The Construction of National Culture and Identity in a Province: the Case of the People's House of Kayseri

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The Construction of National Culture and Identity in a Province: the Case of the People's House of Kayseri THE CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL CULTURE AND IDENTITY IN A PROVINCE: THE CASE OF THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE OF KAYSERI A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY FULYA BALKAR IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIRMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND CULTURAL STUDIES DECEMBER 2019 i ii Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Yaşar Kondakçı Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan 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. Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Lütfi Doğan Tılıç (Başkent Uni., HIT) Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan (METU, ADM) Assoc. Prof. Barış Çakmur (METU, ADM) iii ii 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: Fulya Balkar Signature : iii ABSTRACT THE CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL CULTURE AND IDENTITY IN A PROVINCE: THE CASE OF THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE OF KAYSERI Balkar, Fulya M.S., Department of Media and Cultural Studies Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan December 2019, 249 pages This thesis focuses on the Kayseri House experience in early republican period and aims to explore how the narratives of national culture and identity were constructed in a so-called conservative province in the context of the Kayseri House. Through analyzing the Kemalist cultural policies of the 1930s and 1940s, the study attempts to reveal the interpretations, voices and nationalistic discourses of the House members on these policies and their acts of implementing these policies. In order to uncover the nationalist language used by the House members, the thesis will focus on the official texts of the Kayseri House and relating to the Kayseri province of the period. In this sense, the importance of the thesis depends on these languages and discourses for finding out multiple forms of individual experiences and practices in the case of Kayseri House. Keywords: nationalism, province, the People’s House of Kayseri, Kayseri, early republican period iv ÖZ TAŞRADA MİLLİ KÜLTÜR VE KİMLİĞİN İNŞASI: KAYSERİ HALKEVİ ÖRNEĞİ Balkar, Fulya Yüksek Lisans, Medya ve Kültürel Çalışmalar Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan Aralık 2019, 249 sayfa Bu tez, erken cumhuriyet dönemindeki Kayseri Halkevi deneyimine odaklanmakta ve milli kültür ve kimlik anlatıların kapalı/tutucu olarak adlandırılan bir taşrada nasıl inşa edildiğini keşfetmeyi amaçlamaktadır. 1930’lar ve 1940’ların Kemalist kültür politikalarını analiz ederek, çalışma bu politikalar hakkındaki Halkevi üyelerinin yorumlarını, seslerini ve milliyetçi söylemlerini ve bu politikaların uygulanışındaki edimlerini ortaya çıkarmaya girişmektedir. Halkevi üyelerinin kullandığı milliyetçi dili açığa çıkarmak için, bu tez Kayseri Halkevinin ve dönemin Kayseri taşrasını ilgilendiren resmi kaynaklara odaklanacaktır. Bu bağlamda, tezin önemi, Kayseri Halkevi örneğindeki çeşitli bireysel deneyim biçimlerini ve pratiklerini keşfetmek adına bu dil ve söylemlere dayanmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: milliyetçilik, taşra, Kayseri Halkevi, Kayseri, erken cumhuriyet dönemi v Dedicated to the memory of my father Prof. Dr. Faruk Balkar and my beloved grandmother Saniye Bekcan vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Necmi Erdoğan for his generous support and his unfailing trust in my thesis study. His invaluable advices and useful warnings about my study provided me so many advantages to finalize my thesis. His insightful comments helped me to improve my study. And his deep knowledge in media and cultural studies inspired me about what I could study in the future. I would also like to sincerely thank Prof. Dr. L. Doğan Tılıç and Assoc. Prof. Barış Çakmur for their support, positive contributions and valuable suggestions. And I will be very grateful to Prof. Dr. H. Bahadır Türk who ‘taught’ me theories, philosophers and topics relating to media and cultural studies before enrolling this graduate program of METU. Above all, I owe my deepest gratitude to my mother Gülnur Balkar and my ‘big’ creative sister Ayça Balkar for giving me courage to write this thesis as fast as possible. Without them, I would not have passed the process of researching and writing this thesis so easily. They heartily helped and supported me to find the missed parts of the thesis when I needed them. I am very indebted to them. This thesis is dedicated to my father, my inspiration Prof. Dr. Faruk Balkar and to my grandmother Saniye Bekcan. My father always inspired me how could I behave about what I need and wish without losing self-confidence and joy. He was a good doctor but also knew to make difference. I will always remember him with his difference. And I am so grateful to my grandmother because first she had a lovely smile I remember and gave me all love of her and second she never forgot to encourage me with her words to do my studies. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM.............................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. ...iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 1.1. Methodology ............................................................................................. 4 1.2. Literature Review ...................................................................................... 7 1.3. Organization of the Thesis ...................................................................... 13 2. BETWEEN KEMALIST NATIONALISM AND MODERNIZATION: THE PEOPLE'S HOUSES AS THE INSTITUTIONS OF CULTURAL INDOCTRINATION ........................................................................................... 17 2.1. Identifying the Turkish Nationalism and Inventing the Modernized Way of Life: Kemalist Cultural Policies of 1930s and 1940s ........................ 18 2.2. Functions and Organizational Structure of the People's Houses ............. 23 2.2.1. The Basic Characteristics of the Leading Branches ...................... 26 2.3. The Issue of Center-Periphery Politics and State-Society Relations in the People's Houses .................................................................................... 29 2.4. Concluding Remarks ............................................................................... 33 3. THE POSITION OF THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE OF KAYSERI: REFLECTIONS ON THE LOCAL SOCIETY ................................................... 35 3.1. The Social Structure of the Kayseri Population: ‘the Local People’ ...... 37 3.2. The Role of the Republican People's Party Members and the People's House Actors in Kayseri ............................................................ 40 3.3. Sociopolitical Relationship between the Centre and Locality over viii the Kayseri House Experience ....................................................................... 45 3.4. The Areas of Cultural Activities: Branches of the Kayseri House ....... 51 3.5. Concluding Remarks ............................................................................. 56 4. A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF ERCIYES JOURNAL OF THE KAYSERI HOUSE ..................................................................................... 58 4.1. A General Overview of the People's House Journals and the Case of Erciyes ............................................................................................................ 59 4.2. Ideal Citizen: Education of the People in the Periphery ....................... 70 4.3. The Argument of Secularism in the 'Conservative' Kayseri ................. 90 4.4. State of Art, Culture, Folklore: Modernized or Nationalized?.............. 98 4.5. Examining Turkishness through History and Language Reforms ...... 113 4.6. Desired Development of Villages in Kayseri...................................... 123 4.7. Concluding Remarks ........................................................................... 135 5. VOICES FROM THE INSIDE AND THE OUTSIDE: REACTIONS, RESPONSES, COMMENTARIES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE KAYSERI HOUSE .............................................................................................................. 139 5.1. Voices of the People’s House Actors and Members ............................. 141 5.1.1. Use of Membership: The Narratives of Active Participation...... 143 5.1.2. Position and Involvement of Woman .......................................... 161 5.2. Opposition, Conflict and Discontent ....................................................
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