As the twentieth century drew to a close; the unity and authority of the secularist Turkish state were challenged by the rise of political Islam and Kurdish separatism on the one hand and by the increasing demands of the European Union; the International Monetary Fund; and the World Bank on the other. While the Turkish government had long limited Islam—the religion of the overwhelming majority of its citizens—to the private sphere; it burst into the public arena in the late 1990s; becoming part of party politics. As religion became political; symbols of Kemalism—the official ideology of the Turkish Republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923—spread throughout the private sphere. In Nostalgia for the Modern; Esra Özyürek analyzes the ways that Turkish citizens began to express an attachment to—and nostalgia for—the secularist; modernist; and nationalist foundations of the Turkish Republic.Drawing on her ethnographic research in Istanbul and Ankara during the late 1990s; Özyürek describes how ordinary Turkish citizens demonstrated their affinity for Kemalism in the ways they organized their domestic space; decorated their walls; told their life stories; and interpreted political developments. She examines the recent interest in the private lives of the founding generation of the Republic; reflects on several privately organized museum exhibits about the early Republic; and considers the proliferation in homes and businesses of pictures of Atatürk; the most potent symbol of the secular Turkish state. She also explores the organization of the 1998 celebrations marking the Republic’s seventy-fifth anniversary. Özyürek’s insights into how state ideologies spread through private and personal realms of life have implications for all societies confronting the simultaneous rise of neoliberalism and politicized religion.
#2708213 in Books 2007-12-21Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .70 x 5.50l; .70 #File Name: 0821417932288 pages
Review
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Fascinating use of linguistics to tease out a little known historyBy Lawrence MacDonaldThis careful work of scholarship challenges the widely held view that slavery in Africa was primarily a western coast phenomenon driven by demand from the Americas. By examining previously neglected historical records and utilizing linguistic analysis; the authors of the papers in this volume show that slavery was more important in the Great Lakes region than often assumed; and that Africans from the interior played a more complex role than previously recognized. Historians of the area will be particularly interested but people with wide curiosity; like me; will find it rewarding to skim for the key ideas.
