The Role of Judeo-Spanish in Sephardic Identity a Thesis
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THE ROLE OF JUDEO-SPANISH IN SEPHARDIC IDENTITY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY ASLI MUSTANOĞLU ALTEN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE PROGRAM OF MIDDLE EAST STUDIES SEPTEMBER 2012 iii Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences __________________ Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science __________________ Prof.Dr. Recep Boztemur Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science __________________ Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr.Ayşegül Aydıngün ( METU, SOC ) __________________ Prof. Dr. Simten Coşar ( Başkent U., PSIR ) __________________ Prof. Dr. Recep Boztemur ( METU, HIST ) __________________ iv I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Aslı Mustanoğlu Alten Signature : iii ABSTRACT THE ROLE OF JUDEO-SPANISH IN SEPHARDIC IDENTITY Mustanoğlu Alten, Aslı M.S., The Program of Middle East Studies Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün September 2012, 217 pages This study focuses on understanding the reasons for the consciousness emerged towards Judeo-Spanish starting from the late seventies. This consciousness was followed by the establishment of several institutions, centers and even departments at Universities mainly in Israel, later in Turkey and all over the world aimed at maintenance of Judeo-Spanish by perceiving it as the unique medium of the continuance of the Sepahardic cultural heritage. The mentioned awareness towards Judeo-Spanish has become salient through the rise and the encouragement of the creative writing produced on distinct ethnic communication platforms by several Judeo-Spanish speakers composing of both native speakers and the generation raised by them, the youngest of whom was born around 1945. As a result of the analysis of three ethnic communication platforms which consist of Judeo-Spanish part of Şalom newspaper, Şalom’s entirely Judeo-Spanish supplement El Amaneser, and the on-line correspondence circle Ladinokomunita Yahoo Group, it is concluded that the activity based on recalling of memories regarding the past Sephardic life as a part of the recent creative writing activities in Judeo-Spanish iv present that the Jewish language is still internalized and represents ‘we’ in the eyes of the remaining speech community. It can be argued that through the cultivation of Judeo-Spanish on the ethnic communication platforms, Sephardic identities are strengthened and even reconstructed in some cases. It is concluded that the recent creative writing in the Jewish language is crucial both to preserve and archive the Sephardic cultural heritage embedded in the Jewish language for the next generations. Keywords: Judeo-Spanish, Sephardic identity, multi-lingualism, Şalom, multiglossia v ÖZ JUDEO-ESPANYOL DİLİNİN SEFARAD KİMLİĞİ ÜZERİNDEKİ ROLÜ Mustanoğlu Alten, Aslı Yüksek Lisans, Orta Doğu Araştırmaları Yüksek Lisans Programı Tez Yöneticisi : Doç.Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün Eylül 2012, 217 sayfa Bu çalışma 70’lerden itibaren Judeo-Espanyol diline yönelik olarak gelişen bilinçlenmenin nedenlerini anlamaya odaklanmaktadır. Bu bilinçlenmeyi 70’lerden itibaren Judeo-Espanyol dilini Sefarad kültürel mirasının korunması ve devamın önemli bir parçası olarak algılayarak dili ve kültürü muhafaza amaçlı kurulan başlıca İsrail’de olmak üzere onu takiben Türkiye ve dünyanın bir çok yerinde kurulan birçok enstitü, merkez ve üniversite departmanları izlemiştir. Judeo-Espanyol ’a yönelik bu farkındalık en genci 1945 doğumlu ve yine bu neslin yetiştirdiği Judeo- Espanyol konuşucularının çeşitli on-line etnik iletişim platformlarında paylaştıkları yaratıcı yazım faaliyetinin artması ve bunun cesaretlendirilmesiyle belirginleşmiştir. Şalom gazetesinin Judeo-Espanyol kısmı, aynı gazetenin Judeo-Espanyol eki El Amaneser ve on-line yazışma grubu Ladinokomunita Yahoo Group ‘tan oluşan etnik iletişim platformlarının analizi sonucunda, Judeo-Espanyol dilinde son dönemde yapılmış olan yaratıcı yazım faaliyetlerinin bir parçası olan geçmişteki Sefarad yaşamına ait hatıraların anımsanmasına yönelik faaliyetin bir Yahudi dili olan, vi Judeo-Espanyol’un halen konuşmakta olan topluluk tarafından içselleştirildiğini ve bu topluluk gözünde halen “biz” kavramını ifade ettiğini göstermektedir. Etnik iletişim platformlarındaki Judeo-Espanyol yazım sayesinde Sefarad kimliğinin güçlenmekte olduğunu ve hatta bazı durumlarda yeniden oluştuğunu söylemek mümkündür. Sonuç olarak, bir Yahudi dili olan Judeo-Espanyol lisanındaki son dönemde yaratıcı yazım faaliyetlerinin Yahudi diline gömülü Sefarad kültürel mirasının korunması ve arşivlenmesi açısından çok önemli olduğu ortaya çıkmaktadır. Anahtar kelimeler: Judeo-Espanyol, Sefarad kimliği, çokdillilik, Şalom, multiglossia vii To All , Who Have Ever Spoken Judeo-Spanish, viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün for her guidance, encouragement and insight throughout the research. Moreover, I would like to thank her for giving me the opportunity to study a topic, in which I am really interested. One simply could not wish for a better or friendlier supervisor. I am also indebted to my examining committee members, Prof. Dr.Simten Coşar and Prof.Dr.Recep Boztemur for their encouraging comments, and their important contributions to this study which have incredibly been important for my academic work. I owe a special gratitude to Karen Gerson Şarhon, who is a constant source of inspiration to me. I would like to thank her for believing this study and helping me arrange interviews with columnists of Şalom and El Amaneser Klara Perahya, Coya Delevi, Şeli Gaon, and Güler Orgun, the editor of El Amaneser. I would like to express my deepest gratitude again and again; I am grateful to all of them, without their assistance this research would have never been possible. Boundless respect goes to Yusuf Altıntaş, the great poet, former columnist of Şalom, researcher and general secretary of the Chief Rabbinate in Turkey. His important contributions have added a lot to this study. I am grateful to him for believing in my passion to Judeo-Spanish and Sephardic culture. I would always remember his guidance and encouragement, which he offered at every stage of this study. I also owe appreciation to Rachel Bortnick, founder and moderator of Ladinokomunita Yahoo Group. I would like to thank her for her important contributions and guidance through the research. I wish to express my warm and sincere thanks to members of Ladinokomunita Yahoo Group for their asistance to this research. I am indepted to L’IFEA (Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes /Fransız Anadolu Araştırmaları Enstitüsü), which supported the research of this study conducted in Istanbul in 2011 granting an accomodation bourse. I would like to express my gratitute to Prof.Dr. Nora Şeni, the former director of L’IFEA, for her supportive criticism and enlightining comments during our conversations. Also, I would like to thank to historian Dr. Pınar Dost Niyego for her kind interest during the research. Thanks to the Sefardi Congress organized by L’IFEA in June 2011 in Istanbul, I met many great professors and passionate graduate students about their subjects. I warmly thank Prof.Dr. Mahir Saul for his endless guidance and encouragement through this study. My sincere thanks are due to Dr.Cengiz Sisman. He has always been supportive. I am grateful for his constructive comments at the very beginning of ix this research. I owe my most sincere gratitude to my dearest professor Dr.Michael Studemund Halévy, with whom I first met during the Sefardi Congress in Istanbul. I was totally impressed with his studies concerning Judeo-Spanish, and language maintenance. His optimism shined at the congress as the Vega star. That time, I started to believe in the ‘revival’ of Judeo-Spanish, and stopped perceiving it as a dying language. That was the time when I first started to understand the meaning of the language maintenance efforts and archival works. I am grateful to him for seeing my endless love and passion to Judeo-Spanish. His support allowed me to attend to the First Sephardic Summer School organized by him and Gaelle Collin in September of 2012 in Sofia founded by Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden (IGdJ). I warmly thank the founders of the First Sephardic School, thanks to which I found the opportunity to (re)evaluate my study in international basis questioning the missing and problematic parts as well as the theoretically well structured assumptions. All these have been very important to understand the meaning of this study. Many ideas in this study were discussed with colleagues during the First Sephardic Summer School in Sofia. I would like to thank to all the friends for their kind support: Elizabeth Güde, Chris Shwerer, Martin Stechauer, Corinna Deppner, Katharina Haberkorn, Veronika Kelbecheva, Momme Schwarz, Karen Paulig, Ainhoa Montoya, Jorge Vega Villanueva, Luise Juderjahn