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 ethnogr
Trade Review
“Esra Özyürek equips us to see modernity as both an ongoing invention and an object of nostalgia. Her analysis, exceptional for its ethnographic richness and ideological nuance, shows how power struggles between secular and Islamist political movements are reconfiguring popular notions of citizenship and the sacred in Turkey. Few scholars have devised such a compelling framework for assessing the mutual transformations of nationalism, Islam, and the state. This is exciting, innovative work.”—Andrew Shryock, author of Nationalism and the Genealogical Imagination
“[P]owerful, rich, and impressive. . . . The clarity of writing, together with the subtlety and sophistication of the analysis, makes this monograph unique: one that is accessible to thoughtful undergraduates and intriguing for those more engaged with anthropological theories. . .” -- Mandana E. Limbert * American Ethnologist *
“[A] fine contribution to a multidisciplinary, rich, and sophisticated discourse on contemporary Turkey. . . . The author provides us with a rich ethnography, a sophisticated and nuanced theoretical frame, and a historical perspective through which we can understand her data and conclusions.” -- Roberta Micallef * International Journal of Middle East Studies *
“The book’s main strength is its lucid presentation of the concerns of Kemalist circles in contemporary Turkey and its analysis of some of the strategies they adopted to cope with them. . . . Özyürek’s study offers fresh insights into recent political and ideological developments within the influential Kemalist circles of Turkey.” -- Amit Bein * Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society *
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. The Elderly Children of the Republic: The Public History in the Private Story 29
2. Wedded to the Republic: Displaying Transformations in Private Lives 65
3. Miniaturizing Ataturk: The Commodification of State Iconography 93
4. Hand in Hand with the Republic: Civilian Celebration of the Turkish State 125
5. Public Memory as Political Battleground: Kemalist and Islamist Versions of the Early Republic 151
Conclusion 178
Notes 183
References 199
Index 217
