptions of Secularism in Turkish
Higher Education,” Higher Education 55:2 (2008): 155-170
 Sami Zubaida, “Turkish Islam and National Identity,” MERIP 199 (1996): 1015
DEMOCRATIZATION
Turkey has moved in fits and starts towards a multi-party democracy. Students will
study this process, its set backs and successes. However, they will also be challenged
to see that democracy is about much more than having elections and consider the
degree to which Turkish society and state are fostering democratic values. Not only
will students need to develop a more complex and culturally nuanced understanding
of democracy, they will also need to consider the relative merit or cost of democracy.
In other words, the extent to which democracy prioritizes individual choice and the
impact this inevitably has on the social fabric of a community. Can Turkey produce a
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different version of democracy as more than elections while avoiding the hyper
individualism of the West?
Students will study the growth of multi-party democracy in Turkey. They will also
study the ways in which cultural values and political policies undermine the spirit of
democracy such as authoritarian, statist, and patriarchal social structures.
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Mehran Kamrava, “Pseudo-democratic politics and populist possibilities: the
rise and demise of Turkey’s Refah Party,” British Journal of Middle East
Studies 25:2 (1998): 175-301
William Hale, Turkish Politics and the Military
Robert Hefner, ed., Remaking Muslim Politics: pluralism, contestation,
democratization
Academic and news articles on recent elections and constitutional changes
Jenny White, “Vernacular Islamic politics”
Chris Rumford, “Placing democratization within the global frame:
sociological approaches to universalism, and democratic contestation in
contemporary Turkey” The Sociological Review (2002): 258-277
Sam Kaplan, “Nuriye’s Dilemma: Turkish Lessons of Democracy and the
Gendered State,” American Ethnologist 30:3 (2003): 401-417
News articles on the Ergenokon case
HUMAN RIGHTS
Closely related to democratization is the question of citizenship and equality. While
students may regard human rights as a universal value and an unqualified good, they
will be called upon to enter into Turkish debates about national solidarity and ethnic
and religious distinctiveness on the one hand, and individual rights and family and
communal obligations on the other. Students will consider how state policies and
societal, group and individual responses have shaped the evolution of rights for
women and ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey.
GENDER
 Gul Aldikacti Marshall, “Ideology, Progress, and Dialogue: A Comparison of
Feminist and Islamist Women’s Approaches to the Issues of Head Covering
and Work in Turkey,” Gender and Society 19:1 (2005): 104-120
 “Lawfare and Wearfare in Turkey” Middle East Report Online, April 2008
 Yesim Arat, “Feminists, Islamists, and Political Change in Turkey” Political
Psychology 19:1 (1998), 117-131
 Banu Gokariksel and Anna Secor, “Between Fashion and Tesettur: Marketing
and Consuming Women’s Islamic Dress,” Journal of Middle East Women’s
Studies 6:3 (2010): 118-148
 Nilufer Gole, The Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veiling (1996)
 Deniz Kankiyoti, “Emancipated but unliberated? Reflections on the Turkish
case.” Feminist Studies 13:2 (1987)
 Jenny B. White, “State Feminism, Modernization, and the Turkish Republican
Woman,” NWSA Journal 15:3 (2003): 145-159
RELIGIOUS & ETHNIC MINORITIES
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Thomas Smith, “Civic Nationalism and Ethnocultural Justice in Turkey,”
Human Rights Quarterly 27:2 (2005): 436-470
 “Modernity and the Alevis of Turkey: Identity, Challenges and Change,”
Michael Stewart Journal of International Relations, volume 9, Spring 2007
 “Prayer and Politics, but no Orgy,” Pelin Turgut and Nathan Thornburgh
TIME 5/5/08
 “Reviving the Armenian heritage,” Barcin Yinanc, Turkish Daily News
17/9/08
 “Give up the G-word” The Economist, June 25, 2009
 “Turkey’s Rebellious Kurds: stone throwers in glass houses” The Economist
21/5/09 http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13702749
 Additional articles on the Christian communities in Turkey are covered in the
course reader on “historical and cultural roots of Christianity.”
The Malatya Massacre Case (Orhan Cengiz, human rights lawyer & guest speaker)
 “Turks in Christian Murder Trial” BBC News 11/23/07
 “The ‘deep state’ is smiling at me in the Malatya massacre case” (Parts I &
IV), Turkish Daily News, February 2008
DEVELOPMENT
While attention is frequently given to the unique quandary that Turkish women have
posed for feminists and those concerned with personal freedoms as well as the rights
of Turkey’s religious and ethnic minorities, students need to recognize that these
issues are closely related to other societal structures based on region and social class.
Consequently, students will consider the economic ‘miracle’ of Turkey over the past
ten years, how this has been overseen by an Islamist party seemingly committed to
ensuring the benefits of economic development are felt more widely. Students will
be expected to look for markers of class, economic development, and globalization.
We hope to travel to the South east of Turkey in order to contrast Western Turkish
industrial towns with Eastern Turkish villages. We will also look at the impact of the
massive development project GAP (The Southeastern Anatolian Project)
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Umit Cizre and Erinc Yeldan, “The Turkish Encounter with neo-liberalism:
economics and politics in the 2000/2001 crises,” Review of International
Political Economy 12:3 (2005): 387-408
“Improvement in rights, economy need to go hand in hand in the southeast”
Turkish daily news july 20, 2009
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=improvement-in-rights-economyneed-to-go-hand-in-hand-in-southeas
Additional readings
SCHEDULE
We have met with faculty from the social sciences department at Koch, Bogacizi, and
AnaTeppe Universities who have in turn recommended other faculty members in their
departments to speak on various topics. These are all well regarded English language
universities and the faculty members have generally received their training in the
United States or Europe. When we return to Turkey in June-July we will have more
meetings with faculty with a more detailed list of lecture topics. The goal is to expose
students to a range of Turkish views on the core themes of the course.
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Week ONE & TWO:
Orientation & Intensive Turkish
Introductory thematic talks by Mustafa Akyol and Barcin Yinanc
Week THREE & FOUR
Travel through South West of Turkey
Week FIVE-TEN
Lectures + field trips in Istanbul
The Kurdish Question
Immigration & Urbanization
Economy & Development
Islamism & democracy
Gender & Family
Education & legal reform
Human Rights
Visit office of AK Party MP for Besektas district
Week ELEVEN
Travel to South East of Turkey focusing on Kurdish, Arab, Alevi & Christian
communities in Turkey as well as development and culture gap between Eastern and
Western Turkey between cities and villages.
Week TWELVE
Review, papers, presentations and exams
Week THIRTEEN
Travel to Egypt providing helpful comparisons on democratization, religious
freedoms, Islamization, and economic development
Week FOURTEEN-SIXTEEN
Sinai & Israel-Palestine
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