141666 SE M4 - SE Culture and Cultural Policy (2024W)

Even though the emergence of "modern Turkey" can be seen as a cultural revolution at its core, some discourses on culture as well as fundamental changes in the field of culture can arguably be traced back to the late Ottoman period. The seminar examines the ways in which the concept of culture and the idea of its homogeneity emerged in late Ottoman and Turkish discourses. It attempts to uncover the methods by which culture was and is used as an instrument to implement and legitimise a political project. However, the implementation of, for example, the humanist cultural project in the 1930s and 40s was neither all-encompassing nor uncontested by the members of the multi-ethnic and religious society. Even in today's Turkey, where the introduction of a new political regime has had a massive impact on the functioning of institutions and the relationship between state and society, the state has not succeeded in gaining all-encompassing control over the cultural sphere, and "pockets of resistance" continue to exist.
Culture is understood as a highly contested resource, but one that is constantly in flux and therefore not fixed. Culture serves as a field for the affirmation of hegemonic discourse, but also as a space for the creation and implementation of resistance strategies. In this context, culture is not an exclusive term referring only to high culture, but also encompasses all kinds of everyday practices, performances and forms of expression.
The seminar will attempt to examine and discuss the various forms of "cultural engineering" throughout history, the different discourses on culture and the numerous practices of articulating, performing and producing culture as well as cultural identities/resources - whether in accordance with or against the cultural policy of the state. Turkey's official cultural policy for Turkish citizens living abroad will also be a focus of the seminar.
Possible topics that will be covered in the seminar include:
● Literature, theatre, cinema, visual arts, music.
● Emerging "traditional" arts and the folklorisation of tradition
● Culture and civil society
● Minority cultures/minoritisation of cultures
● Subcultures
● Culture and heritage
● Dichotomies between nature/culture, urban/provincial cultures, high/low culture
Culture and memory
● Culture and politics / culturalisation of politics
Transnational cultures
● Gender and culture