Culture and Turkey: Post #7

Culture and Turkey: Post #7

Culture is defined by our textbook as, “learned and shared behavior by a group of people that gives them a distinct ‘way of life.’ ”[1] It consists of a shared history of knowledge and traditions that gives a group of people a sense of unity and identity, and as such its importance to a nation’s coherence can not be stressed enough.

Turkey has a unique cultural landscape, due to its intensely varied physical terrain, which ranges from mountains and steppes to lush coastlines and inhospitable desserts. Due to its geographical terrain, Turkey has had a long history of farming and pastoralism, but due to increasing globalization it has become an increasingly modern nation, with now nearly 70% of its population living in urban areas. [2]

 

Figure 1. A map showing Turkey when a part of the Ottoman Empire.

Cultural imperialism, or “the active promotion of one cultural system at the expense of another”,[3]  is most certainly not an unknown concept to the country of Turkey. The most famous example of cultural imperialism would be Turkey being a part of the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1923. After the more than 600 years of cultural indoctrination that entailed, Turkey would become an independent state, but still heavily influenced by Ottoman rule, most visibly in their adherence to the Islamic religion.

 Figure 2. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of of the Republic of Turkey.

            Concerning the oppositional force against cultural imperialism, known as cultural nationalism, Turkey had an especially potent form of it following its national independence. Kemalism was created by the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It was intended to give the people a voice through a parliament, and stressed liberalism and democracy, but eventually this potentially promising creed was defeated by the rise of fascism, as well as adherence to Ottomanism.[4]

            With cultural syncretism or hybridization being a amalgamation of two cultures to create a new one, the most obvious example of such in Turkey would be their many customs and traditions they have taken from Ottoman rule. Not the least of which most definitive imports being the adoption of the Islamic faith, which can touch every part of day to day life in Turkey.

Works Cited

Ahmad, Feroz. The Making of Modern Turkey. London: Routledge, 1993. 61. Print.

Rowntree, Lester. Globalization and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World. 4th ed.   Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2014. G-3. Print.

"Turkey: People and Society." Encyclopedia of Earth. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/172904/>.

Figure 1.  Turkey Map. Digital image. Allaboutturkey.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://www.allaboutturkey.com/img/ottoman-empire-1580.gif>.

Figure 2.  Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Digital image. Turkeytourkey.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://www.turkeytourkey.com/upload/inquiry/blog/Mustafa_Kemal_Ataturk_.jpg>.

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[1] Rowntree, Lester. Globalization and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2014. G-3.

[2] "Turkey: People and Society." Encyclopedia of Earth. Web.

[3] Rowntree, 27.

[4] Ahmad, Feroz. The Making of Modern Turkey. London: Routledge, 1993. 61.